Ramadhan Fasting In US 80's

When I was in the United States during the first half – the better half - of the 80’s, I got to spend four cycles of Ramadhan fasting months in the summertime. It would have been five times but for the paid-for trip home for summer vacation in Malaysia after the Sophomore year. That period’s Ramadhan cycle always fell in the middle of summer season in the US. Come to think of it, the whole decade of the 1980’s Ramadhan months fell during summer times. For the record, the 80’s Ramadhan months ranged from mid-July to mid-May. A virtuous period to perform your Ramadhan fasting - the long daylight hours and the summer heat.

Summer season is usually a vacation season for schools and colleges in the US.

My first Ramadhan in US started on July 3rd, just slightly over a month after I first set foot (on my birthday) in the country. That first day of Ramadhan, the Imsak was at 2:00 in the morning, and the iftar time was a few minutes before 09:00 o'clock in the evening!. Imagine that. In Malaysia (then & now), waiting for the 7:00 to 7:30 pm breakfasting / iftar time was really a struggle.

Actually, it wasn't that hard. We (the Muslim students and I) were able to fill up the time without having to really wait for the iftar. Usually, we played a game of soccer at an abandoned American football stadium, starting at around 7:30 pm, and ended by 08:30 pm. Sometimes we would just drive around the campus, or even just loafing around in the Student Center; throwing and catching frisbies, or something. In later years when summer class studies came into play, it was even easier to get through the fasting days.

And now, about the heat. I remember that the summer was dry and low humidity. The temperature can reach a moisture-less 40 degrees celcius. It was hot but we did not perspire, or sweating. Maybe that was one of the reasons why we managed to get through fine with the 19-hours fasting – not much fluid loss!


Fasting is not just holding yourself from eating or drinking during the days. Having said that, it was my third summertime fasting (sophomore year) that was really a trial for me. Had started staying in own rented apartment that time. The house was gradual climb halfway up a low hill. Along the way, had to pass through a Sorority Row - I think there were five sorority houses along the way and the adjoining lanes. A sorority is a special grouping of select female students living in houses with Greek alphabet names. For the guys , it's called Fraternity.


Anyway, the first time when I tried to protect the sanctity of my fasting of that year, in terms of no eye feast and pure heart, I failed miserably. Walking home one sunny afternoon after a summer course class, on the left was one Greek's sorority girls sunbathing on the grass with two-pieces bikinies on, while further up were two more groups enjoying the afternoon on the porch / balcony and in the garden. Please be reminded that it was a hot sunny afternoon, so everybody's clothing were at a minimum.

To protect what little was left of my fasting, I tried to keep my eyes straight forward. Unfortunately, the protection was off when there on the rooftop of a house the the last corner, three sorority girls having the R & R; two with their bums facing the sky, and their bikini tops were definitely off.

That's it. So my fasting was only for withholding from eating and drinking. My eyes had "eaten", and my mind was full of grey fogs.

I held on to my fasting till iftar that day. On a different day, due to a combination of light iftar, no late supper and two summer classes (plus the eye feast), I got very weak physically by 11:00. On the way home, decided that I had to break my fast "illegally" that day. So, stopped over at Kroger, bought a box of fresh orange juice, a french loaf and a packet of cranberries. Carefully put the foods into the backpack, keeping careful eyes to the surrounding...


Reached home - the other housemates still tied-up at the student center - locked the door and went into the bathroom for the illegal activity. Wolfed down half of the french loaf together with last night's untouched chicken (missed early sahur / late supper), dried down the box of orange juice, and nibbled on the cranberries before went out to the backyard for a puff of smoke.


Had to go through all the above because was still restricted by the guilt feeling of not performing full fasting of the day. God's everywhere but it was the other people that I was concerned about. Informed the other housemates of what I had gone through, and they laughed me off as a fool. For all they know, I could have just ate right there at the Long John Silver restaurant; don't have to hide as nobody would care. Old habits so hard to break.

The Hari Raya Aidilfitri of that first summer fasting was really a celebration. For most of us it was the first Hari Raya away - halfway of the world’s away from home. I was OK on that Hari Raya because I was not much of the “missing the family” type. The Raya songs didn’t even shake me, and I was able to get on the nerves of the others; peers or seniors. There was no flow of tears from me.

It was the Takbir Raya that knocked me down. The funny sensation in my nose caused the unwanted fluid to drip down my eyes. Then all the Aidilfitri memories started to flood down on me…
I fasted the full month for the first and second Ramadhans. Missed more than a day for that third time, but definitely not more than five days.

Fasting Period

It is already 21st of September 2008 today. It also coincides with the 21st of Ramadhan, the twenty-first day of fasting of 1429 Hijrah Year. That fact was re-emphasised into me on the way to Tarawikh last Tuesday; it was the 15th day of fasting on September 15th, so it was also the full moon night. The sky was clear so we can clearly see the perfect full moon. It was the 15th day of the moon, no doubt about it.

So it is this year’s special, that the Masehi dates are the same with the Hijrah months. We’ve had Aidilfitri days that came close together with Christmas, more than once with Gong Xi Fa Cai (Kongsi Raya) and Deepavali (Kongsi Gelap – sic). We’ve even had the Aidilfitri twice in one Masehi calendar year a few years back.

It is just the way it is – the Hijrah Year is a lunar year. If follows the cycle of the moon, so the months are supposed to be an even 30 days for all months and an even 360 days in a year. With that, there will be a 5 days gap with the Masehi year, and 21 days gap in four years (the Leap Year). The constant movement of the fasting and Aidilfitri period in relation to the months of the Masehi year provides exciting different backgrounds and environments to the required endeavor. One time we may go through our fasting days during wet Monsoon seasons, while in around a decade or so we maybe controlling our appetite and passions in a sweltering heats of the equivalent to the “summer” seasons. It did not make that much different to us in Malaysia and other tropical climate areas. It is just the slight change in temperature and humidity, and sometimes the above-mentioned either full sunshine or wet downpours period.

If we’d spent some time fasting in the temperate climate, four seasons’ countries, we’ll go through bigger differences. And we’re not talking about the polar areas yet. The days are longer during the summer and a lot shorter during the winter. So basically, we would want to be there during fasting months in the winter. That will be from December to March in Europe and North America, or from May to August in Australia or New Zealand.

I was somewhat on the losing side when I spent five fasting periods in the North America during the summer period of the fasting cycle. OK, OK. Only four times – I was back on vacation in Malaysia the third time around. I was in West Virginia during the “better” first half of the 80’s. More details in next postings.

Counter Prolific

It's been a month since I post anything here. Just two postings in well over a month is not much of a blogging activities. That is not very prolific, and it beats the the purpose of creating a blogspot in the first place.

I thought I would be very prolific; what with all the mental loggings waiting to be converted in the weblog. Oh well, I should've known better that, what I feel or think will not always be translated into corresponding outputs, if sufficient inputs or efforts are not adequately put forth to overcome any barriers or boundaries for a meaningful productivities. (Oh my, wouldn't that qualify as an example of verbosity...)

So what should I do to myself in terms of a negative BOC (Balance of Consequence) for not living up to blogging expectations? There must be one. What specific BOC is not important here. What's important is that in the end there is a behavior change. The indicator is that more postings show up in this blogspot site from now on.

Time will be the witness