By Nimra Shaikh
Ramadan is the month of fasting, it gives you the opportunity to become closer to your God, ask for forgiveness, and spend time with family.
You have a role of giving Zakat , taking a look at the people who are less fortunate and helping them out. The holy month will also teach you to sacrifice and have self- control and is a way just to be generous.
Fasting is one of the five pillars of Islam and you should not leave your fast on any circumstance, although some are excluded due to a severe illness, menstruation and pregnancy.
This year’s Ramadan was a different one; it wasn’t the usual going for Iftar parties, family gatherings, going out and opening the fast.
Instead, everything was based at home.
Before Ramadan, everybody was thinking the same thing: how we will all cope this year, and will it be easy ? Some were scared and some were just praying that it goes by fast.
Even seeing that the Kabbah for pilgrimage being shut was a huge sign that this Ramadan will not only be different; it will also be hard. Many people had heartfelt posts about seeing the Kaaba empty.
Unfortunately, this time people who had spent around £10,000 for Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca) could not perform their special prayers, especially the people who were very spiritually attached and were very excited they had to cancel the plans due to coronavirus.
Photo (GIF) by Nimra Shaikh
It wasn’t only the Hajj. On the first 10 days of Ramadan, Muslims normally attend Taraweeh ( late night prayers after Isha prayer). But nobody could attend this year due to the situation.
Mubarak Shahid , 27, software engineer at Apple said: “Well, Ramadan this year was very different [as] we were on lockdown due to this pandemic, However it has allowed us family members to come together.
“It has allowed us to pray more and have a sense of union. In regards to family coming together, normally during the Ramadan month a lot of us are working. However this was the only time we were all at home and able to coordinate our work life at home with our religious duties.”
Cooking is difficult during Ramadan, as people attempt to prepare new dishes or just have lots of food. Mubarak added: “I would help out to make stuff for iftar, chopping, cutting fruit, filling up pastries – the things that I’ve never done before.”
He also felt very close to God this year. “ Praying more as we had time to balance our work life at home with prayer, also praying extra during the night definitely had a spiritual feeling,” said Mubarak.
People were really upset that they could not meet their loved ones on Eid this year. “There has never been an Eid that I’ve not gone to visit my grandma’s grave but of course this Eid was totally different because of COVID19.
“At the same time I feel very grateful I got the chance to stay connected with my religion and spend Eid as a family.
“We all know coronavirus was a bad time on everyone and still is but for us Muslims there was one thing we all spent Ramadan together, and I was glad I got the chance to help my mother out this year with everything.
“It also made me realise that the preparation for iftar is very tough, but it was all worth it,” said Mubarak.
You are supposed to pray and read the Quran as much as you can during this period. “ I don’t often get the chance to read but I managed to finish the whole Quran this month, ” said Mubarak.
On the other hand in some places Ramadan was quite tragic due to sudden deaths of family members. Sehrish Javed, 22, makeup Artist for Bobbi Brown, suddenly lost her father and uncle due to the virus.
“My father had passed away two days before Ramadan due to Corona, it was a very shocking and an unbearable moment for all of us due to the situation. Sadly, none of our friends and family could come and visit and do the religious rituals.”
By the religious rituals she refers to reading the quran, reciting duas and giving food to the family who lost someone.
“We were mentally so disturbed we had no clue when fasting will begin and when it will end,” said Sehrish.
“It was a struggle for me to stay at home knowing my father was not around me, at times I just wanted to leave the house. I would keep myself busy in housework and as Ramadan started I would read the Quran and sit on the prayer mat.”
Sehrish said, “My mother is a housewife and my dad would always shop for groceries and this time I would have to go, queuing up and dealing with a loss. And the virus situation made it worse, it made me realise that he’d do so much without us even realising and everything has changed now.”
“We just managed to pull ourselves together and pray morning till night praying for his Maghfirat, It was very painful this Ramadan because there was certainly a piece missing within all of us.”
Coronavirus has somehow brought people closer to their religion, as many are struggling with staying at home but it has also brought that chance to get connected with your God again.
This year’s Ramadan has been tough but it did unite everyone together in different ways and it flew by so quick. Being a Muslim one feels that this is a test from above and you need to focus and strengthen your faith.
Ending the Holy month of Ramadan, Muslims around the world celebrated Eid with their close ones at home being quarantined and at a distance with friends and relatives. 
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