Despite the suggestion of the title, this is not intended to be a post about what I’ve eaten over the past couple of weeks! Rather, I thought I would share my experience of this year’s Ramadan as we approach the end of the month.
Fortunately, this year, the shorter days have meant that the period of fasting each day is significantly reduced with my fast being broken just after 6pm. As someone who regularly skips breakfast, this has largely meant I am just skipping lunch too, so it’s not been too difficult to manage. Another knock-on effect of the shorter days is that the night prayer (or Taraweeh) during this month have also been earlier, allowing for more sleep during the night. In daily life, this has been welcome news to my colleagues and family who have enjoyed a much happier Saif than in previous years!
Taraweeh is an additional, longer prayer than the regular five per day for Muslims, usually observed at a mosque at around 8pm (or an hour later after the clocks went forward) this year, and generally takes around one and a half hours to complete, so having it at an earlier time allows plenty of time to get some water in before sleeping.
Having reaped the benefits of working from home slightly more since the start of Ramadan, those days also allow me to be able to prepare (or order) food with plenty of time before my meal at sunset (Iftar). With Ramadan also being a much more social time of the year, I have received lots of invites to iftars from friends and family, all of which have been accepted in a heartbeat!
Overall, my working life has remained relatively unchanged since the beginning of the month, particularly due to the slight flexibility of WFH an extra day or so. I am pleased to see that many employers are becoming more alert to ways in which they can help Muslims during this month including flexibility on working hours, office attendance, holidays, and managing lunch breaks. During a period where you may expect productivity levels to decrease, these measures can really help to mitigate the effects that fasting may have on Muslim employees.