Nearly all Muslims have had weird (for us) questions and statements thrown at us at some point during Ramadan. Some of the most common ones? Shifani sketched them out for added effect.
1. Do you guys sleep through most of the day and stay awake all night?
Kinda weird, given that many Muslims do get around on their day-to-day lives and have school, work, uni and whatnot just like every other day. The answer is no!
2. Don’t you spend all night eating nonstop?
Not really, because there’s only a certain amount of food that the human body can consume, regardless of however long you starved yourself.
3. It’s a good weight loss method, no?
No, it’s not really a diet so you technically don’t lose weight (though some people do lose it because they drastically cut down on proper food. But then again, others gain a lot more because of unhealthy fried samosas and biriyanis and stuff).
4. Doesn’t it make you all sick?
Sometimes we get a bit dehydrated and see mirages of oasis and whatnot in the dry concrete jungle that is Colombo, but other than that no, we don’t really get sick. Technically speaking, we’re missing like just one meal a day. Plus mind over matter, we’re so used to this that we don’t really notice it much (unless you wave a pizza under our nose, in which case that’s just mean.)
5. But you can drink water atleast, right?
Nope! We abstain from food and water during Ramadan, unless we’re not fasting at all. It’s a pretty dry period, tbh. We learn to appreciate that wonderful liquid a whole lot more.
