Fasting from feasting: pandemic Ramadan practices

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This article was published 22/04/2020 (2277 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Already accustomed to fasting from food and water from sunrise to sunset during Ramadan, Winnipeg’s Muslim community this year adds abstaining from community prayers and meals, owing to the global pandemic.

“If you need to break your fast together, get a Zoom call going or use Skype,” suggested Idris Elbakri, Manitoba Islamic Association board chairman, of virtual alternatives to large group gatherings.

“Ramadan is a lesson in patience, of being patient in whatever circumstance God has put us in.”

The holiest month in the Muslim year starts at sundown today and runs for 30 days.

Prior to the start of Ramadan, Elbakri and the leaders of four other Winnipeg mosques issued a joint statement asking members to follow public health guidelines issued during the COVID-19 pandemic and not hold any meals, prayers or gatherings with people beyond their own households.

“Ramadan is a time of intense spirituality and it’s also a time of intense communal connection,” Elbakri said of the tradition of large groups gathering for meals at mosque daily after evening prayers.

Winnipeg’s mosques have been closed to group gatherings and activities since mid-March.

During Ramadan, adult Muslims are expected to fast during daylight hours, as well devote themselves to prayer, reading and recitation of the Qur’an and performing charitable deeds.

Pregnant and nursing women and people with health issues are exempt from fasting, but the pandemic is not a barrier to observing Ramadan, said Elbakri.

“There is no scientific evidence at the point that fasting makes people more susceptible to COVID-19,” said the medical physicist at CancerCare Manitoba.

Islam does allow for religious observances to be altered or amended if following them would cause damage or hurt, said Rory Dickson, religion and culture professor at the University of Winnipeg.

“Anything that can be normally expected of you if it can be show to cause harm, it would not longer be expected,” he said. “The sacred law or religious teaching is the prevention of harm.”

Many Muslims may find it difficult to not celebrate with extended family and friends, but it is a sacrifice Sumera Sahar is prepared to make, especially since she limits her social interactions in order to look after her 80-year-old father, who is dealing with terminal cancer. The south Winnipeg resident said she will miss attending community prayers at Grand Mosque and breaking the fast later with friends and family, but she did plan ahead by stocking up on samosas, dates and other favourite foods for the month.

“It’s going to feel very stark and we’ll have to work hard at making it meaningful for us,” she said of the restrictions on group gatherings during Ramadan.

Sahar said watching Christians celebrate Easter with online church services and Jews marking Passover with virtual seder meals prepared her mentally for an at-home Ramadan.

“I think the experiences Muslims are facing is the same as Easter and Passover,” said the researcher in the financial industry. “You want to be with family, you want to be with friends, you want to be with the community and you can’t this year.”

In lieu of community meals, the Grand Mosque on Waverley Street will offer a drive-through take-out service from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays.

Since Ramadan is a time when Muslims focus on spiritual disciplines such as self-restraint, patience and empathy, social distancing provides people with more opportunities to work on those qualities, suggested the executive director of Winnipeg Central Mosque.

“There’s all kinds of lessons we learn,” said Idris Knapp. “Now we’re asked to self-isolate and stay at home.”

Elbakri said the ban on gatherings likely includes Eid, which falls on May 24. Last year, about 10,000 Winnipeg Muslims gathered at RBC Convention Centre for the holiday which marks the end of Ramadan.

One of the lessons of 2020 may be Muslims will have to adapt to a new normal of observing Ramadan in the future, said Sahar.

You can adjust to it if it’s temporary,” said the mother of three university students. “But if this Ramadan is like that and all the future Ramadans are, too, we really have to come up with a way of having that (social) connection.”

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