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I began fasting during Ramadan in 2010 and observed the month again this year. The first time, I was completely unaware of the deep sense of fortitude that is involved in observing Ramadan. As each day passed, I gained a greater respect for the sheer level of commitment needed. Both times, I felt a deep, almost unexplainable sense of connectedness to millions of people whom I have never even met.

I was at a travel bloggers’ conference in Cape Town the other day, my fasting made conspicuous while my companions ate lunch by the unsullied swath of tablecloth before me. “Oh, of course, it’s Ramadan,” one said when I explained. “How’s that going for you? Must be tough,” remarked another. I awaited the flurry of questions I usually field back home: “What’s that? How does it work? You don’t eat for a whole month? Not even water?!?” The barrage never came.

(RNS) Since converting to Islam more than five years ago, Paul K. DeMelto of Cleveland has done all he could to become a more knowledgeable Muslim, attending a new converts class and hiring Arabic tutors to help him learn to read the Quran.
But despite his efforts, DeMelto found himself alone last Ramadan, the holiest month of the Muslim year, when adherents fast from sunrise to sunset and eat a communal meal at night.

When I was growing up in the 80s, school lunches consisted of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on white bread, fruit roll-ups, and boxes of Hi-C. The thought that they were filling our bellies with processed carbohydrates or that perhaps a carrot stick here or there might do us some good never occurred to most parents. I knew the importance of fruits and vegetables but, of course, was only too happy to dig into the bag of Cheetos my mother had tucked into my lunchbox.

I have very vivid memories of the things we did on the 15th of Sha’ban growing up – we threw down hard on Shabaan, with extra ibadat (worship), nafil (extra) prayers and of course fatiha (reciting prayers over some food as an offering of blessings, not to be confused with the Al-Fatiha – the first surah in the Quran). I never questioned where what we did fell in the realm of Islamic practices. My parents did these things on this date and as their kids, we followed along.