大象传媒

From Sarah Joseph, Editor of a Muslim lifestyle magazine:听
I am in the final throes of getting things ready for Ramadan, the month of fasting, which begins next week. Muslims the world over will be abstaining from food and drink during daylight hours for 30 days. In our house, there are certain foods and drink which we only seem to eat during Ramadan. We make sure we have in really good quality dates, and the ingredients for all manner of special 鈥� 鈥渟low release鈥� nutritious dishes that will help sustain us through the fasts.听
But our Ramadan food also rather bizarrely includes fish fingers, and cheese and onion crisps. At no other point in the year do we eat either of these two things, yet at the breaking of almost every fast in our house we have them. Now, I spend a lot of time in denial before Ramadan. Every year I feel the same 鈥� basically terrified 鈥� convinced I can鈥檛 do it. And even the thought of those fish fingers and crisps doesn鈥檛 ease the situation. This year I have been following a countdown clock from 100 days. It鈥檚 amazing how quickly 100 comes down to five 鈥� which is where we are today. Five days until Ramadan!听
And yep 鈥� I鈥檓 super nervous! I have sometimes been told that I shouldn鈥檛 confess my fear in public, that I may put people off fasting. However, I feel that fact that I have fasted every year since 1988, rather speaks for itself. Sure, I鈥檓 terrified, but with the exception of my very first Ramadan, I know what I am getting myself into every year, and yet I do it anyway鈥� But explaining why isn鈥檛 always easy 鈥� particularly in an increasingly non-religious culture.听
So sometimes I hear myself making analogies to 5:2 fasting, and intermittent fasting, as if the holiest month in the Muslim calendar is some kind of new fad diet 鈥� and then I check myself. I fast to try and connect me closer to God. For me, it is a spiritual quest expressed and experienced through a physical trial.
And whilst I know I will be hungry and thirsty, it is not about the body. Rather it is about recognising my complete self: body, mind, and spirit, and accept that they all need attention if I am to be truly whole and at peace. And bizarrely, fish fingers and crisps can help鈥�