American Muslim

My First Ramadan - Thoughts on Dieting and 'Taraweeh'

'Bismillah Rahmanir Rahim' (In the name of Allah, the Beneficient, the Merciful)

It has been a very interesting - and already I feel life-changing - three days for me as I fast during my first Ramadan ('subbanallah'). The biggest revelation has been the ease with which I am able to fast. Perhaps, I was over-estimating the difficulty of fasting in my last post on this subject, but I can also see how there is a certain art and science to fasting. I mean, it's almost as if Muslims should take a class on physiology to understand how the human body works. Some of my brothers and sisters don't understand that the stomach is a balloon and the reason why Americans on average are heavier than others is simply because Americans are used to eating larger portions of food. The more food you eat on average per meal, the larger your stomach will be. However, if you limit your food consumption, your stomach capacity will shrink, so that you require less food to make you feel. This is the science and rationale behind my own approach to fasting. I have seriously limited my food intake even after breaking the fast, so I'm just not as hungry as I was even four days ago. It is also 'sunnah' (i.e. an action that the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) performed and is therefore, considered good) to fast regularly, which I might start doing even after Ramadan is over. Perhaps a discussion of food and eating in the Qu'ran for another day!

Besides fasting, the mind should also be concentrated on good thoughts and prayer towards Allah (SWT) between sunrise and sunset. After we break the fast by eating dates (also sunnah) and pray during 'maghrib', we then have an 'iftar' or fast-breaking meal. You would think after not eating a whole day, or maybe even 20 hours as I've been doing, you would gorge during the 'iftar'. Some people do and apparently gain weight during Ramadan, which baffles the mind. But, I have been eating really sensibly and have had no adverse effects yet. 'Ma'shallah' (thanks to Allah).

Finally, at the end of the night after the last required prayer during 'isha', we also do a special type of prayer only done during the month of Ramadan called 'taraweeh.' To those who remember one of my first posts about the methodology of prayer in Islam, you might remember my use of the word 'rakah,' which means one cycle of prayer. So, for example for 'fajr' or morning prayer, we do two rakah or two cycles of prayer. Well, for the 'taraweeh' which is done every night of Ramadan, we do 20 rakahs in sets of two and after every four, there is a short break for one to make 'dua' or personal prayers. And it's not just 20 cycles of just saying prayers and doing the motions, but during every rakah the imam or whoever is leading, also recites 'ayat' or verses of the Qu'ran - the idea being that 1/30 of the Qu'ran is recited every night so that the whole glorious book (subbanallah) is recited during the month. As you might imagine, 'taraweeh' takes some time and today - or I guess last night - my first group 'taraweeh' was about an hour. It was pretty brutal on my back and knees, but in'shallah, I will get used to it. I swear I heard a whole chorus of knees cracking during the final cycle.

Back to preparing an exam ...