Ramadan 2021

Yes, it has started once again. Truthfully, I don't even know how many Ramadans this has been for me. Folks will sometimes ask me when I converted but I can never remember exactly. As we discussed before, while converting is a big deal in Islam, it's also not one that has much ceremony so I don't have a public event that I can use as a benchmark. To think of it another way: living the life of a Muslim is a big deal, but the structure wherein one converts is less of a big deal. Once again I'll be fasting, as I always do. I tell people all the time that while fasting is all anyone outside of the faith seems to know about Ramadan, to me fasting is much less important than the time devoted to reading the Quran and the Hadith, as well as to meditation and self-reflection. Nevertheless, I always fast and this year will be no different. If there is anything different this year it will be that, factoring in my current physical challenges and having to get both COVID shots this month, I'm going to be a little easier on myself; essentially, monitor how I'm feeling and avoid my normal bull-headed approach to everything, maybe take a day off from fasting (although not from study and self-reflection) and make it up later (which is actually built into the system).

Because Islam is on a lunar calendar Ramadan moves forward around ten days every year, which means that the early stage of fasting this year aren't bad at all. By the end of the month the period of fasting will have stretched out by around another hour and a half. By the time I'm seventy-two, if, by some miracle I live that long, Ramadan will be at its shortest in the middle of those long Vermont winters (it won't be much more than skipping lunch). Now, Ramadan fasting during a Vermont summer, that's a whole other thing.