So I learned something new yesterday, in that there is Eid al-Fitr (at the end of Ramadan) AND Eid al-Adha (going on at the moment). The current festival isn't connected to fasting, but many Muslims do make a special effort to pray and listen to a sermon at a mosque. They also wear new clothes, visit family members and friends and may symbolically sacrifice an animal in an act known as qurbani. Yes, I did just search that up. Regardless, this gives me an opportunity me to write and share a blog post that I was too busy to complete during Ramadan.
You see, I have a fair few friends that are Muslim that I'd like to understand a little better and I enjoy a challenge, so I decided that for one day, I would try to fast. I wasn't too worried about the food side of things. I like my food, but you can supposedly live for about two weeks without it and so I was only going through 1/14th of my limit ("two plus two that's four, minus one that's three - quick maths"), and I knew that I could eat a lot beforehand. My worry came with the water side of things. You can only really go three days without. That's a third of my limit and I'm used to drinking a lot of water throughout the day. And it's not like you can just drink tonnes before the day of fasting because you'll just pee it all out. Or I would have done. I have an old person's bladder.
Let's get on with it, shall we? I stuffed myself silly until a little shy of 3am on the day (just before dawn) and drank what I considered to be a large but sensible amount of water, before heading off to bed. I woke up at around 9ish because of my ever-so kind body clock. I did some yoga and self-reflection because part of the whole Ramadan process is to try and become as pure as one can be (means no 'me time' or swearing - two very big challenges) and getting closer to Allah.
At this point, all going well. I relaxed, chatted with some people (you are also supposed to become closer to people over this period), sent emails and then jumped onto a game or twenty of FIFA. Soon enough, I developed a sore throat and a decent amount of hunger. This was pretty early on, but to my welcome surprise, the intensity of those two things stayed about the same throughout the day. Although the fear of peeing and therefore more dehydrated was real and I did get some earache later on for some reason. I was told that I really should try and sleep during the day to distract from the pain, but I was too stubborn for some reason and instead stayed awake and just played FIFA and watched YouTube for most of the rest of the day.
Why did I ignore that advice? I don't know. But what I did appreciate was that during Ramadan, you are supposed to try to be more pure and supportive, so I noticed when I was getting angry from being tired and hungry, giving me that buffer to stop me getting too frustrated. "Is it necessary to think/do this?" Often the answer was no and that - pausing before reacting and recognising the link between my physical and mental health - is something that I realise, as I type this, I could do with doing more in my life.
Back to the day of fasting. The end of it is definitely the longest part. No matter my experience in shift work and knowing that clock watching makes time drag on so much longer, I couldn't help myself checking the time every few minutes. I also hadn't considered how difficult it is to prepare dinner and not eat any of it when you're so hungry. I was only microwaving yesterday's meal (as a starter), but when I stirred it with my fork I so almost ate what was left on the fork out of habit. But I didn't. I stayed committed.
And then the moment came. I was on a video call with Dania and Angie and we broke our fast together (iftar). After 17 hours and 29 minutes without food or water, I had my first mouthful and gulp. And it was amazing. Not just the food (but hot diggedy damn), but having that shared joyous experience with friends. I didn't actually eat that much in the end which was a surprise, just some crisps, the leftovers from the day before and a pizza. I know that sounds a lot, but when you haven't had anything for so long it's a bit underwhelming because you just want to shove your face full of as much food as you can get your hands on.
Now, you have been wonderful and read all of this post so far. You might have read it going "what's the purpose of this post?" Well first of all, attention. Second, to educate any non-Muslims and challenge them to give it a go for at least a day because it's a brilliant experience - you genuinely do feel better for having been so self-aware throughout the day! If you are a Muslim committing to the entire month of Ramadan (and even the added six days of fasting for extra 'brownie points' in Shawwāl), then I imagine the feeling of gratitude for people and other basics must be quite overwhelming. It's not so much about finishing fasting, apparently, but about being grateful that you will hopefully have the chance to experience another Ramadan.
Having said how nice it is, it is tough and that is part of the point. I can't imagine having to do my exams or go to work and take part in meetings. Although I did find out that if you are on your period, you can carry over your fasting days like your holidays in your job (my strange simile there, apologies for any offence caused), so perhaps some Muslims will do that for especially important days such as exams. The difficulty of the experience was beautifully summarised by a friend of mine during a Zoom games night:
"I don't have the glucose for this shit right now."
Eid al-Adha Mubarak to those celebrating and Happy Voluntravelling,
The Voluntraveller
P.S. If I got anything wrong, please comment below and I'll make the relevant edits! Alternatively, if you want to comment any of your own experiences, then please do that too!
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