Hurried to gobble crackers before a fasting period (7)
I believe the answer is:
ramadan
'fasting period' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'hurried to gobble crackers before a' is the wordplay.
'hurried' becomes 'ran' (running is a kind of hurrying).
'to gobble' is an insertion indicator.
'crackers' becomes 'mad' (crackers can informally mean mad).
'before' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'mad'+'a'='mada'
'ran' placed around 'mada' is 'RAMADAN'.
(Other definitions for ramadan that I've seen before include "Moslem fast" , "Muslim holy month" , "Muslim period of fasting" , "Month in Muslim calendar" , "Islam's holiest month" .)