Fasting for East Africa

I am fasting for East Africa on Friday August 19, 2011. Are you?

Please show some solidarity to our famine stricken brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and friends on Friday August 19th, 2011 and Fast for East Africa.

Remember them in your prayers while fasting.

Donate to charities of your choice.

Discuss it with your family, and friends.

Save the image in this blog post and make it your profile picture till or on the day (can anyone help with making it better :-P)

Any other help, suggestions, etc.

Regards,
MAC

Day 3 - Fasting is beyond religion! I urge everyone to try it

Fasting Buddha by Cea

Something happened yesterday that made me think of fasting as a practice that has connotations beyond any religion and deeper into the humanity in general. Around 4:00 PM, I was really hungry and exhausted and a passing thought came to my mind that I wont be able to carry on till 7:00 PM and I was just thinking about one thing or another, and I accidentally looked at the newspaper and the heading caught my attention. It was about East African people and specially kids who don't get a meal for weeks and I started realizing that how much we have and how much we don't care for and the very thought that I am somehow being able to feel their suffering on a very small scale created a relationship between me and those kids.

Photo By: Kevin Carter, The New York Times

I also realized that I am fasting by choice and those young little kids and their families have no choice. The amount of food one person consumes during Sehr and Iftaar is more than what those kids get in weeks. In addition to that, the wastage that goes around is something that is so arrogant and selfish. Yet, I have gone around for years not giving it even a second thought. How cruel and selfish we have become as a society.

For next three hours I thought of different ways I could help those children and that is why fasting turned out to be an eye-opening experience. That temporary relationship that was created between me and those kids forced me to think and plan for something for hours. If I was not fasting, it would be just another news, but due to that connection that fasting gave me, forced me not only to think about possible actions for hours, but resulted in actions as well (maybe more on this in a later post).

Dear All readers, regardless of what religion you follow, I strongly recommend that you at least try fasting once or twice during this month. I am sure, once you do it, you will definitely have an experience to share. It will not only allow you to have solidarity for poor and famine struck people in Africa and many other regions of the world where kids don't get the basic necessities of life like food, water, and shelter but will give you mental and physical advantages as well.

I always told my kids about the poor kids of India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan to try to teach them not to waste food but that was merely a parenting trick but it all came home yesterday in those three hours.

Regards,
MAC

Day 2 - TIme Management is the key to survive Ramadan

One of the key aspects of having a successful Ramadan spiritually and physically is to manage your time well. Work, Family, Friends, Studies, Seher, Iftaar, Prayers, Quran, Dars, Fasting, Taraweeh, and the most important precious sleep. All of these things have to be managed on daily basis.

Photo by Ryan Hyde

Please make sure that you have a plan and order of priority for all of these. I recommend that you must try to steal sleep whenever you can. 30 minutes here, an hour there during the day, You will thank me for this. Any extra time that you may still have, try to spend it in something constructive. No Mafia Wars, No XBOX, PS3, Wii, and no soap operas for few days and you will realize that how much time you really have in your life despite all the commitments. 

Despite all the constraints, you will find yourself able to listen to others more keenly and yourself more critically and you will find that as the food consumption goes down (if it does) the brain activity goes up. This is remarkable but true. Give it a try. Gradually reduce your food consumption during the Seher, and Iftaar by few grams at a time and see how your body and brain responds. 

Regards,

MAC

Day 1 - Few things I want to share

Few things that I want to share:

within a couple of hours of launching the blog, I had hits from 11 different countries including, USA, UAE, Canada, Pakistan, France, Saudi Arabia, Ireland, Sweden, Germany, and Finland. It maybe a normal thing but I loved it as I want to share this wonderful spiritual experience with all Muslim and non-Muslim friends alike without boundaries of religion. Thank you very much to every visitor and keep sharing your comments!

Second thing is that by default, only registered users could post the comments and it was a hassle for many friends specially in the busy days of Ramadan. I have changed that and now there is no need to register for sharing your comments.

In addition, I found myself extremely productive, and much more calm and composed. Its still over 3 and half hours to go before Iftaar and I did not felt hungry so far. I feel my body and mind trying to detoxify itself. so far so good.

MAC

Day 1 - Seher, Prayers, and Quran

For Seher, we had some delicious parathas (whole wheat loaf with butter) with some unsweetened cream with a cup of tea and it was a wonderful Sehar(breakfast).

Seher is important both for physical and spiritual reasons but all this wonderful breakfast is nothing compared to the real spiritual breakfast that follows it. The prayers in the morning have its special status among all prayers mainly because it is very early in the morning. 4:20 in the morning was the time of Fajr prayers today. 

When all the world sleeps and everything is quiet, it is the most spiritually satisfying time to pray. It is the time when one can concentrate (except in Mirdif, where it is one of the most frequent landing and take off times from the nearby airport :-p ) and can be assured that his / her prayer is not to show anyone, as no one is watching. The only reason one prays at morning is the spiritual purification one receives. 

This follows by the recitation / reading of Quran. With uncontested concentration, one ponders over the words that are sent as guidance and way of life. 

It is very important that one doesn't only read the Arabic but also reads the translation (except Arabic speaking people, of course). Arabic keeps reader in touch with the original text and provides the "pot" that keeps that real food fresh and unspoiled, while translation provides the nourishment that is way better than any paratha and cream. 

There are 30 parts in Quran and there are 30 days in Ramadan. One should strive to read one part per day so at least one round is complete during Ramadan. However, it is not something that is very easy to do and the least anyone can do is to acquire the taste, and follow the routine throughout the year.

What a perfect start of a morning! Fasting Day 1 and a long day ahead. 

Stay tuned, and feel free to share your experiences, comments, suggestions, tips, guides.

MAC

Day 0 - Tips about Seher and Iftaar diet

Disclaimer: This is not a medical or dietary advice. This is just my experience and experience of people around me in family and friends. If you have any medical condition, please consult your physician for advice.

Now that we are absolutely clear on the above, I hope that you will enjoy and benefit from the following:

photo by passionfusion

1. Don't change your food too much in Ramadan. It should be very similar to normal days and simple. Focus on self improvement and allow yourself and your family more time to focus on the self improvement during Ramadan rather than remaining busy in preparing elaborate meals.
2. Too much of refined sugar and refined flour and you will feel exhausted before the mid day. It is because it burns fast, causes body to produce excessive insulin and lowers the blood sugar level. Avoid it as much as you can.
3. If you are a smoker, you will have withdrawal symptoms. don't rush to smoke immediately after Iftaar. you have waited all day long, wait for few more minutes. let your body energize before you start smoking. If you can, this is the best time of year to quit. You prove yourself daily that you can! think about it.
4. Use whole wheat flour, fruits with skin, yogurt, and food that is high in fiber and your body will retain nutritional balance whole day.
5. Despite the temptation, stay away from fried and fatty foods (as much as you can). If you are like me and must have those pakoras, samosas, and kachooris, do so in moderation and balance it with fruits and yogurt.
6. Drink as much water as you can after Iftaar and before sleeping. This helps body normalize fluid levels. Eating juicy fruits is much better than fruit juices due to higher sugar intake in juices but they are the second best alternate.
7. Try to avoid carbonated drinks. They have truckloads of sugar and fructose. 

Feel free to share your experience in comments.

Signing Off for Day 0

MAC

Day 0 - The night before Ramadan and few friendly tips!

In addition to exchanging dozens of messages from my friends and family wishing and congratulating me and family on Ramadan, the phone has been ringing continuously. Some of the friends that I haven't met in a while called up. Some friends are in town and are making plans to meet up after Iftaar (breaking the fast).

There are invitations flowing around and there are already date conflicts as there are only 4 weekends. As a tip, in Ramadan, it is good to socialize and meet people in a relaxed atmosphere but also be conscious of the fact that this is one opportunity to do some soul searching and meditation along with prayers. 

I am not saying keep praying all the time, but just give yourself those moments when you can do an yearly analysis of what you wanted to do same time last year and how you wanted to be a better father, son, husband, and a Muslim and how you did it or if you are more like me, why you couldn't do it. 

Take it easy, relax your body and mind and try to leave the craziness behind and try to come out of this month as a more mature person. 

Drive Responsibly, if you are late for anything by few minutes, it is understandable, but do not jeopardize your life and lives of your loved ones and others whom you share the road with. Ramadan is about sharing and caring and not about madness and rudeness. 

Plan your day and stick to your plan as much as you can but get ready to be flexible. If you have planned to pray at home but your wife wants to go and meet some relatives or friends, its not end of the world. Talk to her and be flexible. the rights of people and the rights of God, both are important.

Be nice to your family. The best among you are those who are good with their families.

God bless you all and remember me when you pray.

Day 0 - My effort to see Ramadan Moon

Image by Marlon Malabanan

I stepped out of my home in Mirdif, Dubai in an effort to see Ramadan moon (crescent) immediately after Maghreb prayers with my sons Tahir & Tayyab. We kept looking at the spot where we expected the moon to appear for 15-20 minutes with no luck.

I decided to take help from technology, and whipped out my Android phone and downloaded the "Google Sky Map". it detected my location by default and pointed me to a certain point in the sky. I immediately tracked down the moon and disappointingly enough, it was below the horizon already. I already knew that it was too late but tried the "time travel" feature of the app and found out that moon will continue to go further down and there is no point in waiting. 

It is already announced that Ramadan will be tomorrow so this quest was only symbolic in nature. 

Isha Prayer today is 8:29 PM

Tomorrow's prayer timings are as following:

FAJR:  04:25

SHURUQ: 05:45

DUHR 12:30

ASR 15:56

MAGHRIB 19:08

ISHA 20:38

All timings are Dubai.

Off for the prayers.

Allah Hafiz

About this blog

Image by rana ossama 

There is a lot of information available on the web on Fasting and Ramadan and I am not just going to create another source of information by replicating all the information already available. I want it to be a discussion with myself and other friends who want to feel it with me. In next 30 days, I'll blog about various aspects of Ramadan as I experience them and a lot of information may find its way into this blog.

Thank you for experiencing Ramadan with me.
Regards,
MAC