Loading ...Experiencing Ramadan in America vs. the Middle East
Jana Al-Akhras, an American-born Muslim, began fasting during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan in the second grade and has managed to observe the annual practice ever since — in winter and summer, during high school soccer practices and games and through long days of classes in college.
And she still looks forward to what has become a spiritual experience.
“It’s not just depriving yourself of food and drink, but it’s learning to be a better and more patient person — a person who fasts from all the bad things of this world as well,” said the 22-year-old law student at Ohio State University.
But her connection to the spiritual experience of Ramadan changed last year, when she spent roughly three-quarters of the holy month in the Middle East. Instead of keeping a daily routine like she did in America, everything stopped during Ramadan in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.
“Time just slows down when you’re overseas,” Al-Akhras said. “No one really expects you to do much because they’re all feeling the same way you are. That’s not the experience I had in the U.S., ever.”
Over 1.6 billion Muslims around the world are preparing for the holy month of Ramadan, which is set to begin June 18, but their experiences will have stark differences depending on where they are in the world and if they are living among a Muslim majority. In America or Western nations, most Ramadan observers will find ways to navigate their work and social life around their fast, while those in the Middle East will be accommodated with changes in their work days, sleep schedules and diets.
The purpose of Ramadan
Ramadan, one of the Five Pillars of Islam or a core ritual of the faith, takes place during the ninth and holiest month of the Islamic lunar calendar. Throughout the duration of the month, Muslims are to abstain from food, water and sexual relations from dawn until sunset.
According to Imam Suhaib Webb, resident scholar at the Make Space community center for Muslims in Washington, D.C., those observing the fast strive to achieve commitment to spiritual growth, physical health and humanitarian and environmental — such as eliminating waste — causes.
“We are encouraged to refrain from bad behavior,” Imam Webb said, noting that many Muslims give up smoking during Ramadan. “There’s also the component that fasting reminds us of poverty and brings to mind that hunger is still a crisis of this world.”
But most importantly, Ramadan provides Muslims with a month to further tune into their spirituality and improve their character, and implement it throughout the other 11 months of the year, Imam Webb said.
“It encourages us to stay away from what is usually permissible to gain a greater sense of discipline post-Ramadan,” Imam Webb explained. “It’s like a spiritual boot camp. That boot camp you take in a CrossFit gym, that’s designed to get you in shape and give you skills that will last beyond that.”
Ramadan in the West
Saeed Shihab rose before the sunrise every day last summer, waking up to the sound of his alarm around 3:30 a.m. He groggily got out of bed, ate a big meal — the pre-dawn meal, or suhoor — of eggs, Greek yogurt, cereal and toast, downed a couple cups of water, and went back to sleep.
His alarm went off again three hours later, waking him up in time for a 7:30 a.m. class at the University of Utah where he sat through several more hours of classes. Still fasting, he drove to the Maliheh Free medical clinic where he volunteered for four hours. After volunteering, he headed home to study or squeeze in an hour-long workout — energy-permitting — until the sunset around 9:30 p.m.
Then, it was time to break the fast with iftar. His family gathered around the dinner table with a pot of soup, bowl of salad and one main entree made by his mom.
He went to sleep and started all over again the next day.
Shihab’s Ramadan experience of maintaining his daily routine without food and water is shared by many of the estimated 3.2 million Muslims in the U.S. But maintaining that Western lifestyle can be a challenge to American Muslims, 77 percent of whom say Ramadan is important to them, according to a Pew Research Center 2007 report.
“I’ve had those days where I used to play soccer and I’d be super dehydrated and out in the sun, or where I’d be going from class at 7:30 a.m. to work for six hours,” Shihab said. “But it’s all mental. If you pray and if you’re spiritual about it, then you’ll make it through.”
Source: newsok.com