Ramadan is the most holy month of the Islamic calendar and sees Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset for 30 days. Ramadan is one of the five pillars of the religion.
Since Ramadan began on Wednesday March 22, Cardiff has seen a variety of events celebrating the holy month. Cardiff City FC hosted an Iftar – the breaking of fast – for the local community and Muslim Doctors Cymru ran a Healthy Ramadan Cymru event to raise awareness of health issues in the BAME community.
Ramadan means something different to every person that celebrates it. As the sacred month of Ramadan is over halfway through, we asked six people what Ramadan looks like in Cardiff and what it means to them.
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Mahnaz Maqbool: 'It's a time to reset myself. It brings me closer to God'
Mahnaz Maqbool, Shayma Muse, Easha Fatima and Cherazad Ameur have been celebrating Ramadan with each other and visit their local mosque, Dar Ul-Isra, to pray together
Mahnaz, 20, said: “For me Ramadan is, in the simplest way, a time to reset myself and prioritise what my goals in life are.
"This month brings me so much closer to God and helps me understand what I’m truly meant to do. Normally, people lose sight of that over the year but in Ramadan you really focus on what you’re meant to be doing in life.”
Cherazad Ameur: 'It puts everything into perspective'
Cherazad, 23, said: “For me, Ramadan helps me refocus my goals and my Islamic goals. It helps me understand why and what I am journeying towards in terms of the Islamic aspect of my life. The whole year you are distracted by work, studies and other things like that.
“I think Ramadan comes at the perfect time for all of us and it lets us refocus and align our goals. It puts everything into perspective for you and helps you to purify your intentions.”
Shayma Muse: 'You come to realise how grateful you are to have a house and afford simple things'
Her friend Shayma agreed that Ramadan is a time to refocus. The 21-year-old said: “It brings peace into my life. My main priority is reflecting on my goals but it also lets me reflect on what I have in life. When it comes to giving charity, which is what lots of people do during Ramadan, you come to realise how grateful you are to have a house and afford simple things like groceries.
“Not only does it give you time to work on your relationship with God but it also gives you time to see the community and come together. We do a night prayer together every day.”
Easha Fatima: 'It brings peace'
Easha, 21, also enjoys the community aspect of Ramadan. She said: “It is a time for resetting yourself. Ramadan also brings a lot of peace and togetherness in our community. We come together to pray and everyone talks about our religion. It is really nice.”
Mohammed Yahub: 'It prepares you for the other 11 months of the year'
Mohammed Yahub who volunteers at Al-Manar Centre Trust Mosque sees Ramadan as a “practice” for the rest of the year. He said: “Everyone has different plans but most people use the month of Ramadan to perfect themselves. It is like a training camp preparing you to put things into practice for the other 11 months of the year.
“People are starting to become more understanding of Ramadan. Like if you go into a shop you may see an aisle labelled ‘Ramadan Mubarak’ and I feel that people are more used to it.”
Besides being asked “What? You can’t even drink water?”, Barak said that there are some aspects of Ramadan people struggle to understand.
“People don’t understand that the only people obliged to fast are those who are able-bodied and in their own town. Pregnant women, elderly people, sick people, those travelling and children are not expected to fast,” said the volunteer.
The end of the month-long fast is marked with the celebration of Eid al-Fitr – also known as Lesser Eid or simply Eid – which is a three-day Islamic festival. Mohammed said: “Eid is great because it comes after the month of fasting. The whole community gets very excited. People pick out new outfits or gifts for each other. We try and go to a park in Grangetown and pray all together.”
Sheikh Barak Albayaty: 'Ramadan gives people the opportunity to come together'
Sheikh Barak Albayaty of Al-Manar Centre Trust Mosque sees Ramadan as a time for the community to come together. He said: “On a divisional level, it is nice to be with your family every evening at Iftar. But on a community level, Ramadan and the nightly Iftar brings everyone together.
“It is important, especially for those in one-person households. They don’t have the pleasure of being with a family so Ramadan gives them the opportunity to come together with other members of the community.”
The mosque hosts open Iftars every Saturday and Sunday during Ramadan for all people in the community. The mosque provides the food but relies heavily on donations so at the start of Ramadan, Sheikh Barak Albayaty launched a campaign asking people to donate.
“In the month of Ramadan, we try and be very charitable. Our mosque is a charitable organisation anyway and we help those in need with food parcels. During Ramadan especially, lots of charities come and collect food from us,” said Sheikh Barak Albaytay.
“But we know that people are struggling to donate because of the cost-of-living crisis. Charities used to collect maybe 1,500 items from us in one night but now it is around 500 items. People are still very charitable even though they are struggling.”
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