Ramadan and Football: The Synergy of Faith and Sport

Taha Memon

3rd May 2022 | 11:46 PM

Ramadan and football (Art by Shivani Khot): Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Karim Benzema are some of the perfect exponents of the co-existence of faith and sport.
Art by Shivani Khot

I’ve been alive for 25 years, and I’ve performed Rozas (fasts) in the Islamic month of Ramadan for about 18 of those years. I still remember the first Roza I observed and completed when I was five years old. My aunt celebrated the occasion by getting me a garland of flowers and a lot of chocolate, and it remains one of my earliest and happiest memories to this day.

I’ve broken two fasts in my life out of the hundreds I’ve observed, with the first one being when I was in the third grade. I was at school, practising for our upcoming annual day, and little Taha could not take the physical load of dancing and jumping around dodging fake swords. I felt like I would collapse and rushed to have a sip of water.

When I went home, I told my mother what had happened, and there was a look of disappointment on her face. She did not scold me, but she told me that as I grew up, I would have to bear a little more during this month, and I can’t be giving up so easily. Since that day, the only other time I broke a fast was when I was rushed to the hospital for an emergency appendicitis operation. Unfortunately, that incident was out of my hands.

At this time, it feels appropriate to explain to those unaware what a Roza is. Rozas (or fasts) are performed during the month of Ramadan. During the fasting period, Muslims abstain from drinking any liquid (even water) and consuming food from sunrise to sunset (activities such as smoking and sexual intercourse are also prohibited). The duration of these fasts may range from as little as 10 hours to as many as 20, depending on where you stay and what month Ramadan falls in (the Islamic calendar has 354-355 days as opposed to the 365 days of the Gregorian calendar, so each year, Ramadan will start a few days earlier than it did last year).

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