Fast Tales

Welcome to Sahur. It's breakfast time.

It's nearly 2:15 in the morning

and all the people that are fasting tomorrow

are being woken up to come down and have some breakfast.

'My name is Saleyha Ahsan and, like other Muslims across the world,

'I'm fasting during the daylight hours of Ramadan,

'the holiest month in the Islamic calendar.'

I don't feel like eating, but you kind of have to,

otherwise you're going to starve during the day.

'And because Ramadan has fallen in July this year,

'it presents an extra challenge.'

This Ramadan is the hardest in 30 years.

It's cos the fasts are going on for about 19 hours each day.

It's 2:54am.

That's the last of the water. I can't drink any more now.

That's it. We are into the fast.

SHE PRAYS

As a doctor, I believe fasting can be good for us,

but is this the case in these particularly long days

without food and water? I want to find out, and discover

how people are surviving the hardest Ramadan for a generation.

I think these are going to be difficult fasts

because the days are so long.

I've never had to fast this long before, never.

I'd like to say it's exactly the same,

but I will contradict myself here.

It's a lot harder.

If you really hype yourself, thinking, "Oh, my God, I can't do it.

"I can't do it. I can't do it." Then you will not do it.

But if you say, "I shall do it. I shall overcome."

You could do it and I think you can. Everyone can.

On paper, Ramadan seems like a bit of an ordeal,

particularly this year, at the height of summer.

But we actually look forward to it, as Muslims, as a highlight.

It's the time of year when the crown

was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad.

It's also a time where we try to work on ourselves spiritually

and try to become better people.

It's eight o'clock - the morning rush hour.

Fasting during Ramadan is a religious practice,

but it doesn't mean it can't be a healthy one, too.

The Prophet said, "Fast so as to be healthy."

I work in A & E and every Ramadan

I see patients who prioritise fasting above all else.

This is something doctors at the Royal London Hospital

are very familiar with.

I got a patient yesterday, so it's a trauma patient and small injury.

The patient don't want any painkillers. "No, I'm fine."

She's fasting. She doesn't want to break fast.

I said, "If you're in pain, you should break it."

-She said, "No, it's mild pain."

-That's really interesting.

They really feel so strongly about not

-breaking their fast that they won't take a painkiller.

-Yeah.

I believe an exemption is you don't have to,

like if you are unwell and you need medication,

then it's not necessary you have to fast.

-Are you fasting?

-I am fasting, yeah.

Tell me, what's your shift pattern today?

I'm working, today, this ten-hour shift.

A ten-hour shift. How's it going?

It's... It's good, actually.

I thought, initially, it was a long day and, especially last year

and this year, you have longest hours of fasting,

but I don't feel tired and I don't feel hungry.

-How's it going?

-It's nice so far.

-Nice?

The hours are a little bit...

They're a little bit long, aren't they? They are long.

But, you know, as long as you are busy

because this Royal Hospital is very busy,

-so sometimes you can't feel it.

-You can't feel it.

And still we are working.

We are happy to work all this month as well.

So keep working, not to take time off, just keep working.

That's what we are happy to do.

What I find, when I'm on a shift in the emergency department

and on fasting, is that...

..focusing on other people does help you to forget about yourself.

And especially so when you get a sick patient,

who required absolutely full focus,

you sort of forget about your own hunger pangs and,

you know, you might be a little bit on the thirsty side.

The adrenaline takes over and you switch into gear.

No matter how poor we are, every time somebody comes to our house,

if we are eating a meal they will eat a meal with us.

'Ajmal Masroor is an Imam and a consultant on community affairs.

'It was the issues around fasting that led him

'to compile an NHS guide to fasting healthily.'

You are exempt from fasting if you are travelling,

if you are not well,

both short-term illnesses and long-term illnesses,

if you are mother who is pregnant or breast feeding -

all of these exemptions, a gift from God.

God doesn't want you to break your body,

he doesn't want you to be ill.

If you are ill, don't fast.

God has given you a gift. Would you turn God's gift away?

Why? Take it.

For many people, there's the question

of whether fasting is good for you or not.

If we keep ourselves well-prepared, fasting can't be harmful

and it isn't harmful.

In the long summer months,

especially when the hours are as long as 18/19 hours,

you need to be very mindful of what you eat,

so slow-release food,

energy food, food that stays within your system for longer,

that keeps you hydrated for longer.

You get tired, of course you do.

Of course you get fatigued, of course you want to rest,

but you can be clever about it.

Instead of looking for food, find a corner in your office

and close your eyes.

30 minutes, you will find a boost of energy.

So be clever and smart about how you manage your fasting, you'll be OK.

11 o'clock, the time when, normally,

I'd have a nice cup of coffee, but not today.

I've always known that fasting was good for me spiritually,

but I'd like to find out more about the physical effect on our bodies

during these long summer days of fasting.

I'm here at the BBC and I'm about to meet Michael Mosley,

who's an expert on the science behind fasting.

I'm really excited.

In a BBC Horizon programme, Michael put his own body to the test.

'It's all a question of what you eat or rather what you don't eat.

'It's about fasting.'

I decided to go with what I call the "five-two diet",

where you count your calories two days a week. It works.

I mean, the certainly the science shows really quite

unambiguously the benefits of fasting.

I lost about nine kilos in about eight to ten weeks.

And the other thing, which it appears to do, certainly in animals

and preliminary studies in humans, is it produced protein in the brain,

which is important for reducing your risk of things like dementia.

-Wow.

-We know diabetes is doing that, dementia is doing that,

and this is certainly one way to address it.

And that's why I'm so excited about it and why I talk about it a lot.

Do you think that this is something that the West,

with all the excesses that it lives through, could learn from?

I do actually think so. I mean, if you'd asked me this five years ago,

I would probably have said no.

I imagine most doctors still would say the idea that you can

cleanse yourself through this is nonsense,

but science is slowly catching up

with an awful lot of things that the great religions have

known for 1,000/2,000 years.

It's had a profound effect on my health,

and I do genuinely think that,

if people embraced it, it could make a significant difference.

I'm blown away by the potential therapeutic value of fasting

that far exceeded my expectations,

and it strengthens my spiritual resolve as we reach midday.

Long hours of fasting are one thing,

but what about fasting in extreme heat?

Something I experienced three years ago

when working in a hospital on the Libyan border.

I was fasting today and...

it was just an unbelievably hot day.

I'm clearly a wimp.

I felt a thirst that I'd never

experienced before to the degree that it actually made me

want to snatch the bottle of water out of the patient's hands.

Obviously, I didn't.

And I was amazed actually by how quickly our bodies do

adapt to the situation

and the more extreme the environment,

the quicker we seem to adapt.

ZUHR PRAYER READ ALOUD

Abdullah Afzal is a devout Muslim

but he's best known as an actor in the BBC sitcom Citizen Khan.

Hello, sir.

It's a job that, surprisingly, prepared him for tough fasts.

I've been on the weights, working on my abs,

trying to get a bit of definition.

'When filming Citizen Khan,'

it's really long and really hot in the studio,

there's lights down on you all the time and you're just sweating

and hungry and thirsty.

-There's been a mix-up.

-What kind of mix-up?

There's been a mix-up with the messages.

What kind of mix-up with the messages?

I did find myself thinking about samosas more than my lines at times.

There's been a mix-up with the messages on the mobile phone.

-What kind of mix-up with the messages on the mobile phone?

-Mrs Khan!

'But it's not a major issue'

because, quite obviously, the people who are hungry and who haven't got

food around the world, they don't have this thing where,

"Oh, we're hungry,

"but we're going to have something later on in the day."

We can't compare to that.

Who's that?

Me?

Does it not look like me? Not with wet toes.

Filming Citizen Khan wasn't the first time that Abdullah

had fasted in front of the camera.

He appeared in a documentary during Ramadan aged nine.

We went to the hall,

it smelled like we're going to eat then.

And I felt like my tummy's shouting at me again,

and I felt like eating.

I went, "No, I can't do it, I'm fasting." I kept it in my head.

Was I cuter then or now?

This year, Abdullah's six-year-old niece, Inayah,

is fasting for the first time.

So, how long are you going to fast for?

It's a bit long in the summer so are you going to do a smaller fast?

-Yeah.

-Are you feeling a bit hungry in your tummy?

-A little bit.

-A little bit.

Do you know I was seven years old when I did my first fast?

And some people say, "Oh, is that not unhealthy? How do you do it?"

But because we do it from such a young age,

we get used to it, don't we?

When you were watching your sisters eat, did you feel like eating as well

or are you happy that you're doing something different?

-Happy.

-You're happy? That's good.

Have you got anything else to add about your fast?

Just that face?

LAUGHTER

I remember my very first fasting.

I was about 11.

It was this time of year, it was hot.

The fasting days were long, I remember that.

And my mum and dad had said that, no, I couldn't do it

because I was too young.

But I kept bugging them

and, in the end, they thought, "Let her get on with it."

I think I was about eight when I did my first fast.

It's a huge moment

and everybody in the family is excited by it, and all

the aunties and uncles and grandmas ring you up at the end of the day

if they're not with you and a real fuss is made and you get presents.

I remember when I was about six years old

and I was very determined to fast

and I said to my parents, "I'm going to fast."

And they said, "No, you're not going to fast, you're too young."

I'm a very stubborn man and I haven't changed.

And I did.

And from the age of seven until today,

I've not missed a single fast in my life.

I just remember feeling incredibly special at the end of the day

because I'd completed it

and suddenly I was in the same community as everybody else

and I had foregone and I think it was an incredibly important

lesson on selflessness, which is an essential part of Ramadan.

It's 4:00pm - 13 hours since anything passed my lips.

My body has used up all of the nutrients from breakfast time

and it's about now that I'm feeling a little bit tired,

dipping in and out of that.

Tummy's rumbling a little bit

and everywhere I look people are eating something or other.

My body's in a slight state of stress

and once my brain accepts that it's not going to get any food,

my fat reserves are going to be utilized for energy,

which is great, that's every dieter's dream -

the fat-burning mode -

and maybe I might even lose some weight.

But, psychologically,

it's about this time of day that I find things start to drag.

'There's an hour in the middle of the day,'

which always drags on even if you're working.

It's just this one hour that you keep looking at the clock

and you go, "Right, it's 4:01, OK."

An hour later, you look - 4:03. What is going on?

It's not changed and nothing happens

and that is really difficult in the day.

I think Ramadan becomes more difficult

when you have large periods in the day when you're not doing

anything and just focusing on the fact that you're fasting.

When you are bored at home

and you have nothing to do - I feel like crying

cos it's not nice.

It's lying around, trying to sleep,

watching the worst things in the world.

You know, a documentary on beetles I've done once.

Just say to yourself, "My cells are rejuvenating,

"the spring cleaning is going on,

"my brain is sharpening, this is all to the good."

But not all good.

There's something that we call Ramadan breath,

which is a modern term.

You don't want to be sat next to someone who

ate a lamb karahi at Sehri time and didn't brush their teeth

and hasn't eaten or drunk anything since.

It's basically dehydration in the mouth

and that sort of concentrates the odour.

That's why we have to do the five-times-a-day washing

which includes rinsing your mouth out, for reasons like this,

when there are people who have breath like they have eaten

something out of a bin three weeks ago.

PRAYER READ ALOUD

Shakeel Mohmed is co-owner of a restaurant

in the Whitechapel area of London.

He may be fasting but his non-Muslim customers want their dinner.

Most of my chefs, or nearly all of them, are fasting.

It's extremely hot, they're dealing with the food,

you know, as a hands-on,

so, for them, it is more difficult

in terms of controlling their desires with the food

but by controlling your desires it brings you closer to God.

Allah makes it easier for us because we can't eat 18 hours only

but so many people in the world, they can't eat food two, three days.

But we're lucky.

It's a challenge. Other people are eating, can I control myself?

I can smell food 24 hours a day. Can I control myself?

If you can do it in the middle of a place

where everyone is not fasting, then you really are strong.

And that's what fasting brings out of you, the strength,

the inner character of you is tested and brought to the fore.

So, could you come before Iftar time, sir?

Before half an hour earlier?

That's all right? Perfect, sir.

The fast will end in two and a half hours with Iftar -

the first meal after the sun sets.

Customers start to come in towards about the seven, eight o'clock time

and we prepare by taking the orders in advance

and trying to get the orders in.

We are fully booked at the moment, sir, yeah.

Yeah, I understand, but we are fully booked, sir, tonight.

In the next couple of hours,

when you see 300 people breaking their fast all at the same time,

it's a great experience to be part of.

In the spirit of trying to have a healthy Ramadan, I've decided

I'm going to go

to the gym at least twice a week.

I've never done that before.

The idea of fasting these huge, long days

and exercising does seem a bit mad, but you know what?

I wouldn't be the first Muslim to exercise whilst fasting.

Hello, I'm here for the gym.

This gym has extended its opening hours during Ramadan to allow

Muslims who are fasting to exercise just before breaking their fast.

It's around 7.30 in the evening now, two hours to go.

There is at least seven or eight people right now

who are doing all this

and who've been fasting all day.

I'm pretty amazed, actually.

Where are they getting their energy from?

The thing that does catch me off-guard

is when you smell something really kind of strong like fish and chips.

Only when you smell the food then actually

you think, "I'm actually hungry."

Yeah, it does feel pretty long. I can't wait to drink.

HE GROANS

Guys, you've got two minutes to wipe yourselves down.

For those who want to get some fluids, go for it.

Those who are fasting, don't worry, you've got a little while to go.

I tell you what I've noticed is that

even when you said,

"Everyone go and get a drink of water,"

even the ones that are not fasting...

They don't skive.

Yeah, they don't tend to.

It's like at work,

people don't eat in front of us.

I think those school days are over.

"Do you want some?"

No respect.

A little bit more civil, I think.

It's really funny, I'm not feeling the least bit tired.

I WAS on my way here but I seem to have woken up.

There's a bit of a tonic in the air.

I might have to go

and do some exercise now that I've seen all this.

HE GROANS

The research suggests that if you do short bursts of

high-intensity exercise - that can simply mean running up the stairs -

then this suppresses appetite, so you'll actually feel better on it.

I think, if you can manage it, it's a good thing.

The research I've seen on athletes during Ramadan is

that their performance is hardly affected.

The dehydration can be a problem

but actually the food is not, or the lack of food.

I don't actually feel that thirsty, just hot.

I probably haven't pushed it as hard as I normally would because

I've got it in the back of my mind that I've been fasting all day.

But you know what?

I survived it, I don't feel terrible.

I feel kind of refreshed. I don't feel hungry.

I feel hot more than I do thirsty.

I really feel instead of just having a drink of water,

I could really just dive into an ice-cold swimming pool.

The breaking of the fast, Iftar, is now only minutes away and,

in Whitechapel, hungry fasters are gathering at Shakeel's restaurant.

What can we do for you?

We're here for Iftar.

-Do you have a reservation here?

-Yes.

-What's the name, please?

It's under Saleyha.

-Oh, hi, there. How are you? We have your table ready here.

-Thank you.

People break their fast here

with the dates and fruit we provide

and then they go to the mosque for the Maghrib prayer.

They come back and they expect the food to be here.

We are fully booked tonight and we've got a waiting list.

Let's do this!

What I really love is that people are arriving,

sitting at their tables, not eating anything,

just waiting for that moment when they can break their fast.

The tables are laid with the dates and the watermelons and the drinks.

There's a real buzz in the air of anticipation.

Ten-minute countdown. No-one is eating!

No-one is eating anything!

The five minutes before you open your fast,

the time just stops for a bit.

You see yourself, feel yourself ageing.

Your eyes want to eat the entire world.

The variety of food that you might imagine that you could consume...

unbelievable.

I'm kind of like filling up, just with the atmosphere.

It's 9.22.

The setting of the sun has signalled the end of today's fast.

I just want to let you know it is Iftar time.

Thank you very much. You have to break your fast as well.

Yeah, I'm going to do, yeah, thank you.

It's funny, I can't really eat that much at the moment.

I've had some amazing dates.

When I have those dates and some water,

that's kind of me for a while.

I kind of just like looking at everything.

The feeling of opening your fast,

I am telling you, it's like no other feeling.

Imagine the hottest day of the year

and you're gasping for something, gasping.

And you have a cold glass of water.

It's just absolute heaven when you open your fast.

That was refreshing.

God loves to see his servant, us, those who are submitting to him

so pleased to have eaten some food and, for us,

whole days climaxes awaiting the food that we have in front of us.

At that very moment, your taste buds have woken up.

They've been refined, refreshed, they're not numb.

I'm just waiting for this!

For me, the moment of opening the fast,

I'm surrounded by a large family, members of the community

as well, and it is an incredibly uplifting, celebratory moment.

The dates have broken our fast but the main course must wait

until after day's fourth prayer.

PRAYER IS READ ALOUD

My Ramadan is about reflecting, self-evaluation, reassessing

priorities and about questioning whether I am doing enough in terms

of my responsibilities as a member of the human race.

For me, I think Ramadan, it's about redemption.

A lot of Muslims will say, "You know it's Ramadan when

"the local drug dealer's wearing a mosque hat," and that's funny

but it's so true.

It means that anyone, no matter what they've done,

they've got a chance to start again.

It's one month of transformation that you get an opportunity to take

and that opportunity missed is the most unfortunate thing one

can do in life, in my view.

It's like somebody saying, "Here is a detox programme, ready-made

"every year for 30 days," and we're saying, "I'm not interested."

The restaurant's empty now.

How did it go?

Great, I think it's another great Iftar day.

When do you guys get to eat?

This is probably the time I'm going to eat now

so I'm going to go to the back and have a quick bite to eat.

And you've not eaten yet?

I've had the odd few snacks on the go

but I'll have something in a little while.

I don't want to hold you up. Go and eat, because it will be time

-to start fasting again soon.

-I will.

SHE SAYS PRAYERS

Ramadan is about more than denying your body food and water.

But with one more week to go before Ramadan ends, I'm feeling

the physical as much as the spiritual benefits of fasting

through the long summer days, a benefit which

I hope will carry on long after the month of fasting is over.

Fasting for me is a transformative time.

In one month it's an amazing boost of goodness and virtue

and spirituality.

I like this.