Ramadan difficult for local Muslims as war rages and suffering continues in Gaza

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This article was published 18/03/2024 (610 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For Manitoba Muslims, the month of Ramadan is a time to fast, pray and celebrate with family and friends. But for many members of that community, celebrating is difficult this year due to the ongoing war and suffering in Gaza.

“It’s hard to gather as a family to break the fast with that in mind,” said Nahla El Bawab, a Palestinian who has relatives in Gaza. “I feel for them. It’s a heavy time, knowing what they are going through.”

For previous Ramadans, the 43-year-old mother of two girls would decorate the house with lights, art and banners. But not this year.

“I can’t do it,” said El Bawab, who came to Canada in 2012. “It would feel like I was betraying my relatives.”

Ramadan, which began March 10 and continues until April 9 this year, is the holiest month in the Islamic calendar. It celebrates the time when the first verses of the Qur’an were revealed to the prophet Muhammad.

During the month-long observance, Muslims pray and fast from sunrise to sunset and break the fast each night with with family and friends.

For El Bawab, what is especially troubling this year is that while she and her family are fasting each day by choice, people in Gaza are fasting “because they have no choice. There’s not enough food in Gaza,” she said.

As for her relatives there, “they are displaced, always moving,” she said. “I’m always wondering where they are, how they are doing. The worst is when we lose contact for a while before getting a text saying they are still alive.”

She’s grateful for the peace and security she enjoys in Canada. “But I am saddened by what is happening in Gaza. I pray for peace there, that they will be relieved from their suffering. This is the heaviest Ramadan I have ever experienced,” she said.

The same is true for Mohammed Masri, 43, who came to Winnipeg in 2009 from the West Bank city of Ramallah.

“I cry every day,” he said of how the war in Gaza is affecting him.

Masri doesn’t have any family in Gaza, but he has friends there. “I don’t know how they are doing,” he said. “I haven’t heard from them for two months. I don’t know if they are dead or alive.”

For his wife, Fayka, the crying starts when she readies for the family feast to break the daily fast.

“When I put food on the table, there are tears in my eyes,” said the 45-year-old, who grew up in Winnipeg.

“They don’t have food in Gaza, while I am blessed and safe in Canada. They are living in rubble. I feel empty inside. The people in Gaza are always on my mind.”

The couple, parents to seven children and three grandchildren, are grateful for their lives in Canada. But they can’t help feeling bad for Gazans.

“I am fasting for one month, they have been fasting for many months. Everything is in God’s hands. All we can do is pray and act for peace, in Gaza and in the whole world.”– Fayka Masri

“I am fasting for one month, they have been fasting for many months,” said Fayka. “Everything is in God’s hands. All we can do is pray and act for peace, in Gaza and in the whole world.”

Cheihk Ould Moulaye came to Canada in 2000 from Mauretania after studies in France. He also finds this Ramadan hard, even though he doesn’t have any family in Gaza.

“It’s hard to enjoy a nice meal and they don’t have enough food, when they can’t meet their basic needs,” said the 55-year-old.

“I feel sad during a month that is supposed to be happy. It’s hard to celebrate.”

Like the others, he donates to provide aid for people in Gaza.

“But the donations can’t get there now,” he said of how food shipments are blocked. “I feel helpless.”

Although he has no relatives in Gaza, he knows someone from Winnipeg who has lost 20 members of their family there.

“I can’t imagine what that’s like,” the father of three said.

All he can do is continue to “have faith in God, that God will help us understand why this is happening,” Moulaye said, noting that the Islamic faith teaches that since God controls everything, everything that happens ultimately has some good in it.

“We don’t see it now, but our religion asks us to be patient and trust God and to pray for those who are suffering,” he said.

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