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When I was a kid, my parents encouraged me to fast from sunrise to sundown during the month of Ramadan. The first time I fasted was at age 7. Around the afternoon, I could not continue so I broke my fast prematurely that day. At least I got half credit for my efforts. Ever since I have fasted annually, and from sunrise to sundown.
The last 10 days of March 2023 will mark the first 10 days of Ramadan — a month when Muslims devote their time, attention and energy to serving God. Ramadan has three dimensions — personal, social and spiritual.
First, observant Muslims look inward and practice mindfulness in their daily actions because they cannot eat, drink or have sex from sunrise to sundown — abstinence performed at the will of and service to God — for an entire calendar month each year. Muslims aim to emerge from Ramadan transformed.
Second, although Ramadan is about the individual looking inward, it is also about the community, as the purpose of fasting is largely to remind Muslims of those who live in chronic poverty. Ramadan provides all observant Muslims with a "shared human experience" as they change their daily habits, sometimes dramatically.
For example, where I grew up, in Yemen, Ramadan changes the spirit of the community completely. People congregate at night instead of during the day. The mosques get full, similar to the large collective focus on the Super Bowl or "March Madness" here in the United States. Even those who don't regularly attend the mosque show up during Ramadan.
However, the social aspect of Ramadan has been compromised since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, as Muslims could neither pray nor socialize together in congregations. The communal aspect of Ramadan has come to a halt. But as we are slowly transitioning back to normalcy, this Ramadan might be different.
