Ramadan Mubarak

Only women can go into womens toilets so that is sexist

well that is starting to change as a result of transgender people.

All they need to do is have seperate toilets for people that don’t p1ss all over the seat, and toilets for those that do.

I have been forced to become racist.

Those naughty black people, forcing you to become racist by calling you racist if you use a racist word. How horrible for you.

Well, it was nice whilst it lasted.

I wonder if taking a High 5 before sunrise would help?

Putting my religious prejudice aside, I hope it goes well for you O.P.

My best friend has to get up early to eat/drink, stuffy train to London and works in Canary Wharf.
Already had text from him and he told me he gets to it after a few days.

Sometimes he stops on one day if he gets under the weather and adds the day at the end.

Not everyone works in cool conditions, feel sorry for the warehouse staff but it’s a choice I respect.

Actually.

Why not start a new thread to discuss. This one is a very nice thread in which the OP can tell us about his experience

<mod>
Let’s try that as a new tactic. Do that, split the thread, there’s two separate discussions here.

I’ll delete further replies to this splinter on this thread. You’re more than welcome to discuss it on another.
</mod>

EDIT: I’m going to close this thread temporarily to give people chance to take a breather and move this conversation. I’ll reopen it shortly.

And we’re back in the room.

i’m hungry…only 5.5 hours to go 😀

Cougar – Moderator

And we’re back in the room.

But not the kitchen.

And that bloody easter bunny…

My kids are on a bloody chocolate fast for weeks after he’s been (and its funny how it’s always a he isn’t it…?).

I actually get angry when I’m hungry…. almost irrational ??

I’ve learnt to recognise this and to EAT something quick.

Not sure how I’d cope fasting all day.

Do you get used to it?

And do you go straight in…. ie its almost like cold turkey… or do you “train” in the weeks leading up, having the odd day fasting here or there to try and get used to it?

I actually get angry when I’m hungry…. almost irrational ??

Hangry.

Me too. Like some kind of huge green rage monster.

Is this you,Ro5ey?

Yep

Scarily accurate

😳

And I have a stash of marathons in the gloves box of the car

Nice dress.

Not sure how I’d cope fasting all day.

Do you get used to it?

Of course you do. Having done some quite strict low carb/low calorie dieting, you learn a lot about your relationship with food and how you react to it and cope with it.

Nice dress

No snickers 😯

😆

enfht – Member
Sadly no trolling here. Christians posting on stw are regularly torn a new bumhole for their efforts so am intrigued with this thread and one possible reason is the elephant in the room which is sadly the reality.

the reality is you are wrong…..

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/merry-christmas-2015

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/to-all-at-singletrack-towers

Yeah but all that cordiality extended to Christians at Christmas was probably due to “fear of violence”.

I actually get angry when I’m hungry…. almost irrational ??

I’ve learnt to recognise this and to EAT something quick.

Not sure how I’d cope fasting all day.

Do you get used to it?

And do you go straight in…. ie its almost like cold turkey… or do you “train” in the weeks leading up, having the odd day fasting here or there to try and get used to it?

i do get cranky when i’m hungry but i’ve learn to control it to a certain extent
mind over matter…but i have good days and bad days
no training or preparation is done leading up to it…just straight into it and try and hit the ground running

i’m 39 now…and i was first allowed to fast when i was 9/10 years old….so my mind and body are used to it and i find i can easily switch into ramadan mode
my oldest son is nearly 8 but he’s already kept one full days fast last year and a few half days. this year he will do a few half days and we may allow him to do a full day but we will play it by ear

for me the lack of food or water isnt a problem…its the disruption to my sleep pattern

usually i sleep from 11pm to 6am so i get a solid 7 hours but during ramadan i will break my fast at around 9.30pm which is then followed by the evening prayer. after this at around 11.30pm there is another prayer (taraweeh) which takes longer. if its done at the mosque its usual for the imam to recite 1 chapter of the Quran during each evenings prayer so all 30 get recited throughout the month. by 12.30am i’m pretty much ready to sleep but i need to get up again at around 1.30am to prepare the final meal before the next days fast starts…so i usually make a judgement call on whether i sleep or stay awake. if i sleep then i run the risk of sleeping through and missing the final meal slot so i end up fasting without eating a final meal
usually i stay awake and after the final meal is finished and the morning prayer is done it is 3am so i go to sleep to wake up again at 6/7am
so during the week i’m running off 3/4 hours sleep. both me and the wife try to catch up on this by getting 1 hour naps in the evening after work or at the weekends when we try to give ourselves a lie-in but with 3 kids its hard to do that so we take it in turns. she’ll have saturday as a lie-in and i’ll sort the kids out and on sunday its my day for a lie-in

im not saying its completely easy because it isnt but to me…its worth it.
the sense of accomplishment you feel as each of the 30 fasts are done is amazing.
the taste of a cold glass of water after a day of fasting is something to relish…it makes you appreciate some of the things that we take for granted

Hora – you’ll find this very interesting
http://gu.com/p/4kgfb/sfb

I was thinking about this in relation to exams. What do young Muslims do when Ramadan coincides with gcse or a-levels like they do this year? Do the put it off until a later date?

One of my maths evening class students was unusually bad with simple mental maths on Monday evening (she’s usually better than me). She apologised and said it was because she was fasting.

Her second maths exam is on Thursday morning so I’m hoping that the earlier time will help, or that she allows herself a normal breakfast that day and makes it up later.

Why make 8.5% of your life more difficult than it needs be?
All the best 🙂

Why make 8.5% of your life more difficult than it needs be?

8.5% isnt actually that steep, if you really want a tough climb try 20%+.

Or you could just sit on the sofa and do nothing, would make your life easier.

Exams: there was a proposal / discussion recently about moving exam times for everyone to avoid Ramadan, it was not taken forward. One issue is that Ramadan moves around quite a bit from year to year with respect to our calendar.

I wonder what percentage of Muslims in the UK observe the fast and to what degree ?

with regards to exams…Jambalaya is pretty much spot on. just to give you an example of how the lunar calendar has moved over the years…my eldest son will be 9 in september…he was born in the middle of Ramadan.

I wonder what percentage of Muslims in the UK observe the fast and to what degree ?

there’ll always be a small minority who dont fast or choose not to for whatever reason, as there will also be that small percentage who sneakily cheat…they’ll tell people that they’re fasting but really they’ll disappear off for a sneaky snack/drink/fag etc.
i had a friend who used to do that a lot

but it would also be interesting to see how many Christians observe Lent and how many of the Jewish faith observe Yom Kipur.
seeing the 3 faiths side by side for a comparison would make for some interesting reading

seeing the 3 faiths side by side for a comparison would make for some interesting reading

I suspect knowing the answer there would be worse than not knowing!

Day 2 report:
went better than day 1…but still trying ot catch up on the sleep and stay alert during the day. i didnt feel hungry either
the number of times i had to stop myself from falling asleep at my desk was unbelievable.
journey home on the bus was pretty quick
managed to get a 1 hour kip before sunset and managed to get another 1 hour kip before sunrise. but that went out of the window when te youngest woke up and refused to go back to sleep…he finally knocked off and 4.30am.

so i still have a sleep deficit… 😯

Cheers Gonzy, his poetry his stunningly beautiful

day 3 report:

still struggling with the sleep deficit. feeling drowsy at work but slowly my body is starting to adapt.
i dont even feel hungry during the day. having said that we’re being careful at home as to how much food we make. in the past our eyes have been bigger than our bellies and food has gone to waste…but now where making just about enough for us to eat and feel full…however we’ve not really been eating healthily yet so a lot of the food has been fatty kebabs and samosas.

i was going to weigh myself just on the night before ramadan started but i never got round to it but last week i weighed in at 69kg/152lb…i reckon i’m at least a couple of lb/kg over that already

something for you to all chuckle at…i got on the bus yesterday to go home…it was quite humid and warm and i was quite drowsy so naturally i nodded off with the headphones on.
what should have been a 7 mile 1 hour bus ride…ended up being a 21 mile bus ride lasting 2.5 hours….the wife was pissing her sides laughing when i phoned her to tell her what happened…so much for getting sympathy off her 😯

Do you get paid a lower rate during Ramadan as you are clearly not working at normal capacity?

I would think observance of Ramadan is way above Christians following the whole of lent. Even when I was a regular Church goer onservance was so-so and the commitment required of “giving up something” is much less. For Yom Kippur its only a day so again not nearly as tough.

what should have been a 7 mile 1 hour bus ride…ended up being a 21 mile bus ride lasting 2.5

Ouch

Do you get paid a lower rate during Ramadan as you are clearly not working at normal capacity?

no i dont get paid at a lower rate. my manager is ok with it seeing as most weeks i bust a gut at work puling off miracles. plus i was owed 3 hours of TOIL which i’ve waived as a gesture of goodwill so he’s ok with me slacking off a bit…but i’m back to full capacity today

Ouch

i got a 1.5 hour kip on the bus so i’ll take it as a blessing in disguise…i’d struggle to get that at home with the kids wreaking havoc

So to beat my Hangry demons and to show a little support to our OP… I’m going to give fasting a go.

Nothing compared to Gonzy’s great commitment but for a day next week nothing will pass my lips during Mecca’s daylight hours.

If that goes well, I give a full day a go

Anyone else fancy giving it try ?

So to beat my Hangry demons and to show a little, and I do mean little, support to our OP

I’m going to give fasting a go….

Nothing compared to Gonzy’s great commitment but for a day next week nothing will pass my lips during Mecca’s daylight hours.

If that goes well, I give a full day a go

Any one else fancy giving it try ?

wow…that would be awesome!!
right at the beginning of this thread i mentioned that i would have a Ramadan challenge to everyone…and this was going to be it.

so here it is…my challenge to you is to simply fast for one day…
lets be specific and say fast on Monday (the reason for this is that those who do take part will be at work…focussing on the job should hopefully help pass some of the time and remove some of the distraction of thirst and hunger)

you dont have to do it for religious reason like me…just do it to see if you can do it. maybe even start with the intention and see how long you can last…can you do a full day or do you need to concede early on? see if you can challenge yourself and show self discipline and resist temptation…i’m pretty sure most of you have it in you to be able to do this.
as much as it is physical stress you will be putting yourself through there is also the mental/emotional stress you put yourself through but if you can do this then you can do anything

think about it…no food or water for roughly 19.5 hours (that also includes no smoking and no “how yer father”)…you cant swallow your own saliva either…basically no food or water shall pass your lips and enter your body…one hell of a challenge yeah…but achievable with the right amount of focus and determination

i’ll tell you something else…we live in a society where we can have anything we want…all the creature comforts and material needs we could wish for
but other parts of the world and in fact within sertain aspects of our own society there are those who dont have what we have
there are those who dont have a roof over their head, clean clothes on their backs, food on the table
some of them dont have clean running water and dont know when their next meal will come…to them food and water is a massive luxury…whereas we take it for granted…so go on fast for a day and step into the shoes of the less fortunate and feel their pain and suffering…you choose to do it for one day…but many of those less well off than us dont get to choose this way of life

after your fast is over…take out a cold bottle of water and have a drink…see how it tastes
take out that lovely hot meal you’ve prepared and tuck in and again see how good it tastes
then have a think about how we sometimes dont appreciate the things we take for granted that others would die for

just one day…thats all you need to do…it’ll be a challenge but it’ll be worth it…even if its to say you did it in one of the toughest months

a lot of people have wished me luck and have shown some mutual respect and admiration for what i’m doing…but i’ve had 30 years of experience and training….if you can fast for one day then to me…it would a greater achievement that me keeping one fast
i’d have nothing but respect and admiration for you for doing it

ll tell you something else…we live in a society where we can have anything we want…all the creature comforts and material needs we could wish for
but other parts of the world and in fact within sertain aspects of our own society there are those who dont have what we have

I’m of the opinion that not eating food when it’s available is profoundly privileged. Not being able to eat for 15 hours makes you feel better about yourself but at the end of the day, comparing that to people actually starving is hilarious – they don’t get to eat at the end of the day and they probably think that people who fast are bat shit insane as when they do get food, they pile on as many calories as possible.

Neither do I think that you should have to fast to be able to empathise with people who have no food, that should come naturally.

I also think that it’s telling that possibly the most unequal countries in the world are those that observe fasting rituals, whilst secular western countries have some of the lowest rates of inequality.

observance of Ramadan is way above Christians following the whole of lent

This is likely very true, but there will be a number of reasons for it. The first is that you Latins have always bee much more lightweight with respect to your Lenten fasting rules than we *Greeks. 😉

*Not literal Greeks; just of the Eastern tradition.

Yep for ALL your reasons … I’m in

This Monday from when I wake up to 4pm (Mecca sunset, taking into account time differences)

If I don’t serious harm anyone then next Monday I’ll go to 7pm (Mecca sunset local time)

Then then try and do the the full 19 hours the following Monday.

TurnerGuy – Member

Do you get paid a lower rate during Ramadan as you are clearly not working at normal capacity?

Did you post this at work? I did.