By Sadef Ali Kully
Ramadan, the holy fasting month for Muslims, started for me and my TimesLedger colleague Madina June 18 at the TimesLedger office. During Ramadan, Muslims fast—no eating or drinking at all—from sunrise to sundown.
Just to make things clear, I have been fasting during Ramadan for a long time so the idea of fasting is not anything new for me.
But this year things are a bit different, Muslims in New York would be fasting for over 17 hours because of the long days. I do not remember ever having to fast this long and I could already imagine the hunger and thirst that I’d feel while I was out in the heat, reporting all over the borough. Would I be able to survive?
As I write this, I am about six days into Ramadan and while my news editor eats a burger and fries that exude the grease smell that I love—I am surviving.
The first week of the fasting can be the hardest part. That’s the time when your body has to physically adjust to its new regimen.
But as for me, what I am really in mourning for, is lunch.
On the first day I fasted, I had two meetings, I cannot really recall what happened during those meetings, because I was too busy thinking about food. I kept daydreaming about the chicken nacho soup I had last week from Bayside Natural Market and mourning how I would not have lunch with some of my colleagues for the next 30 days.
As a Muslim, that is shameful. I am supposed to own my hunger and really feel it because there are people in the world who cannot remedy their hunger or quench their thirst in an instant. I am supposed to overcome these feelings in order to achieve self-control over desire. During Ramadan, Muslims are also supposed to refrain from gossiping, and to avoid anger or lust. But here I am sitting at my desk, thinking about my morning coffee and all that it means to me, just as if it were a lost lover.
Ramadan is one of the five pillars of Islam, which also includes the testimony of faith, prayer five times a day, charity and the holy pilgrimage to Mecca. It is during the month of Ramadan that, Islam’s holy book, the Quran, was revealed to the people by Islam’s Prophet Muhammad.
The ritual of breaking a fast is the best part for me. My family spends a couple of hours in the kitchen putting together our favorite dishes, then we eat and drink. Every fast is broken with a traditional date and is followed any regular or special meal.
While fasting, I spent the morning at Jamaica Bay, covered a job workshop at Queens Library and reported on Jamaica Business Improvement District’s annual meeting which included cream cheese and bagels that I could smell a mile away.
Despite my food mourning, I do feel better physically compared to the first day and it is only suppose to get easier from here on out. Happy Ramadan!
Reach Reporter Sadef Ali Kully by e-mail at skull
