The weekend of March 20th marked the end of Ramadan, and this year was my first time experiencing it in a predominantly Muslim country. In the United States, there is a general awareness of Ramadan, but before coming here, I do not think I truly understood its significance. Ramadan began on Thursday, February 19th, which closely coincided with the start of Lent, with Ash Wednesday falling just the day before. Because Ramadan shifts each year based on the Islamic lunar calendar, and Lent is always observed in the forty days leading up to Easter, it felt especially meaningful that these two religious seasons overlapped. This unexpected alignment led to thoughtful and often surprising conversations between my students and me.
As a Catholic, I choose to fast on significant religious days and on Fridays during Lent. During Ramadan, however, Muslims fast every day from dawn until sunset. The differences in how we fast stood out to me. Muslims do not eat or drink during daylight hours, beginning the day with a pre-dawn meal, called sahur, and breaking their fast at sunset with iftar, or slightly after depending on whether they are Sunni or Shia.
