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Ramadan begins in Yellowknife Muslim religious holiday started Wednesday
Lyndsay Herman
Northern News Services
Published Friday, July 12, 2013
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Yellowknife's Islamic Centre is likely to be a more popular place than usual for the next month. The Muslim holiday of Ramadan began on Wednesday.
Shamir Siraj, treasurer for the Islam Canada Islamic Centre of Yellowknife, left, and president Nazim Awan stand before a tapestry depicting Mecca in its centre. - Lyndsay Herman/NNSL photo |
"There is more attendance during Ramadan as compared to other times of the year," said Nazim Awan, president of the Islam Canada Islamic Centre of Yellowknife.
He pointed out that high attendance during the 30 days of Ramadan is particularly remarkable because fasting in the land of the midnight sun makes for long, often tiring days and evening recitations of the Quran require standing and listening for over an hour.
"It's one of Ramadan's special effects, I would say."
During Ramadan, Muslims fast from the day's first of five prayers, which take place at sunrise, until the day's fourth prayer, which takes place at sunset.
As a result, the meals which take place before the first prayer and after the fourth prayer have particular significance.
"Everybody will get together at one table and eat the (morning) meal at the same time," explained Arshad Iqbal, secretary of the Islamic Centre. "Then, when we do the break fast (in the evening) we do the same. All the family members get together at one table and make the break fast at the same time."
Islam's broad reach across the globe mean Muslims come from a plethora of cultures. As a result, foods feasted on at the evening meal or during Eidulfidr, a festival celebrating the end of Ramadan, vary as widely as the followers of Islam.
"Muslims are all over the world," said the centre's treasurer Shamir Siraj. "In South Asia, we have our special South Asian food ... but if you go to the Middle East, the countries there have different food and they enjoy their cultural food. There are not any specific dishes, I would say."
Awan added sweet dishes during Ramadan are fairly common in Muslim societies.
Ozair Mohammad, a medical student from the University of Alberta who is in Yellowknife to recite sections of the Quran each night from memory, said dates are recommended as the first thing to eat after fasting, as the Quran states the Muslim prophet Muhammad ate three dates to break his fast when he was alive in the sixth-and-seventh centuries.
"For me it's like a miracle, fourteen-hundred years ago, this person living in a desert tells you that when you break your fast, you should break it on dates and now through our modern advancements in biochemistry, we know one of the quickest ways to get carbs to your body is through dates," Mohammad said.
The midnight sun doesn't create as much of a problem for Yellowknife Muslims as one might think because the Quran makes provisions for areas on the globe where the sun is up or down longer than normal.
As a result, Yellowknife Muslims follow the times for sunrise and sunset in Edmonton, the nearest centre with average sunrise and sunset times. The sun rises in Edmonton Friday morning at 5:20 a.m. and sets at 9:58 p.m.
According to Mohammad, the purpose of fasting is to remind Muslims that if they can give up what is necessary for survival, they can also give up actions considered sinful and not necessary for survival.
"A lot of my non-Muslim friends are very amazed by this, that I can ... not drink or eat for 14-15 hours," Mohammad said. "But that's not the difficult part. The difficult part is ensuring you don't waste your time in vain talk or you don't swear or you don't look at someone inappropriately or you don't have jealousy, those are the things that are far more difficult."
Increased charity and prayer are also significant aspects of Ramadan, said Awan.
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