Nope. Not Even Water…
My mom’s (very) adorable Ramadan decorations.
... is a phrase that every Muslim has said at least once before to their non-Muslim friends asking about fasting during Ramadan (I’ve answered it myself three times just this past month). Yet, regardless of how many times I’m asked, I always feel elated when someone shows a genuine interest in my religion and culture. I believe that the deepest connections we human beings make lie beyond the BS surface-level small talk.
When we show a genuine interest in people’s cultures, traditions, philosophies, and norms, we pave the way for fruitful and insightful conversations that can teach a lot about the human experience. Just listen to these students at an Illinois high school who decided to support their Muslim friends by fasting alongside them, and how the experience affected them.
Now that both Ramadan and Eid are officially over, it’s a good time to pause for a bit to reflect on the past month and what it taught me. If you’d like a refresher on each, here’s a bit of history on Eid and some awesome information on Ramadan from Vox (especially the last point).
This Ramadan, however, was quite special to me for a couple of reasons.
It was the first time I actually worked and had classes at the same time while fasting, and the caffeine withdrawals were NO joke (especially during finals week 😭). While Ramadan in the last few years was during the summer breaks, it slowly started to creep back up to the spring since the Islamic calendar is 11 days shorter than the Gregorian calendar.
The major change for me this Ramadan, though, was when I decided that my phone and I would have to go on a break.
(Ok not really a break, but you know what I mean).
Instead of spending my day mindlessly scrolling through cherry blossom videos on Instagram, reading about how the world will end on Twitter, or seeing what the latest TikTok trend is, I decided to focus on the major tasks that I had to do for the day. As a reward, I gave myself around 45 minutes in the evenings to check each app, respond to messages, and be reminded why I don’t check Facebook anymore.
However, being the instant gratification monster that I am, I couldn’t help but check social media sometimes throughout the day whenever I got notifications — breaking the sacred vow I made with myself. Instead of just silencing notifications like most normal human beings, I went straight to the deep end.
I signed out of each app individually to serve as an idiot-proof reminder that I’m not supposed to use my phone yet. When it was time to break my fast, only then would I sign back in and respond to people. Once I was done, I’d sign right back out and repeat the cycle the next day.
Needless to say, this wasn’t just an uncomfortable experience, it was also a profound one. About two-thirds of the time I spent away from social media I found myself spending in some more productive areas, such as reading the Quran (our holy book), listening to podcasts, and focusing more on school. While the last third was spent staring at my wall for absolutely no reason or just napping the day away.
At the risk of sounding like every cliché productivity YouTuber, this system really improved my productivity, attention, and focus a whole lot more. As a nice little cherry on top, my phone usage was also cut down by almost a third.
What I’ve come to realize is that these habits have created a discipline within me that reverberated throughout my life in terms of what I eat, how I schedule my day and even carving out time to practice my hobbies. I guess all it took for me to change was fasting during the holiest month for Muslims. Better late than never, right?
While Ramadan teaches us to be more disciplined, it also reminds us of our own fragility and weak nature. It reminds us that, at the end of the day, we are all human beings.
We make mistakes.
We fall short of expectations.
And we can’t always control our desires.
Yet, we are reminded that the time is always right to do what’s right. The time is always right to show kindness, compassion, empathy, generosity, patience, and charity to help those who are less fortunate.
Ramadan reminds us of the sense of community so many of us forget in the busyness of our everyday life.
Ramadan reminds us to fall back on our family and friends when times get tough.
Ramadan reminds us to be humble and forgive others.
And, most important of all, Ramadan reminds us to give to others, even if we don’t have much ourselves.
It is that spirit that Ramadan instills in us that reminds us exactly what it means to be human. I will indeed miss this month, its beautiful traditions, and the sense of community it brings us ... but I’d be lying if I said I’m not excited to return to my morning coffee.
