Muslim youth balance busy schedules while fasting during Ramadan

Nadim Khan, 23, left, and Aneesa Khan, 16, talk about their experiences with Ramadan when they were younger. The age at which young Muslims begin fasting for the first time varies. (Brian Feulner/News-Sentinel)

Muslim youth balance busy schedules while fasting during Ramadan

By Matt Brown
News-Sentinel Staff Writer

Saturday, October 6, 2007 6:52 AM PDT

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Nawaz Shah is a typical, busy Sacramento State University student except for one thing.

Shah, a Lodi resident, commutes to school then drives back for work at the Lodi Boys and Girls Club. Most of the other students in Shah's marketing classes who lead hectic lives have the advantage of a healthy breakfast, a power lunch and a few recharging sodas throughout the day.

But Shah doesn't eat his first meal of the day until the sun goes down.

Like other Muslims in Lodi and around the world, Shah, 22, is fasting in observance of Ramadan, the holiest month in the Islamic calendar. Going without food for 30 days to show solidarity with those less fortunate can be difficult, even for the most devout. But it is especially challenging for modern Muslim youth who balance school, work and sports all on an empty stomach.

"It has its challenges," Shah said. "The beginning of Ramadan is crazy. I have been eating every day and then all of a sudden nothing. It takes a little while, but you get used to it."

Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar, begins with the sighting of the first crescent moon. In Lodi, the moon was seen on Sept. 13 and fasting began on the next day. Muslims are encouraged to focus on their religion during Ramadan, and the five daily prayers and giving to charity become even more important.

Some scholars say that God revealed the Quran, or Islamic holy book, to the prophet Muhammad during Ramadan.

Since the Islamic lunar year is 12 days shorter than the solar year, Ramadan migrates throughout the seasons. In the years when Ramadan falls during summer, when the days are longer, the sunrise-to-sunset fast is even more challenging.

A typical day for Shah, who was born in Pakistan and came to Lodi at age seven, begins before dawn with a bowl of cereal. Other more traditional Pakistanis eat parata, a flat bread, with scrambled eggs and tea. He leaves Lodi for Sacramento at 7 a.m. After five back-to-back classes, he drives back to Lodi, where he works as a site director at the Boys and Girls Club from 2 to 6 p.m.

The fast is broken at 6:50 p.m., and Shah said the time between work and the evening meal is the hardest part of Ramadan.

"The last minute seems to take forever," he said. "You smell that food laid out for you. Sometimes I stall myself at work doing paperwork so I don't come home too soon and have to wait."

Ramadan at a glance

• Ramadan is the ninth and holiest month in the Islamic Calendar.

• Muslims are encouraged to focus on their religious practice including fasting, praying five time daily and giving to charity.

• Ramadan begins with the sighting of the first crescent moon of the month. Since the lunar calendar is 12 days shorter than the solar year, Ramadan migrates throughout the seasons.

• The month began on Sept. 13 and will end with the celebration of Eid ul-Fitr on Oct. 12.

Source: Council on American Islamic-Relations

The evening meal during Ramadan brings families together, Shah said.

"We all sit together and eat," he said. "We talk and pray, all that good stuff. It shows you about family values."

Shah, his parents, sister-in-law, two brothers and their children all gather around the table at sunset for a big meal featuring rice, chicken and curry.

While Shah spends his day engulfed in school and work, other Muslim youths play sports without eating or drinking.

Before Tokay High School cross-country practice on Friday, Zubair Khan, 17, joked around with his teammates, some of whom were drinking from water bottles. But Khan, who coach Larry Helwig said is the seventh best runner on the team, runs miles without taking a drink.

Khan's friends tease him and tell him he could be a better runner if he wasn't fasting, but he sticks by his beliefs.

"They make fun of me," Khan said. "But I don't care what they say."

Tokay High graduate Nadim Khan, who is not related to Zubair Khan, was on the football team one year during Ramadan. He said the hardest part was going without water.

"I would get really tired and thirsty," said Nadim Khan, 23. "I tried to drink a lot of water during the morning (before sunrise). When you are busy during the day, you start dragging toward the evening."

Aneesa Khan, who is not related to Zubair Khan or Nadim Khan, is a 16-year-old junior at Tokay High. During lunch time, she hangs out with friends who are fasting, and they encourage each other to make it through the day without eating. She said the non-Muslim students are respectful and don't eat around her.

Zubair Khan, 17, talks about the challenges of being a Tokay High School cross country runner and fasting through Ramadan on Friday. Even with the cross country practices, Khan will not drink water until sundown, when he breaks the fast. (Brian Feulner/News-Sentinel)

"Lunch is especially hard," she said. "We all try to help each other out. My (non-Muslim) friends try to not eat in front of me. They help out."

Not eating all day doesn't seem to affect Muslim students' temperment or performance in school, according to Sheila Abdallah, a teacher and conflict management councilor at Tokay High.

"They seem to adjust well," she said. "They don't make a big deal out of fasting. If anything, they are more respectful and calm because it's a holy month."

At the end of Ramadan, Muslims celebrate Eid ul-Fitr with a big feast of barbecued meat and curry. Extended families get together, eat and give presents during Eid, which is Oct. 12 this year.

Some of her friends cheat and sneak food during the month, but Aneesa Khan said the Eid celebration is much more rewarding if she fasts all 30 days during Ramadan.

"If I keep it up during the whole month, Eid just feels better," she said. "It is like I accomplished something."

Most Muslims start fasting once they hit puberty. Shah said he was taught to fast to show sympathy for people around the world who go hungry each day not by choice, but by necessity.

"We do it to understand how people who don't have food and water feel," he said. "We are fortunate in this country to have food. Also, it shows self control. Obesity is a big problem and yet there are people who are starving."

Contact reporter Matt Brown at mattb@lodinews.com.

Reader Feedback

real facts wrote on Oct 12, 2007 4:36 PM:

" see what i mean? silence is an answer. two days have gone by, and not ONE muslim has made a comment concerning what assertions i made about them. it's because it's true. either they are afraid to denounce it because they know it appears that they are siding with the "infidels", or they really DO believe that aspects of retaliation by muslims/islam are justified. either way ...NOTHING. now would be a good time for a muslim to come forward and clear the air (and prove that islam is "peaceful") "

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