Ramadan can be a time to build bridges

From my ‘Iftarbecue’ to interfaith gatherings, breaking of the fast offers opportunity to get together

Cutting up fresh fruit every evening, rolling spring rolls with my Mom, stuffing samosas and setting the table for the breaking of the fast — those are some of my beautiful childhood memories of Ramadan.

The holiest month of the Islamic calendar began this week. It is a month when observant Muslims refrain from eating and drinking from sunrise to sunset.

It can be physically fatiguing to fast for nearly 17 hours a day, as is the case for Canadian Muslims when the holiday falls at this time of year. It is, however, spiritually uplifting and invigorating.

As a child, I remember being woken up before the crack of dawn to the scent of fresh roti being made in the kitchen. We’d sleepily wander over to the kitchen table and eat and drink mostly in silence, fuelling our bodies for the day.

The days were much shorter then. Fasting in the winter months mostly just meant not eating or drinking while at school. As the lunar calendar moves forward by 10 days every year, the days have gotten hotter and are longer now.

My kids ask to fast, but it’s not necessary for them to do so, as they’re still young. The same goes for anyone who is pregnant, nursing, travelling, elderly or sick.

Every family celebrates Ramadan differently, with different foods, drinks and traditions. In our home, we love to take advantage of the warm weather for an Iftarbecue (combining our breaking of the fast meal, Iftar, with a barbecue). It’s an excellent opportunity to get together with friends and family, invite over neighbours, and all eat together.

It seems that on a more formal level, Ramadan in Montreal is also being seen as a fitting occasion for interfaith dialogue initiatives, which happily appear to be proliferating. There are Christian, Jewish and Muslim groups participating in events that bring different communities together for breaking of the fast activities across the city this year.

Ramadan is an essential time for giving charity, as well. This can mean making donations, participating in food drives, helping the homeless. I remember volunteering in the kitchen of Sabariah Hussein during my days at Concordia University.

I didn’t know how to cook very much back then, but I have vivid memories of her putting the dozens of volunteers to work. We’d peel potatoes, chop vegetables and stir industrialsized pots and pans while she’d walk around making sure the hundreds of meals she prepared every day were ready for university students, the homeless, people who attended soup kitchens at local churches and anyone else she heard needed a warm meal. It was who she was and how she operated. It didn’t matter what you looked like, what you believed, where you came from or why you were there, she fed everyone indiscriminately.

Nearly 15 years later, many things have changed, but the work of Sister Sabria (as she is commonly known) has remained the same. From her apartment kitchen, she has served more than 650,000 meals and has raised more than $1.1 million for humanitarian causes. The food she makes is incredible, and the love with which it is made is palpable.

She has just received the Order of Montreal. She is also to be honoured Sunday at an event at St. George’s Anglican Church. As one of the thousands of people who have met and worked with Sister Sabria, I would be hard-pressed to think of anyone more deserving.

Her passion for feeding others, giving of herself and building bridges between people through food have been an inspiration to me my entire adult life.

While the tummies of Montreal’s Muslim community may be empty over the next month, our spirits are fuelled by celebrating our differences, honouring one another and working with our neighbours to build bridges of understanding and acceptance.

Fariha Naqvi-Mohamed is the founder and editor in chief of CanadianMomEh.com, a lifestyle blog. twitter.com/canadianmomeh