Well, here we are again, in the Muslim Holy Month of Ramadan. And would you believe it, Prof. Madder has now been fasting for four days! And lovin’ it!
It wasn’t always this way, alas. When I first started to fast, sometime in the year 2000, I contemplated the start of the fasting month with the same enthusiasm as someone who was about to face the firing squad. After climbing naked up a mountain face covered in broken glass.
It wasn’t easy for a convert like me, who has always loved his food whenever and wherever he wants it, to take on the challenge of spending the whole day without a drop of drink, or a morsel of food, from sun-up to sun-down. And that in a country with a hot, humid tropical climate which sucks the moisture out of you like a sponge.
But that’s what I did. Oh, and I also gave up the demon drink too, after a lifetime of enthusiastic alcoholic jollity. Haven’t touched a drop for almost ten years now.
It is much easier to fast, and indeed to give up alcohol, when you are surrounded by people who are also doing the same thing. When I knew that I was going to live in Malaysia, the decision for me to stop taking the odd whiskey was easy, and when everyone else is fasting, you feel guilty if you sneak an illicit slice of bread or a forbidden sip of water. So you don’t do it.
My wife’s family were instrumental in helping me to learn to get used to fasting, supporting me and encouraging me all the time. My first couple of fasting months were largely spent at my wife’s family home in Tawau, Sabah, and I would frequently lie down on the bed to let me drown my hunger and thirst in the oblivion of sleep.
But in recent years, I have had to experience my fasting while going to work. Luckily, since 2002, I have worked at a public university, where the culture is largely Malay Muslim, so about 70 percent of my students and fellow lecturers are also fasting, and consequently there is a feeling of camaraderie. Even those non-Muslims who do not fast will steadfastly support and tolerate those who do.
Let me dispel some misconceptions about the fasting month that my fellow “cursed” white men might still harbour since 911. The reason why Muslims fast is not because some turbaned and bearded cleric orders them to do so at the point of a sword. It is not a forced activity. There is a line in the Quran that clearly states “let there be no compulsion in religion”.
Instead, fasting is one of the essential pillars of faith for Muslims, and it is intended to remind believers of the plight of those not as fortunate as themselves. People fast because they genuinely wish to do so, and it is a holy requirement. The Muslim month of Ramadan is also the month in which the Holy Quran was first revealed to the Prophet Mohammed. So it’s a very special time for Muslims, quite literally a month like no other.
And when the fasting period is over, we have the festival of Eid-il-fitri, known in Malaysia as Hari Raya Puasa (fasting festival day in Malay). That’s when Muslims celebrate the end of the fasting period with family gatherings, prayers, open house parties and, you’ve guessed it, food!
Doubters and detractors might ask “OK, so how can you be helping the poor if you can eat as much as you like after you break your fast? The poor don’t have that choice, surely?” Well, yes. But in my experience, whenever I break my fast at about 6. 40 in the evening, I can’t eat very much, because my stomach has contracted during the day. In fact, Muslims are not encouraged to eat or drink too much when they break their fast, in case they get ill!
Of course, fasting is not a piece of cake (pardon the pun!). For me, the hardest part about fasting is the fact that I have to wake up at four in the morning then force food down my neck, into a stomach that is still sleeping. Normally, I can never eat anything until at least 8 in the morning, without throwing up. But over the years, it has got slowly and steadily easier, especially if I don’t eat heavy or spicy food. Also, I have discovered that good old fashioned water – Adam’s Ale – is better to drink before fasting than other drinks such as coffee or tea, which can make you puke. So I drink as many glasses of water as I can before I have to stop for the day.
Other side-effects of fasting, which I still suffer from but endure, include a general weariness and headache that usually hits me sometime around three in the afternoon. This feeling of tiredness sometimes makes me lose focus, and work slowly, although I categorically deny that it had any effect on my minor car accident last week! That happened before I started fasting anyway!!
The tiredness felt while fasting can in any case be reduced and removed entirely, especially if I have had a good sleep the night before and have had plenty of water. They say human beings can go for days without food, but cannot last very long without water. So, for those of you who may be fasting for the first time, make sure you fill your tanks well at the start of the day!
Although the journey has not always been smooth, my fasting experience has been increasingly easier and better over the years thanks to the love and support of my wife and friends. And of course the Almighty. Also, I look upon the fasting month as my annual diet – something I really need at the moment! It’s a period of spiritual and physical cleansing, and at the end of it, you feel good to be alive.
So here’s to October 13th, which is the expected time of the Eid festival in Malaysia. To my Muslim friends, colleagues and students, Selamat Berpuasa (happy fasting)!
No comments:
Post a Comment