This past month has been the most important month of the year for Muslims all around the world. Thursday marks the end of Ramadan a holy month in Islam where Muslims pray and fast in order to become closer to Allah (God). This month includes traditions such as Taraweeh (a nightly prayer that many Muslims do daily during this month), giving donations, and an increase in recitations from the Quran, the holy book for Muslims. Muslims are a very diverse religion with 62 percent being from the Asian-Pacific, 20 percent from the Middle East, 15 percent from Sub-Saharan Africa, and 3 percent from Europe and the Americas.

Such a diverse religion also has a lot of diverse traditions. All Muslims do Ramadan differently whether it’s the way they practice Islam during the month or most notably, the food they eat. As a Muslim myself, I know that a lot of the things I eat during Ramadan differ from what my friends eat. Granada High School is lucky to have a diverse campus which includes a Muslim student population, so I interviewed a couple of Muslim students to see what they do during Ramadan.

Ramadan is mainly a month for worship, so during Ramadan, Muslims practice their faith more than they would during the rest of the year. This includes praying more, reciting the Qur’an more, going to Islamic lectures, breaking bad habits, and staying up all night for worship. Most people work on being better in one or multiple of those areas and then keep those good habits for the rest of their lives. For me, I tried breaking my bad habits this Ramadan by quitting Tiktok and music for the month because I know I spend too much time on it.

Reading Qur’an is the main thing most Muslims during Ramadan. “As my mom has always told me, ‘During Ramadan. As my mom has always told me, ‘During Ramadan, one letter of the Qur’an read counts for 70 times the number of good deeds.’” Muslim student Wil Pinkston (10) said.

For Redha Jaweed (10), becoming a better Muslim this Ramadan means trying to focus more on Qur’an. “I’ve stopped with my social media, I’ll uninstall it as soon as my fast starts…this year I have been trying to finish the whole Quran. That’s actually just like a basic thing that a lot of people do, usually they read like one Juz, or one part of the Quran, there’s thirty parts to it. They read one part everyday for thirty days.”

Even though Ramadan is usually spent on worship, a big part of it, is socializing and eating cultural foods. During Ramadan, Muslims fast from food and water from sunrise until sunset. Fasting is quite normal for us Muslims so we’re used to it, but it can mess up our focus and our sleep schedules.

“Just staying awake during the day because I haven’t been getting much sleep during the night, because I’m coming home and sleeping during the day. Just sleeping. My sleep schedule is so messed up” said Jaweed. At sunset we break our fast with a big meal called iftar. This is when dishes are cooked that are only ever eaten during Ramadan. Most families will pull out their favourite cultural dishes just for this time of the year. For instance, I’m Yemeni so during Ramadan my mom will make shuraba, which is like a soup.

“We also have something called Dehin barai which is like yogurt, it’s like yogurt with spices and seeds and stuff” said Jaweed.

“My mom is Malay and enjoys a traditional porridge made specially for Ramadan called Bubur Lambuk” said Pinkston.

Ramadan is a time of the year for discipline but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy yourselves and share cultures with each other during the month.

Overall, Ramadan is a time to come together in prayer and to strengthen your faith. It’s the most important time of the year to be an even better Muslim and it’s also a time for connecting with your community. Everyone in the Muslim community comes closer together during Ramadan.

“I love Ramadan not just because it’s how I practice my faith, but because it’s how we come together as people–and at the end of the day, I think that’s one of the most valuable parts”, said Pinkston.

Whether we practice our faith during Ramadan one way or the other, one thing that we all have in common is our sense of unity and connection with each other and I hope that all Muslims in Granada and around the world had a blessed Ramadan.