‘Ramadan is a challenge and a discipline but it it not a burden’
AS the festival begins Abbie Wightwick asked three Welsh Muslims what Ramadan means to them and how they will observe it for the next 30 days
RAMADAN, the most religious time of the year for Muslims, began this week. Across Wales thousands of observant Muslims will fast totally during daylight hours for 30 days, not even drinking water.
Ramadan is not just about fasting. It is also about giving up bad habits, helping others and self discipline.
■ Qamar Ahmed, 36, is a mother of three from Cardiff
“Your local mosque provides a time table for when the sun rises and sets because it changes slightly each day and depending where you are.
“Today, the first day of Ramadan, dawn was at 3.20am so you had to eat before that. I had breakfast at 2am. You have to accept you are going to get less sleep. I plan ahead and get my bottle of water ready to make sure I drink enough when I wake up. “Normally I would have two boiled eggs for breakfast, but today I just had toast.
“I’ll fast now until sunset which is 9.05pm today. You break the fast by eating three dates and drinking some water and praying. These are called Maghrib prayers.
“Iftar is the name for the meal we eat after sunset to break the fast. It is not a specific meal, it can be any food you want.
“Ramadan is a very family orientated time so I might go to my mum’s for iftar and if you don’t have family you might go to a mosque.
“Fasting can be hard but your body adjusts after a few days. The main thing is feeling tired. I used to be a full-time high school teacher and by the end of the day during Ramadan I would lose my voice.
“You feel very raw. You are not doing as much physically so you can reflect on the world and life. Fasting shows you how much you can achieve physically and mentally.
“I think it shows you how lucky you are and how much you take for granted. You wouldn’t do this for anyone else. It is because God commanded it. It is about your relationship with God.
“You stay up later but use your time purposefully.
“You don’t have to fast until you reach puberty. I have three children aged seven, five and four. My sevenyear-old daughter wants to fast but I’ve told her she must eat lunch at school. The children get very excited about Ramadan.
“I am quite organised and I went shopping and bought and cooked all the food we’ll eat to break the fast and put it in the freezer so that in the evening I can just take it out and heat it. I won’t think about cooking which frees me up to do other things. My freezer is full which is lush! It frees up my time. I have more time for family.”
■ Muhammad Jay, 32, is a father of two and owns a language school in Cardiff
“I sometimes sleep through my alarm clock so I stayed up last night until dawn.
“I worked until 12.30am then stayed up until 3.30am. For breakfast I had some eggs, porridge, salad and beetroot juice. You will have pangs of hunger but the fast period for me is a mind, body and soul experience.
“Physically you are refraining from eating and drinking but it is mental discipline. There are numerous benefits. It is a deep experience, you are not just abstaining fom food. Food is something we are attached to and this is a time of year when you can change habits and have an awakening.
“Ramadan is also a time to do good things, help other people, do charity work and think about the world. Fasting means you have the space to think about other things more deeply.
“I am very gung ho about what I eat to break the fast but I’m learning to be organised. Ramadan is a choice not a burden. I feel like a new man at the end of Ramadan.”
■ Amanda Morris, 45, lectures in Japanese at Cardiff University and converted to Islam 20 years ago
“I won’t sleep the night before. I’ll have my meal before 3.30am, and pray and then go to sleep until 9am. I can work from home and I have flexibility with my work.
“Ramadan is not easy. My crutch is coffee so I have coffee at iftar. Normally I would have two or three cups a day so I make sure this one cup is strong.
“Two years ago I taught a language course which meant standing in front of a class four hours a day during Ramadan. That was hard.
“Ramadan is a a challenge. It’s a discipline, like going to boot camp, or running. It’s not a burden. It’s like climbing a mountain. It goes quickly. You are glad at the end that you have achieved this. It’s very emotional.
“People usually go to iftar at the mosque they usually go to at least once during Ramadan. The mosque makes food and people bring food.”