I am not a Muslim. I am a non-practicing agnostic who was raised in a loving and supportive household by two wonderful Roman Catholic parents whose faith I admire but do not fully understand and cannot replicate. It is through no fault of theirs that I am not a more religious person and although they would be thrilled to hear that I faith has become a central part of my life, they show great patience each time they discover this is not the case. Despite an inability to integrate the rituals of religion and deep faith into my life, I try my best to live a decent life, to help and respect my friends, family, and worldly neighbors, and to generally do my part to leave things in a better state than I found them in.
But back to the first words of this post and its title. I am not a Muslim, so I am not the best person to write about the month of Ramadan. But since Ramadan dominates most conversations I have these days and since this is my blog, that will be the topic of this week's blog.
Ramadan will most likely start on what we consider to be August 1, but on the date that the Muslim calendar would call the first day of Ramadan (no coincidence). Since Islam follows a lunar calendar, the new month starts when the new moon appears. This year, most people are predicting a sliver of moon will be seen in the sky on August 1, thus triggering 29-30 days of Ramadan. However, it could start as early as July 31. Whenever the moon first appears and the imam in Saudi Arabia declares it to be Ramadan, the following will also begin:
Fasting:
The most prominent and tangible aspect of Ramadan is fasting from sunrise to sunset. Unlike in another religion with which I am familiar where fasting might mean abstaining from beef or chicken and hoarding instead on mounds of fried fish, in Islam fasting is taken very seriously. No food. No drink. All day. For 30 consecutive days. This means that the first meal of the day is eaten before the sun rises and dinner (or iftar) is served in the evening. The fast is generally broken with dates and water or juice so as not to stress the hungry body with a sudden influx of food but to introduce some hydration and calories to the system. But soon thereafter, large meals are served.
Even for those of us who don't officially fast, Ramadan naturally brings sacrifices from food and drink. Eating and drinking in public is highly frowned upon and the majority of food establishments aren't open during the daytime. (Some restaurants even close for the entire month for major remodeling or maintenance projects.) Thus, eating and drinking during the day needs to be well planned and done discreetly.
Winter time:
According to the British (and Palestinians), daylight savings time is called 'summer time' and standard time is called 'winter time.' (Before I knew this, I thought I had observed an extreme display of hubris when I saw a headline that said Israel had decided to extend summer time into October. As if they have the ability to alter seasonal shifts...) Anyway, the Palestinian Authority recently announced that when Ramadan starts we will go back to winter time--the clocks will roll back one hour. Jerusalem, however, which I can basically see from my apartment window, will stay on summer time. So if I have a meeting in Jerusalem during Ramadan at 9am, I need to anticipate the one hour time warp that I will encounter 5 miles down the road.
Questionable productivity potential:
I don't like to write about work in this blog, but I will mention one small work-related thing here. I am very interested to find out whether my ability to get things accomplished at work will increase or decrease during Ramadan. Like other workplaces, we are reducing our official daily work hours by 1.5 hours. I've been warned that some people and organizations use Ramadan as an excuse not to do much work. This could be highly unfortunate if I'm relying on contributions or participation by others to help accomplish important tasks. On the other hand, this could play to my advantage if it means fewer distractions and more opportunities to focus on tasks I can make progress on independently. Either way, the work isn't going away--perhaps just the pressure to get it done on a tight timeline will be reduced.
----
And so that concludes my current Ramadan observations, other than to mention that this upcoming Ramadan could be very difficult for those observing the fast. The long summer days will translate to more hours between sunrise and sundown and thus a longer period of fasting. The hot August weather will mean dehydration is more likely.
Whether you're Muslim or not, and whether you're fasting or not, Unimpossible Life wishes you peace, love, and happiness over the coming weeks.
Until next time...
But back to the first words of this post and its title. I am not a Muslim, so I am not the best person to write about the month of Ramadan. But since Ramadan dominates most conversations I have these days and since this is my blog, that will be the topic of this week's blog.
Ramadan will most likely start on what we consider to be August 1, but on the date that the Muslim calendar would call the first day of Ramadan (no coincidence). Since Islam follows a lunar calendar, the new month starts when the new moon appears. This year, most people are predicting a sliver of moon will be seen in the sky on August 1, thus triggering 29-30 days of Ramadan. However, it could start as early as July 31. Whenever the moon first appears and the imam in Saudi Arabia declares it to be Ramadan, the following will also begin:
Fasting:
The most prominent and tangible aspect of Ramadan is fasting from sunrise to sunset. Unlike in another religion with which I am familiar where fasting might mean abstaining from beef or chicken and hoarding instead on mounds of fried fish, in Islam fasting is taken very seriously. No food. No drink. All day. For 30 consecutive days. This means that the first meal of the day is eaten before the sun rises and dinner (or iftar) is served in the evening. The fast is generally broken with dates and water or juice so as not to stress the hungry body with a sudden influx of food but to introduce some hydration and calories to the system. But soon thereafter, large meals are served.
Even for those of us who don't officially fast, Ramadan naturally brings sacrifices from food and drink. Eating and drinking in public is highly frowned upon and the majority of food establishments aren't open during the daytime. (Some restaurants even close for the entire month for major remodeling or maintenance projects.) Thus, eating and drinking during the day needs to be well planned and done discreetly.
Winter time:
According to the British (and Palestinians), daylight savings time is called 'summer time' and standard time is called 'winter time.' (Before I knew this, I thought I had observed an extreme display of hubris when I saw a headline that said Israel had decided to extend summer time into October. As if they have the ability to alter seasonal shifts...) Anyway, the Palestinian Authority recently announced that when Ramadan starts we will go back to winter time--the clocks will roll back one hour. Jerusalem, however, which I can basically see from my apartment window, will stay on summer time. So if I have a meeting in Jerusalem during Ramadan at 9am, I need to anticipate the one hour time warp that I will encounter 5 miles down the road.
Questionable productivity potential:
I don't like to write about work in this blog, but I will mention one small work-related thing here. I am very interested to find out whether my ability to get things accomplished at work will increase or decrease during Ramadan. Like other workplaces, we are reducing our official daily work hours by 1.5 hours. I've been warned that some people and organizations use Ramadan as an excuse not to do much work. This could be highly unfortunate if I'm relying on contributions or participation by others to help accomplish important tasks. On the other hand, this could play to my advantage if it means fewer distractions and more opportunities to focus on tasks I can make progress on independently. Either way, the work isn't going away--perhaps just the pressure to get it done on a tight timeline will be reduced.
----
And so that concludes my current Ramadan observations, other than to mention that this upcoming Ramadan could be very difficult for those observing the fast. The long summer days will translate to more hours between sunrise and sundown and thus a longer period of fasting. The hot August weather will mean dehydration is more likely.
Whether you're Muslim or not, and whether you're fasting or not, Unimpossible Life wishes you peace, love, and happiness over the coming weeks.
Until next time...
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