Skipping Suhoor: My Rookie Ramadan Mistake

"You're not yourself during Ramadan."

A bit of terminology before I get into this:

Suhoor – the meal you have before dawn, and before the fajr prayer, which is the prayer between the beginning of dawn and sunrise. Basically, the last meal of the night, which should end as soon as you see any remnants of the white sky of the morning (“the white thread of dawn appears distinct to the black thread of night,”according to the Qur’an.) This meal is a blessing which enables you to stay strong throughout the fasted hours. You should wake up for it, because if you don’t, you won’t be eating until the sun goes down. That’s a long time. You can probably guess where this blog is headed.

Iftar – the evening meal when Muslims end their daily Ramadan fast at sunset, often as a community of family and/or friends. (I’ve done a lot of reading, and I’m still not completely sure about Iftar’s relationship to the magrib prayer, and either’s relationship to what is technically considered “sunset.” This isn’t necessary to know, but I like to understand these things.) No one will ever have to tell you to make sure you eat at this time. You’ll be crazy hungry, and proud for making it through another day. Give thanks.

Now you tell me *face palm*

Ramadan started here on Friday night. Meaning, the fast was on, and my last meal not in the state of fasting was around 6:30pm Friday evening. If I was to get through my first day of fasting on Saturday, I'd need to do my first Suhoor, which is the meal you have before sunrise to help you fast until sunset. But instead, I slept Saturday morning, which is a common rookie mistake, an arrogant one for me. (Actually, I've heard Muslims say they have lots of trouble managing Suhoor, so I'm not too hard on myself.) "I like to get up very early anyway!" Ego said. "We'll see about that," replied Humility.

Since I was committed to the fast, this meant I had to go from 6:30pm Friday until sunset on Saturday, which was 6:19 pm the next day in Qatar. Nearly 24 hours. This was not pleasant. Headaches, children, and hunger. It's a genius way to get closer to God really, because you feel like you're dying. I successful avoided this on subsequent days, knowing that the extra hour or two of sleep was not worth the suffering I'd go through all day on an empty stomach.

After doing lots of reading, I'm realizing that fasting start and end times aren't agreed upon depending on a host of factors I'm not going to go into. There are all types of cool clocks and calendars that pinpoint the exact time you do Suhoor, Iftar, and the daily prayers in various cities around the globe. These timings are VERY helpful. But MY fast starts at the sunrise and sunset times here in Qatar. I allow myself to eat from the Suhoor timing until the sunrise timing each day. I'm not a Muslim, and I don't follow the prayer schedule. I think fasting must be accompanied by an awareness/mindfulness practice of some sort, so I do pray and meditate in my own way. 



My breakfast has normally consisted of eggs, turkey bacon, waffles or bread, fruit, and a shake (protein, chocolate soy milk, banana, peanut butter). This gives me energy that lasts throughout the whole morning. Afterwards, depending on the needs of the household (i.e. if the kids are up), I take a long walk in the early sun, which is quite glorious. When this isn't possible, I'll just do a short yoga session, or a quick mobility exercise. As I near the end of the week, I'm thinking of extending my fast beyond the plan one week, because I really think I can find a balance in my routine. I think I'll shoot for two weeks now.