The Ramadan experience, fasting for a day.

I have always been curious about people fasting during Ramadan, especially since moving to the Middle East (see my other blog post: The other side of Ramadan). On the last day of the holy month I decided as a non-Muslim to join the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims who will be fasting today.

It is 5:00am, my iPhone alarm rings, I wake up reluctantly for the Suhoor meal. I feel like I have an early flight to catch somewhere and I am not at all hungry. I check today’s Ramadan timings on a local newspaper’s website, the sun rises at 5:54am. It took me some time to get out of bed and I now have under 25 minutes left to eat and drink enough to last me the next 13 hours until sunset.

I am just about finished eating, it is starting to get lighter outside and my aim is now to drink enough fluids. This is what I am the most nervous about especially as the temperatures peak to 45c during this period in the Gulf. I remember a tip from Yashar, an Iranian colleague who gave me some insight on fasting. He said that I should aim to drink at least four glasses of water before sunrise. I have already had one glass of orange juice and I am feeling bloated but I will force myself to three glasses of water.

A few minutes later, I hear the Muezzin (the call for prayer) from a nearby mosque, I feel nervous as this marks the start of the fast. I follow Yashar’s advice to go to bed after eating as most Muslims will do until it is time to get up for the day.

The long day ahead

It is 7:00am, my alarm rings again. I thought I would feel thirsty when I got up, but I was fine. It is business as usual and I have to head to the office as I have a presentation today and a management meeting.

It is midday, I am starting to feel a bit tired and I am also making small mistakes occasionally. Other than that, I am not hungry and only a little bit thirsty. My international company abides by the local laws which prohibits eating and drinking in public during Ramadan (though we do have a room where non-Muslim staff can eat and drink behind closed doors). We also have air conditioning in the office which helps. I am starting to feel confident that I will be able to last the remaining 7 hours.

It is mid-afternoon, I am feeling a lot more tired and am low on energy. Everything is a bit more of a struggle, I am trying to speak less as I am thirsty, though not necessarily hungry.

I am finally leaving work at 4pm (working hours are reduced during Ramadan to enable staff to cope and rest). I am dreading the 5 minute walk to my car in the heat and high humidity. I also know that it will take at least another 10 minutes for my car to be fully cooled down as it is parked in the sunshine! My only goal now is to reach home safely and to have a siesta until the sunset.

Sunset and Iftar

It is 6:30pm, I wake up and I feel tired, low on energy and extremely thirsty (when I look back, the final 30 minutes were the most painful). I make my way to a local restaurant where an Iftar buffet is awaiting. As I am seated, the restaurant manager tunes in to a local radio station which is playing a series of prayers as a type of ‘countdown’ to the sunset at 6:56pm. I look at my watch, 5 minutes. The waiters quickly go around each table to pour glasses of water, special Ramadan fruit juices and they hand out dates so that everyone is ready once we can break the fast. 

I follow the advice of Fehroz, an Indian Muslim colleague who told me to be very careful not to drink and eat too much initially. He advises to drink a glass of water and a eat few dates which will help the body rebalance its sugar levels. I start to feel better just as I am handed a delicious lentil soup to further rehydrate me. I then head to the buffet (which can be accessed on both sides as people are hungry, quite a sight) to eat local specialities which mainly consist of lamb, rice, peas, tabouleh and Arabic bread. I start to feel bloated and I follow Yashar’s advise to go for a long walk after the Iftar dinner.

During my walk, I reflect at the day and how it was to fast. It was not a impossible challenge but it did take a lot of discipline. I feel content and more knowledgeable at what it is like to fast. I have even more respect for those who fast especially as they have been doing this continuously for the last month and for those living in countries with longer daylight (read: BBC article on people fasting in Finland), this must be even hard, something I don’t think I would have been able to do.