Rayaan Ahmed

Religious holidays don’t necessarily need to be celebrated around Christmastime. In fact, the Islamic summer holiday of Ramadan is a popular holiday intended to increase self-control.

Ramadan, followed by Eid (also known as the Festival of Breaking Fast, or the end of Ramadan) is celebrated by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting, prayer, reflection, and community. Rayaan Ahmed, a freshman at West Campus, states: “In the morning before sundown, we usually eat breakfast, then we fast through the day, then at sundown we eat.

Starting April 23 and running until May 23, Muslims everywhere will partake in the self-actualizing holiday. Ahmed, being Islamic, chooses alongside his family not to celebrate Christmas, a Christian holiday. “It’s nothing culturally,” Ahmed explains. “It’s not like we’re not allowed to. We just choose not to.”

Ramadan, like many other holidays, is intended for people to spend quality time with family. “Normally what we would do is have people over for dinner, or we just hang out as a family,” he says.

Although not many people know much about this holiday, Ramadan is a time of spiritual reflection, self-improvement, and heightened devotion and worship. Along with other holidays, there’s no better time to celebrate and spend time with family than the holiday season.