Like Tasnim, I’m going through Ramadan in a relatively new and unfamiliar city. Though I’ve stumbled a few times, my fears have not entirely come to pass and I reached the halfway point with the intention to complete the remaining fasts. Generally, Ramadan is a lonely experience for me. I don’t have a Muslim family […]

I was travelling today, so I did not fast. I considered fasting anyway, because I wanted to be part of the community, at least virtually – my Whatsapp right now is a constant scroll of friends and family checking in with each other, asking what everyone is having for iftar, sending both cheesy and/or moving […]

Over the past half year or so, I’ve been working on my mental health. While I wouldn’t consider my experiments a success just yet, I’ve figured out a few habits that help me maintain a reasonable quality of life. In the week leading up to Ramadan,  a disruption to my schedule left me feeling like […]

After a health setback a few years ago, I was under medical instructions not to fast for Ramadan.  In the years since, I kept thinking “maybe I can fast next year.”  I wrote about this in 2016.  It is now 2018 and it doesn’t look like I will be fasting again any time soon. Although […]

The first few years I fasted, I used to get a little irritated with friends who lamented the sometimes anti-climactic Canadian Ramadans that paled in comparison to Ramadan “back home” in Pakistan, Egypt, or Indonesia.  I mean, I could understand what they meant, and I knew it wasn’t a comment on my experience.  Fasting as […]

I have been burned a lot, fam, in this fasting stuff. This year, for a series of TMI medical reasons signed off on by the appropriate Muslim medical personnel, I am not fasting.  I laugh at the meme going around (“Not even water?” – White Person Proverb) because my medical issues are such that it […]

This guide is a light-hearted insight into some of my experiences embarking on Ramadan for the first time. It goes without saying that this might not apply or be relevant for everyone, but I wanted to share it nonetheless, so others who might be fasting for the first time don’t feel alone in their Ramadan […]

Editor’s note: The writer of this piece wishes to remain anonymous.  This piece is a follow-up to one published last year, and contains discussions of disordered eating.  A few months ago, I was having a conversation with a friend about how hard Ramadan was for me last year. “You know,” she said cautiously, “the exemption […]

This post was written by guest contributor Rana S. I no longer feel awkward saying it out loud – some may think I’m too blunt about it. You know, like, about my period. Menstruation is one of the factors that nullify a person’s fast (regardless if it is during the month of Ramadan or not) – […]

This past May, I was blessed to give birth to a beautiful baby boy. It took a bit of adjusting, but as we already have two girls, I do view myself as a slightly experienced parent and as such, I was prepared. I knew what to expect, kind of. Compared to my previous experiences, this […]