As places of worship remain closed and large gatherings continue to be banned due to the coronavirus outbreak, Britain’s estimated 2.6 million Muslims are observing Ramadan in new ways.
Where people would pray together in mosques or join their neighbours for the evening iftar meal, families now say the nightly taraweeh prayers at home, or break their fasts alone.
With Ramadan coming to an end on Saturday night, we asked Guardian readers how they have been observing it in lockdown. While many told us they have more time for prayer and reflection, others feel a sense of loss or disconnection in what is usually a social and community-focused time.
‘I have been reflecting upon the emotional strain of my work’
As an intensive care doctor, Usman Ahmed is spending much of Ramadan looking after patients. But working night shifts with other Muslim colleagues makes the experience easier, he says.
At the start of each shift, Ahmed and his colleagues break their fasts together with food brought from home or donated by charities. Just before sunrise, they take another break to have breakfast and prepare for another day of fasting.
“This Ramadan has been an emotional time for me and I have had to observe unwell patients in intensive care and an increased number of deaths in hospital,” says Ahmed, 34, who works at Whittington hospital in Archway, London. “This has an emotional strain and I have been reflecting upon this during Ramadan.”
‘It’s hard to celebrate on your own’
Katerina Gonos is used to spending most of Ramadan alone. She converted to Islam five years ago, but as none of her family or housemates are Muslim, going to the mosque was the only time she could join in evening prayers and iftar with other members of the community. “When I remember previous Ramadans in the mosque it does feel a bit lonely,” says Gonos, a 23-year-old engineer from Coventry.
Her mosque has not provided many options for digitally connecting to prayers and observances, but she is keeping in touch with a group of friends she met during her first Ramadan. “I would normally see them every evening at the mosque but now we are checking in on each other, and supporting each other through the fasting,” she says.
Gonos thinks the sense of loneliness and lack of connectivity will be most keenly felt next weekend at Eid al-Fitr, the festival marking the end of Ramadan. “It’s very much a celebration. People meet up with friends, go out and have food together, the mosque is packed with people. The rest of the month is more about spiritual reflection, so time alone isn’t a bad thing. But it’s hard to celebrate when you’re on your own.”
‘My life feels calm and relaxed’
“I am enjoying Ramadan in lockdown as it has given me more time to study my religion, read the Qur’an and keep up with my five daily prayers,” says Yasmin Gill, a chiropodist from Wilmslow in Cheshire.
At the beginning of lockdown, Gill was worried she would miss the spirituality of Ramadan, but says she feels more spiritual than normal. “I go for daily walks listening to podcasts about the religion. My life feels calm and relaxed.”
While Gill does miss meeting and breaking fast with family and friends, she is enjoying praying with an imam who performs the daily taraweeh night prayers online. “It has made me appreciate life more,” says Gill, 53. “Part of me is happy everything has come to a standstill as the planet can now breathe and recover.”
‘The lockdown has been life-changing’
“I’ve never worked so hard in my life,” says Dalawar Chaudhry, who has delivered almost 10,000 meals throughout Ramadan and the rest of the lockdown. After his restaurant, Chaudhry’s TKC in Southall, west London, was forced to close, Chaudhry decided to use its kitchen and ingredients to make meals for doctors, nurses and support staff at Ealing hospital: biryani rice and chicken, lentils, meat samosas and chicken goujons. The project then expanded to Meadow House hospice, Ealing food bank and to individuals in the area such as single mothers and older people who could not easily leave their homes.
Chaudhry, 54, who cooks during the night and delivers food in the day, and has used his own money and donations from family and friends, says: “The lockdown has been life-changing. You really understand the financial pressures people are going through.”
‘We’re breaking our fast by eating the same dishes as we usually would – just in different places’
In Brighton, Mothia and Saleh Begum have found a way to create a sense of community by sharing traditional Bangladeshi recipes on the YouTube channel they created a few weeks into the lockdown. Cooking with the Begums began as a way to help the couple, who live with various health problems, manage their “overwhelming sense of anxiety” around coronavirus, explains their daughter Ayesha, 25.
So far, the Begums have made recipe videos for different curries, biryanis, pakoras, samosas and bhajis, cooking on a makeshift stove of bricks and firewood in their garden. “Our friends and family have been trying out my parents’ recipes during Ramadan and have been sharing their photos with us,” says Ayesha. “[It] makes it feel like we’re all cooking the same thing together and breaking our fast by eating the same dishes as we usually would – just in different places.”
