Paul Bass Photo
Imam Omer Bajwa at WNHH FM.
Imam Omer Bajwa awoke before 5 a.m. Tuesday so he could drink lots of water before the sun rose. He plans to drink a lot more water after 7:30 p.m.
In between, Bajwa won’t eat or drink anything. Meanwhile, his soul will be nourished.
Like other Muslims, Bajwa is in the first week of celebrating Ramadan, the holiest month of the calendar. Besides studying and saying extra prayers, Muslims mark the holiday by refraining from food and drink in daylight hours, each day, all month.
That’s a particular challenge when that month (which arrives at different times of year depending on the lunar calendar) falls in the spring or summer — and requires a 16-hour fast.
Hydrating in the dark helps.
Bajwa, the director of Muslim life in the Yale University chaplain’s office, always looks forward to the challenge, no matter the timing.
“It’s my favorite time of the year,” Bajwa said Tuesday during a conversation on WNHH FM’s “Dateline New Haven” program.
“It’s a very spiritual time of the year,” a “spiritual boot camp” that renews one’s commitment to core spiritual values of “compassion, empathy, God-consciousness, gratitude, appreciating and honoring the dignity and humanity of other people,” he said.
“Fasting really teaches a deeper sense of empathy with the hungry, with the homeless, with those who are food insecure. By putting myself voluntarily into a situation of doing without, that should engender a deeper mindset in me when I look around the world, when I look at my own community in New Haven. There are people who are food insecure day in and day out not by choice.”
That first sip of water after sundown each night of the month is delicious, as is the celebratory meal that follows, shared with family and/or friends in the religious community.
“We fast for over 15 hours a day. But after 15 minutes of eating, we’re satiated. We’re filled,” Bajwa reflected. “It speaks to the fleeting nature of this world, the transience of life. The world is beautiful. The world is enticing. The world is comforting … All of that beauty, all of that comfort, all of the deliciousness and delectability of the comforts of this world are fleeting.” Fasting, and Ramadan in general, “teach that life has other purposes and meanings behind it.”
Ramadan lasts through May 2.
Click on the above video to watch the full conversation about Ramadan with Imam Omer Bajwa on WNHH FM’s “Dateline New Haven.”