Ramadan is here, and I am so excited about the opportunities that it brings. I am also keenly aware of the personal challenges that some might face and the courage needed to successfully complete the fast.
Before I address the challenge part, I will talk about the excitement. As Ramadan approaches, many childhood memories come back to me. They remind me of what a special time Ramadan is. How the whole family prepares for it in anticipation. How we condition ourselves to fast from dawn to sunset without food and drink.
It sounds so hard before one actually gets into it, but once Ramadan starts, I always feel that it ended too soon. You see, it is a training camp where I always felt I have overcome myself; I am able not to eat that chocolate or drink my favorite soft drink during fasting hours.
As my dad always told me growing up, that is a time when one reflects on all the gifts one is given by our Creator. It is a time to be more compassionate to those who are hungry. It is a time to feel the pain of others that one does not normally feel. It is a time for generosity, as Muslims believe that during this month, God multiplies every good deed.
As children, our parents guided us to give one third of our allowance to the poor. This is a tradition that my husband and I passed on to our children. One Ramadan as we were visiting a refugee family, our daughter decided to take off her coat and give it to one of the children in the refugee family.
Ramadan is a time to strengthen the social bond with neighbors as friends as we most days do not break our fast alone – we invite others and others invite us. It is a time for family, as the two meals a day that we eat, we eat them together. This is a very serious commitment, as one of the meals is pre-dawn and we are talking 4:30 a.m.
It is a time of high spirituality, as every night through the years, my husband and I pray a special prayer at night where 1/30th of the Quran is read.
It is time where my kitchen is always in use as family members have special requests for what they want to eat. Needless to say, my culinary skills come in handy. It is time that we reach out and invite our friends and neighbors of other faith traditions — as well as non-believers — as they are curious and want to experience Ramadan. Some of them try to fast at least part of the day to experience Ramadan at a different level.
Let me now address the courage needed. Ramadan will require courage from those who are fasting in Atlanta and in North America. The courage is needed on personal and external fronts.
Personal courage is needed to be able to make the commitment to fast from dawn to sunset every day for the month, which can be 29 or 30 days, based on the cycle of the moon. The days will be long, where dawn will be before 5 a.m. and sunset will be close to 9 p.m. every day. This is a 16-hour fast in hot weather. Of course, there are provisions for those who might be sick and unable to fast, for travelers, for nursing mothers and for those whose health will suffer from fasting.
To many people it seems that the fasting is the hardest part of the month, but many who observe Ramadan would argue that it is actually the lack of sleep.
The external courage is to be a Muslim and explain what the fasting is to neighbors, friends and colleagues at work. This year, it is expected to be more difficult, given the climate. We have seen where individuals have been taken off planes for saying “inshAllah,” or God willing. It is a time in this nation where it is not cool to be a Muslim, but there are many allies out there. It would mean a lot to wish your Muslim neighbor, colleague, or even a complete stranger a blessed Ramadan or a Ramadan Kareem.
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