The cultural and spiritual significance of Ramadan. I REMEMBER
MY first fast. I was nine, and my family had just migrated from
Pakistan to a bitterly cold London. My mother woke me up around
four in the morning to have something to eat to start the fast.
That was the hardest thing for me to do. The winter of 1961 was
severely harsh; and February, the month of Ramadan, was awash
with snow. But the fast itself was a doddle. The days were
rather short and it was all over by about four in the afternoon.
I was back from school just in time to break the fast. Fasting
in Islam is a month-long affair. Muslims fast throughout the
month of Ramadan from just before sunrise until sunset. The
Islamic calendar is based on the cycles of the moon. It began on
the 16th of July 622 with the migration of the Prophet Muhammad
from Mecca to Medina. The lunar year is shorter than the solar
year and the months drift in relation to the seasons, going
through all four seasons in a cycle of 32.5 years. Fasting in
Ramadan can thus be e