Breaking Fast: A Ramadan Short
Growing up, breakfast was my favorite meal of the day. I think a lot of it had to do with my mother’s influence - she would always tell me and my siblings that a proper breakfast set the tone and fueled you for the day. In a similar way, breaking fast during Ramadan, known as Iftar, helps set the tone for the holy fasting month for Muslims worldwide. During Ramadan, we abstain from eating and drinking from dawn to dusk and it can be mentally and physically taxing. There’s few things better during this month than the first sip of water or sweet dates to break the fast with while enjoying it with your loved ones.
The ability to spend Ramadan with my family this year has not been something I’ve taken for granted. In years past, I would drop by for Iftar once or twice a week but since the global COVID-19 pandemic, I’ve been fortunate to stay with my family and it’s been incredibly rewarding. While being confined to your home sucks, the blessing of Ramadan is that it encourages you to reflect on the abundance in your life and to give thanks to Allah for it. Family time is not the only benefit that comes from Ramadan, there’s also the mental discipline and resilience that you build over the course of the month. In the first few days, your body is adjusting and screaming at you to feed it, but over time it stops. Ramadan’s implicit lesson, in my opinion, is that you have the ability to control your actions with or without limitations. As a testament to that, I picked up running as a way to challenge my mind and body. I’ve always been an athlete but I *hated* running because it was so boring.
After realizing that I was limiting myself, I signed up for a 60mi challenge for the month and as of this writing, I’m ten miles away from accomplishing my goal. During these runs, I’m running with no food or water, just the belief and faith that I can do it because I am able. It’s inspired me to take those lessons and apply them to other areas of my life. All the while, I’ve been encouraged by a digital community of family and friends from all over the world who have checked in, encouraged me, or as a couple of friends did, bought me a meal and had it delivered to my home. While the COVID-19 pandemic has permanently changed the way we’ll interact moving forward and has caused us to physically distance ourselves, I believe the blessing of Ramadan is still tied in there: compassion and empathy will always be in constant need for humanity to thrive.
-Ismail Yusuf