Regardless, you should do a Ramadan
Maybe you will finally see how old ‘not even water’ gets after fasting 30 days.
Serene Ramadan nights and busy fasting days. It’s something I’ve never had to question growing up. In that same vein, because I was so young, I wasn’t able to grasp the beauty of discipline that Ramadan fosters. Discipline is always something you realise you need in retrospect because you dont learn much from the easy. Thus, the holy month of Ramadan is the perfect time and arena to see it in practice.
Picture this.
Every night, you wake up in the middle of your slumber to eat something. Anything. Even a couple of dates to quench the hunger you know is awaiting you. You pray and remember who this is all for. You sleep. Or try to.
Later, you and the sun are up together, for there is work to do. You move and see food all around you. You still get on through the pangs of hunger.
It’s lunch now, and you see food everywhere. On billboards and in work colleagues’ hands. You push past thoughts of eating because fasting is an active state. No matter how many decades you have been persisting at it.
Later, the sun is at the western point of the sky, and your thirst reminds you that you are alive. However, prayer and rememberence is there to remind you why you are alive.
Finally, the sun is down, and you can eat. Your energy rapidly returns, and water is sweeter than children’s laughter. Every night of this month, you are conjured to remember how it feels to be without, and you are about to do it all again tomorrow.
To anyone outside of the understanding or appreciation of religion, it seems obscene to deprive oneself of necessities that come easily to you.
Ay, there is the rub.
It comes easy which means we are blind to how many obstacles our sustenance overcame to get to us. Ramadan and the discipline of fasting wake you up to this fact. It’s a fact that we all know. We are so blessed to have all that we have. Yet it’s not quite the same as seeing just the shadow of life’s pleasures for a length of time and then seeing it all again with new eyes.
I’m not necessarily imploring you to fast here, although it would do you some good. I’m asking you to push yourself and abstain from the things you would otherwise do. Perhaps, lying around or eating till your absolute full. Or even scrolling on social media till the cows come home. Do yourself the pleasure and set yourself a goal, and it can be till sunset too. See what you can do. See what your mind can go to when you aren’t giving in to your every pleasure. See how simply missing your blessings for a while can make you hold on to everything tighter. Moreover, to of course understand that many others have nothing much to hold on to.
Go on, I can’t make you, but you will be gladder for it.