When the holy month is the hottest month

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Drywaller Alex Simard isn't missing food during the daylight hours of the Muslim holy month Ramadan. Water, on the other hand... (KEN GIGLIOTTI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS) Photo Store

For observant Muslims who give up food and water during the daylight hours of Ramadan, the holy month's timing this year during long, hot summer days adds to the challenge.

"The first few days are harder," said Alex Simard, a drywaller and plasterer. It's not food that he misses, he said.

"It's always about water. Your mouth is dry," Simard said after getting home from work Friday afternoon covered in drywall dust.

"You try and keep your mind off of it."

Instead of having a drink after his labour-intensive job, he was getting cleaned up and heading to the mosque for prayers.

Simard, 23, became a Muslim three years ago and this is his first Ramadan with such long days.

When the sun goes down, his first glass of water hits the spot, Simard said. Traditionally, Muslims break their fast with water and dates and get together for a meal after dark, he said.

"You often get invited to peoples' houses to eat," said Simard, who gladly accepts the invitations. "I like the food."

So did more than 300 people who were served breakfast by a group of Muslim volunteers at Agape Table soup kitchen in West Broadway.

"It was beautiful," said Darcel Colomb. Normally, there's just soup for free and a $1 breakfast, he said. On Friday, he ate like a king for free, enjoying a European omelette, halal chicken hotdogs, macaroni and cheese, and corn on the cob.

"This is the best meal I ever had -- a whole, hearty meal," said Colomb, who moved to Winnipeg from Pukatawagan.

The 10 Muslim volunteers with the Islamic Social Services Association who prepared and served the meal were all fasting and couldn't eat it.

"When you're cooking food, you don't want to eat," said Mian Hammed, 67.

The president of the Manitoba Muslim Seniors Association has seen Ramadan occur at all times of the year. During July and August the days are longest but people take it in stride, said Hameed.

"If you're doing it for a long time, it doesn't matter," he said. "A friend of mine is 85, another man is 93."

Some Olympic athletes are fasting during Ramadan, said Nader Abdelkader, 22.

"It shows how much a body can do," said the athletic fencer, who studies at the University of Manitoba. Abdelkader was one of six men helping out at Agape Table Friday while fasting for Ramadan.

"I'm glad I got the opportunity," he said.

Refraining from the urge to eat or drink or swear or get angry at someone during daylight hours of Ramadan carries over into the rest of a person's life, said Hameed.

"It gives you a little more patience."

Serving breakfast while going without is also a good lesson in empathy, said Faiza Hargaaya, 26.

"Some people don't have the privilege of having a meal" three times a day, said Hargaaya, who works with newcomers at IRCOM (Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization of Manitoba).

"It makes you empathetic -- you feel a tiny bit of what they feel," she said as she helped clean up after the Agape Table breakfast. She noted Ramadan, which started July 20, is drawing to close.

"There are less than 10 days left and the days are getting shorter," said Hargaaya. "It's getting easier."

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca

What about Ramadan?

Ramadan is the ninth month in the Islamic calendar.

It is a time for prayer, fasting, charitable giving and self-accountability. The first verses of the Muslim holy book, the Qur'an, were revealed to the Prophet Muhammad during the last third of Ramadan.

Fasting from sunrise until sunset is a spiritual exercise in which faith gives one the strength to withstand hunger and thirst.

If people cannot fast, the Qu'ran allows them to either make it up another day or to feed a person each day of fasting. The elderly, the chronically ill, pregnant and nursing mothers, and travellers are exempt from fasting.

Manitoba has more than 5,000 Muslims. Many grew up in hot climates without any exemption from sports and other activities.

London 2012 is the first Summer Games to coincide with Ramadan since 1980.

Next year, Ramadan begins on July 9 in Canada.

-- source: Shahina Siddiqui, executive director, Islamic Social Services Association

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 11, 2012 A8