I was shocked by the quantity of food my Muslim friend consumed very early in the month during the month of Ramadan. He invited me again the next day and I gave him the same reply and he never bothered me again till the fasting period ended. He stared at me for a while as if he was saying “Do you really mean that you would not come to join me to start fasting? I told him that I was not used to eating at that time. However on this particular day, he finished preparing the food and invited me to come and eat with him, at about 5.00 am! I declined and he looked at me as if embarrassed, or may be disappointed. I found the noise from his movement at this time and the use of kitchen utensils quite disturbing but I tolerated it because he made me to understand that it was something very important to him and his religion to eat before sunrise. My Muslim friend used to wake up very early, about 4am to prepare food. I refused to fast with him not only because I was not a Muslim but also because I could not just suddenly change my eating habits. Though my friend knew I was not a Muslim, he tried luring me into fasting with him but I declined.

Thus my first experience of Ramadan with my Muslim friend was an eye-opener. I spent my childhood and teenage years in South East Nigeria and did not know much about the practice of Ramadan. I used to share an apartment with a practicing Muslim who fasted during Ramadan. Growing up in Ibadan in South West Nigeria where there is a mix of Muslims and Christians, I had a different and interesting experience of fasting during the month of Ramadan.

My issue here is this: if indeed there is no compulsion in Islam, why should Muslims and non Muslims be compelled to fast? Why should a Christian living in Muslim majority communities be attacked, harassed or arrested for eating during the ‘Muslim fasting hours’? There have been reports of similar attacks on Muslims and non-Muslims alike in other parts of the world. Why attack somebody whose own faith enjoins him to eat when people of other faiths have chosen to fast? These Muslims have out of their own volition chosen to fast. I mean what was their business with a Christian who decided to eat. In Kaduna, a 41-year-old carpenter was attacked and seriously injured by a Muslim gang for eating during the fasting hours. The problem is that there is this tendency to force all Muslims and non-Muslims to observe the Ramadan. They can even choose to fast for two months or more if they wish to do so. Muslims have the right to fast as demanded by their faith. I have been contemplating for some time, particularly in recent weeks, over this month of Ramadan and the ritual of fasting because there seems to be some compulsion in the Muslim majority states for all persons to fast even if they are not Muslims.ĭo not get me wrong.

Nigerian fasting until sunset