Embracing the spirit of Ramadan

Gulf News

Embracing the spirit of Ramadan. Sixteen-year-old Pranav Chaudhary, a non-Muslim expatriate Indian from Dubai, showed respect for his Muslim friends by fasting with them during the holy month of Ramadan in 2011. See more at: http://gulfnews.com/gntv

Transcript

00:00I'm Pranav Choudhury, I'm 16 years old, I'm a non-Muslim.

00:28I have many Muslim friends in school and outside school, and I'm just trying to fast with them

00:34and see that there's nothing wrong in joining in with them during this holy month of Ramadan.

00:42This is my first Ramadan, the reason is that I guess at this stage I am mature, I'm 16

00:47years old, maybe before I was a kid, and I feel that now it's a good time to try different

00:54things from different aspects in life and try and inculcate them in my own schedule.

00:59I've asked my friends about how the system works, I've even read it in the newspaper

01:04sometimes, it's that before the Adhan in the morning, before maybe let's say 4 or 4.15,

01:10you have to have your Suhoor, or as it's called Sehri in my language, and I cook an omelette

01:14or I cook sausages, toaster bread, and I have that, so there's no harm in taking the good

01:21points from their religion, there's no harm in accepting that and trying to fast and just

01:26to see what effect it has on me, can I resist it?

01:29In the beginning, the first two days were the most difficult, but now it's like it's

01:33been eight or even one week, and I don't even know that it's been one week, and I've been

01:37keeping a fast really with a lot of determination.

01:40There are times that it's so difficult to fast that I feel hungry, more than hungry

01:44I feel thirsty, like my lips and my throats are dry from inside.

01:48Whenever these thoughts come, I just recall what my friend said or I think I read it somewhere

01:53that during the month of Ramadan, whenever you feel that you have to go and eat or you

01:57have to go and break your fast, I try to tell myself that it's the devil around, that he's

02:02the shaitan, he's trying to do this, break the strength and determination of the believers.

02:08So I just keep that in mind, that I don't want to let into that.

02:11This month, I think it's the longest Ramadan, it's 16 hours of fasting, from 4 to 7.

02:16My parents, I'm really glad, they're really open-minded.

02:19My mom actually told me that, you know, this is good for you, you can form a resistance.

02:23My dad had absolutely no response to it, he's just like, okay, that's good for you.

02:27Nobody took objection to it, that you're a non-Muslim, why are you doing this?

02:31They're supportive, and I tell them the same thing I'm telling you, that I'm doing it for

02:35myself, in Dubai, which is like a cosmopolitan country, and they try their best to allow

02:41us to pursue whatever we want to, we have churches, we have temples, everything.

02:46So just as, you know, giving something back to the community, you know, showing a little

02:51respect for the religion of the indigenous people.

02:56I think that's another aspect.

02:59By 7 o'clock, I go off with my friends, we have iftar, I hang around, most of the time

03:03I go to Deira, because that's close to me, I have many friends.

03:06When Pranav first told me that he's fasting, I became really happy, because I was really

03:11impressed that a non-Muslim is trying to do a Muslim culture, and I also told him that

03:18if he needs any help with anything, he can always call me, he also called me a few times,

03:24and I told him what to do, which I'm really happy that he's actually trying to see what

03:30are the different cultures.

03:33So I think Ramadan helps us, not only Muslims, but also people of other religions, such as

03:40Pranav here, to help us understand how there are millions of other people, such as the

03:46people in Somalia and other places in Africa, who don't have the luxury and the food that

03:51we do.

03:52And Pranav told me that he wants to eat with me in iftar, so I was like, you're trying

03:57to learn the Arabian culture, so why don't you learn the Persian culture too, and eat

04:02in an Iranian restaurant?

04:03So what we did is call his good friends, and call a few of my good friends, so we all eat

04:10in one table, and have our iftar together.

04:14So, As-salamu alaykum, what's that picture in your t-shirt?

04:18As-salamu alaykum!

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