It’s the time of the year again: 1 Ramadan, the time for us Muslims to fast. We consider this as an opportunity to test and develop our inner spiritual selves. The fasting regimen is rigorous. No eating, drinking or smoking is allowed after the first prayer in the morning until the opening of the fast in the evening. Prayer times change based on sunset and sunrise, so the exact timing is different every day. The morning prayer usually comes around four-thirty. Before this time, a Muslim family must rise and consume the last food or drink that they will have for the next fourteen hours. The opening of the fast, occurs around 6 o’clock in the evening. At this time, all fasting Muslims will break the fast by drinking, eating and attending prayers. And of course the timing is also different across the globe. In this month, there’s one very special night, which even the angels in the heavens see as worthy of witnessing. The night is so rich with holiness, as the night when good deeds are returned, and is equal to a thousand months in the sight of God.

This time, the feeling is kind of different to me. Although this is the second time I’m doing it in here, but this is the first time I’m going to go through it with my wife, just the two of us in Myanmar. So we both pretty anxious to face the fasting days as a family. Then there was our first suhoor (pre-dawn meal before fasting) at 4am today. We had Indonesian fried rice, fruits, with a glass of orange juice for me and watermelon juice for my wife. Completed it with a cup of hot tea. It wasn’t much, but felt really good knowing that it was our first time together.

After having the meal, we decided to make overseas calls to both our parents. We managed to reach my in-law, chitchat a bit and talked about family matters. But we didn’t talk to my parents, they were already sleeping and we didn’t want to wake them up because my aunt said they were awake the whole night and just managed to sleep.

In the spirit of Ramadan, I wanted to use the time as effective as possible after the suhoor, maybe by reading religious books, finishing my e-learning modules, or even workout a bit. But being as lazy as a person can be, I crashed to bed again in no time…