Ramadan Fast Creates Empathy, Says Participant

Ibrahim Daas can tell you exactly what time the sun set Thursday--8:09 p.m. 

After a long day of eating and drinking nothing, not even water, since dawn, that's the minute Daas could finally break his fast. He'll continue the dawn to dusk ritual for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which began Monday.

Fortunately for him, the sun is setting about one minute earlier each day.

"When you fast, that one minute makes a lot of difference," he said.

While sitting at the Starbucks on Milwaukee Avenue in Niles, where he works part-time in addition to his full-time job as a factory supervisor, he explained that on the first day of Ramadan, the sun set at 8:12 p.m., but by the end of the month it will set at 7:33. 

Creates empathy for poor

Daas, who said he's originally from Palestine but was raised in Kuwait, explained that fasting during daylight hours raises his awareness of people in Africa and other parts of the world who are starving.

"It's really hard to do this, so I can imagine what it's like for people who really don't have food," observed Daas, who said he donates to charities that feed the poor because of the experience.

"When you've always had food on your table, you don't feel the suffering of people who don't have food," he added.

With news reports indicating that 29,000 Somali children have died recently due to drought and starvation, his insight is particularly poignant this year.

Avoiding dehydration

In order to fast, Daas says he's skips his usual daily exercise routine, which sometimes involves playing basketball, and is careful not to move too much. That helps him avoid getting dehydrated when Ramadan falls during the summer, as it is now. Because it's calculated according to the lunar calendar, it falls during different seasons.

In the early evening, Daas prepares food for himself and his younger brother, who lives with him, so it's ready to eat when the sunset hour strikes. Usually, he starts with soup and a salad and drinks water, which he says is easy on the stomach when breaking a fast. He waits about 45 minutes to dig into a meal of beef or chicken.

While some Muslims rise before dawn to have a meal early in the day, Daas, who lives in Chicago, would rather not wake up before 4:11 a.m. He prefers to sleep until 5:30, the hour he must rise to get to his full-time job in Villa Park. By then, the sun is up and it's too late for Ramadan fasters to eat.

In Muslim countries, people only work from about 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. during Ramadan, in order to conserve their energy, he said.

"It's hard to concentrate and focus while we're fasting. But here we have to do it," he explained.

His brother, a college student, has to persevere with studying even if he doesn't feel up to it. 

Nevertheless, Daas said he feels there are physical benefits to fasting--when one is not feeling weak--in addition to the spiritual benefits of fostering empathy and charity.

"It makes your system feel really clean," he explained. "I control my weight, and I feel good."

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