Ramadhan in Isolation

For those of you who may not know, Ramadhan is the 9th month in the Islamic calendar. During this month, Muslims across the world abstain from eating and drinking from dusk till dawn. In Ramadhan, we are expected to avoid engaging in harmful and negative habits and the purpose of doing this is to form positive lifelong traits. This is because if you commit to a personal or professional goal for 21 days continuously, then at the end of the three weeks it should become a habit (isn’t that cool?). The month of Ramadhan is used as an opportunity to exercise self-control, physically and spiritually detoxify yourself by resisting unhealthy impulses/attachments. The purpose of the fast is to remind us to constantly be thankful for what we have and remember those who are less fortunate and do what we can to help them.

Ramadhan has remained one of my favorite times of year for a number of reasons. It’s like the days leading up to Christmas, festive, bright and cheery, now just imagine that for a whole 30 days! Ramadhan just puts everyone in a good mood (maybe it’s all the tea), that first sip of chai after you open your fast, nothing and I mean nothing is as heavenly! The end of the fast is celebrated with a large meal that is often shared with family and friends. This means that you get to eat all this delicious food that your mum won’t make unless its Ramadhan. Now you may be wondering how that’s possible since we’re having to self-isolate…

When I first realized that I would have to spend my Ramadhan away from home and in the UK, where the fasts are 18 hours long, I was extremely disheartened. It would mean I wouldn’t be able to go mosque or meet any of my friends. I quickly realized it wasn’t as bad as I imagined it to be. With not having much to do, my sleep schedule changed drastically, and this meant that I started going to bed at 4:00 in the morning and waking up at 2:00 in the afternoon. But I’m not complaining and here’s why. Waking up so late means that the countdown to Iftar (the time for opening the fast) is only a couple of hours that go by so quickly.

I like to spend what’s left of my day lazing around, asking what’s for iftar, lazing around, working on my assignments which I sometimes confuse for episodes of Lost, and did I mention lazing around? To keep active and ensure that I’m burning of all the extra calories I’m consuming I like to do a short work out between 6:00 and 7:30pm. This way by the time I’m done, and I’ve gotten myself into a new set of pyjamas it’s almost time to start getting ready to eat.

Before you know it, its 8:00pm and that means it’s time to start getting all the food ready! Grinding the spices for the chai (which for some reason tastes a thousand times better in Ramadhan than any other ordinary day) and getting the batter ready to fry the bananas is my favorite time of the day. Now on any other day you wouldn’t find me wanting to help out in the kitchen but something about spending time together (and the fact that I’m hungry) makes me more “active” in the kitchen.

While this may not be the most ideal of Ramadhan’s, I’ve really been enjoying doing close to nothing all day long, living in my pajamas and eating (and sometimes cooking) delicious new treats. To make it easier, I tend to facetime my friends and family and discuss all that we think we can eat once its time (turns out not that much). Also, all this time we have to ourselves means we can spend it doing something we enjoy doing while sitting in the comfort of our living rooms (think of it as a long, super long summer break). I spent the first few weeks of Ramadhan ordering books online (thank you amazon prime) and spending all night reading them. So remember that staying at home, keeping safe and spending time with your family are all part of the Ramadhan spirit.