Ramadan, Lockdown and a Confusing Time

My Day in a Surreal World, by Danila

Laughter erupts from the other room, where the TV is playing and the household members without work enjoy their luxury to the utmost. I ignore my every instinct to go and see what’s funny, and plough on with my school work.

It sounds sad enough, but it’s the new normal during the Coronavirus quarantine. I have been meaning to write out my experiences for a long time – as soon as lockdown began actually – but in the times when I wasn’t doing schoolwork, it was hard to feel motivated in the current climate to undertake anything new.

This month, the blessed month of Ramadan, both renewed my wish to record my routine, and hindered the process of writing it down. But, with less than a week until Eid, it was time to collect the scraps of thoughts floating around my head, and string them into some form of coherency.

Mini-fasts at the weekend, Iftar dinners with local jamaat (Muslim community) members, and a big family Eid was how Ramadan was usually spent. But this year is different with everyone being confined to their homes. We can still have communal Iftar (breaking the fast) sessions but they are held virtually, I can keep mini-fasts every day because I’m at home all week, and family Eid may have to be over video call. In order to protect against COVID-19, we have all had to change our lifestyles, and so this Ramadan has been spent differently.

My day begins before dawn. Every morning – with a staggered start for wudhu (ablution for prayer) – we are all awake by around 2:45am, to perform our Tahajjud (pre-dawn voluntary) prayer, before convening in the family room for toast, paratha (fried flatbread traditional during Ramadan), or whatever accessible delicacy we are craving so early in the morning. When time is up, we read The Holy Qur’an in the sitting room, and perform our Fajr (dawn) Prayer in congregation behind my dad. Then we go back to bed.

As Islam says fasting is only for healthy adults, it’s important for me not to keep full fasts, regardless of whether I could do them or not (to clarify: I don’t think I could). Because of this, I keep “mini-fasts”, eating at Suhoor (pre dawn), again at 3 o’clock, and then waiting until Iftar (sunset). I prefer to do this, because it helps me feel the true meaning of fasting, without detrimentally starving myself.

Two weeks before lockdown, schools were closed and home learning was begun. Though it has become easier to know what to do, being in Year 10 means that the “lessons” are difficult, and so it’s not easy – even now – to be systematic (much to the disapproval of the timetable on my wall).

These days, while keeping a mini-fast I end up waking a little later than I did during the first few weeks of lockdown, and taking a bit of time to relax and watch TV before the day’s work. I get in almost three hours of Geography, History, or English, before pausing for Zuhr (early afternoon) Prayer. Then, I eat my one mid-fast meal.

After I have eaten, I return to work, before pausing for Asr (late afternoon) Prayer. I then work until after half past eight; this is when I finish my school day, and read Qur’an until Iftar (breaking the fast at sunset).

In the past, on a Friday, we would listen to our Caliph, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, deliver his weekly sermon, before going to our local Mubarak mosque in Islamabad, Tilford, for the Jumma (Friday) Prayer. These days, though we still listen to his sermon, we pray at home instead, with a short sermon delivered by my dad.

While being at home, it’s easier to truly participate in Ramadan. When I was going to school, I left my mini-fasts for the weekends because I had to keep my energy up during the weekdays. Even though I still do lessons, I can now keep fasts everyday, as well as read more of The Holy Qur’an and pray five times in congregation, which is important during this month.

Because of the recent Coronavirus situation, gathering at the mosque for Iftar cannot be done like they used to. This would have left a forlorn feeling if True Islam UK had not undertaken to organise the “Big Virtual Iftar” each week on YouTube, with thoughtful lectures, and stories about Ramadan while social distancing.

So that, in a nutshell, is my average day in this world of lockdown. I wonder if, one day, this will be studied as source material in a History class.