Here is a lovely story shared from a Woman in Scotland who is "non-Muslim" but wished to have the Ramadan experience... “I have been raised Catholic but I have always been interested in other religions and recently I have been particularly interested in Islam and have been researching it and reading a lot about it. I talked about this with two of my friends who are Muslim and told them that I would really like to experience Ramadan. They kindly offered me the opportunity of sharing Ramadan with them on Sunday (28th of August). I have to say that I’m so glad I took up this opportunity as I learned such a lot from this experience. On Sunday morning, I felt fine and I didn’t think about food and drink too much. I carried on with the day as I normally would. However, when it came to just after lunchtime, I began to feel very tired and my head hurt. I will be honest and say that there were more than a few points during that day when I was tempted to break my fast. At one point in particular, I was looking at a box of chocolates and I felt so tempted to eat one! However, I reminded myself that I was fasting for God and I thought about all the people in the world who are starving, who do not have clean water to drink and who do not know when their next meal will be. With these thoughts in mind, I was able to continue fasting throughout the day. I went to my friends house a few hours before Iftar, which really helped as we were able to support each other during the final hours of our fast. When we broke our fast together, I was so grateful to be able to eat and I have never enjoyed a meal so much in my life as I was so thankful for it! Iftar was a wonderful experience. I loved breaking my fast with my friends and really enjoyed eating together. I can see now how Ramadan brings people closer as a community! Overall, fasting has made me realize how very lucky I am to be able to have a drink when I want to and to be able to eat any kind of food at any time of the day. It is amazing just how much we take eating and drinking for granted. Throughout the afternoon and evening, I felt drained and lethargic. Feeling like this has made me aware of how a lot of people in the world must feel everyday and how important it is for us to help others who are less fortunate than ourselves and who do not always have food to eat. I would like to finish by saying how thankful I am to my friends for offering to share Ramadan with me. I learned so much from this experience and I felt such a sense of pride that I was able to fast throughout the whole day. I am also very proud of all Muslims and all non-Muslims throughout the world who fasted during Ramadan. It not only brings everyone together as a community and helps us to feel closer to God, but it also makes us realise just how much we take for granted and how important it is to help others.”
Posted on: Sun, 14 Jul 2013 18:35:14 +0000