Things you always hear during Ramadan

Long. Hot. Dry. As 1.6 billion Muslims all over the world fasted during this Holy Month, there are those recurring things I always hear that are actually quite funny after a while. Below are some of the things I always hear during Ramadan and perhaps those who also took part can relate

I admire you so much for doing Ramadan

I fasted for over 18 hours this year; starting from 2:30am ending when the sun sets around 9:20pm. Islam is very celestial and the concept of fasting is not eating or drinking anything whilst the sun is up from sunrise to sundown. This is very difficult, as you are unable to comfortably continue your sleep when you wake up for ‘breakfast’, with a belly full of water, yoghurt, tortellini, peach and more water. I try to shove as much as can inside of me before the sun rises.

Ramadan sounds so hard I’d get so hungryAnother problem I found was the difficulty in waking up in am, so I would sleep right into the afternoon. I guess sleeping helps with the hunger. The worst part of fasting is the dryness of your mouth and the growling of your stomach. You become very tired as the hours slowly go by. You also have to pray five times a day plus tarweed, which can be physically challenging.

You must lose so much weight

No. That’s a myth. My Iftar (breaking of my fast) is high in calories, such as samosas, spring rolls, chicken nuggets, chips etc. You eat a lot of carbs so that you have something to keep you running the next day. Also, you tend to lose your appetite from exhaustion, sometimes soon as I eat my date sandwich, I start to feel too tired to eat any more food.

Oh wow you’re Muslim, you don’t look it

I have some sort of identity ‘crisis’ as a lot of people assume that I am Christian or of some other faith, and whenever I tell them that I’m Muslim they always seem so surprised. Perhaps it’s the Afro.

Though it may be hard, Ramadan encourages us to bring out the best of ourselves. For example taking part in charity work and spreading a positive message of Islam-peace.

At the end of Ramadan, we have Eid-al-Fitr which celebrates the month. This year I did not get to dress up or enjoy it as usually do because I had work.

Ramadan teaches us to be determined, to reach goals that we may think to be impossible. It is a test of our moral patience.