Pretty much everyone who knows me beyond a casual hello knows that I'm muslim, and that I fast during Ramadan. Those who know me a bit more intimately know that Ramadan is a big deal to me this year.
For reasons of health and spirituality, there was a time when I was a teenager when I was the only person in my household who was able to fast during Ramadan. My dad would sometimes get up to keep me company during sehri, and we often had family iftar time, but it was mostly a solitary game. I felt a deep sense of responsibility, fasting in hopes that my actions would turn out some benefits for my parents health, my brother's well-being. The last time that this was the case, the last Ramadan I spent at home, was in 2001, not long after 9/11.
After I left home, Ramadan became increasingly a challenge in my life. Removed from the everyday of my family's life, I had to find new motivation. It's not as though I loved or cared for my family any less. Being alone, or rather a lone muslim, and not having people around who recognize what you're doing, means you have to be much more committed. Suddenly I found that if I was going to live up to the many observances of Ramadan, I would have to do it for myself. This is a hard thing to do when you're 17 and you don't love yourself.
Ramadans 2002-2006, the Ottawa years, were awkward, and sometimes bleak. There are some amusing anecdotes (creative methods of trying to get up for sehri and fajr without disturbing the roommate I shared one tiny room with in my first year of undergrad) and some sad (fasting fewer and fewer days because of isolation, depression, and health problems). These years were peppered with a few bright spots, when I would have iftar at the home of old family friends, or manage to make the 10 hour trip home to spend Eid with my family.
I should note that my isolation in these years was both imposed and self-afflicted. There was no real community of muslims in my residence in first year. I tried to pretend I was brave, and went to a few MSA events, but mostly found myself alienated by what felt like hyper-virtuous, normalizing, mainstream muslims at the time. It was too much a reminder of the uncomfortable years of islamic sunday school, where I felt preached at by an imam whose social views and relationship to allah did not reflect my own, and where pre-teen peer pressure was more morally influential than the teachings of the qur'an. I chose to stay away from other muslims because I didn't trust them. I didn't trust the awe and surprise of people learning for the first time that I, a girl, was studying and living away from home, and amongst non-muslims. I didn't trust the pressure to change the way I related to allah and islam. I'm not proud of it, and I still grapple with these issues now. As a young adult, I let these things drive me away from the ummah.
