Ramadan Energizes Ottawa Muslims

Ramadan is a chance to bring Ottawa Muslims more closer by breaking their fast together and perform Tarawih prayers. (Google)

"Ramadan is a time to get out of your normal routine and become more reflective, thinking about who we are and what we're doing here," Suleikha Ali Yusuf, 48, told the Ottawa Gazette on Saturday, September 6.

"Day to day, we all rush about. This is a time to let go of all that and really focus. I find that very energizing."

Many Ottawa Muslims seize on the dawn-to-dusk fasting month to bring more help to the poor and needy people.

"At the beginning of the week, I was getting impatient because I was so hungry," Kausar Farah, 18, said.

"That just made my belief stronger, because it reminded me of the people who still won't have enough to eat when they break their fast."

Yusuf sees Ramadan as a chance to bring Ottawa Muslims more closer by breaking their fast together and perform Tarawih prayers, special nightly prayers performed during the holy fasting month only.

"(It's a time to) stand shoulder to shoulder with all these people and feel in the presence of something really beautiful," Yusuf said.

In Ramadan, adult Muslims, save the sick and those traveling, abstain from food, drink, smoking and sex between dawn and sunset.

Muslims also dedicate their time during the holy month to become closer to Allah through prayer and self-restraint.

Many men perform i`tikaf (spiritual retreat), spending the last 10 days of the month exclusively in the mosque.

It is also customary for Muslims to spend part of the days during Ramadan studying the Noble Qur'an.

Reflective

The spiritual atmosphere of the Muslim minority during the holy fasting month has drawn admiration of Ottawa politicians and residents.

"It shows the strength of the community," Kitchissippi Councilor Christine Leadman said during a visit with fellow politicians to Ottawa Mosque on Friday.

Leadman, a close neighbor to Ottawa Mosque, said she is impressed at the number of Muslims flocking to the mosque during Ramadan, describing the experience of the fasting month as "enriching and rewarding" for the Muslim community.

The Ottawa Mosque is the largest of six area mosques, which serve a population of approximately 40,000 Muslims in the Canadian capital.

Ottawa Centre NDP MP Paul Dewar said Ramadan is a chance for getting a better understanding of the Muslim minority.

"We're all better when we work together," Dewar said.

"For policy-makers, it's extremely important that they understand the diversity of Islam.

"Islam, like Christianity, is not monolithic."

Muslims make around 1.9 percent of Canada's some 32.8 million population.

Their number has increased dramatically over the last decade and Islam has become the number one non-Christian faith in Canada.