Cultural Detoxes & Night-Time Snacks: How 7 Australian Women Are Spending Ramadan

This Saturday marks the beginning of Ramadan — a month-long period of fasting, prayer and reflection for many of the 600,000+ Australians who identify as Muslim.

Every family has their own traditions and ways of spending Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr, the festival that celebrates the end of fasting. Whether someone is a religious Muslim, a non-practising Muslim, a 'casual' Muslim or a revert, the month of Ramadan means something different to everyone.

Here, we peek into the rituals and memories of these 7 Australian Muslim women.

I’m Somali, born in Kenya. 

It’s my favourite time of the year. Ramadan means putting everything in our material world on hold — to go inwards. It’s an opportunity to nourish the soul and heal the spirit. I use it as a time for reflection and communion and to set intentions for the year to come. 

There are so many — eating beautiful Somali dishes at sunset that Mum and my siblings prepared, praying tarawih prayers at the mosque and fundraising for orphanages back home. And most importantly, soaking up all the lessons that remind us of our purpose and the pivotal role our faith and heritage play in our lives as Muslims. 

I live in Sydney now, so it’s the first Ramadan I’m doing away from my family. I’m keen to explore the mosques and the Muslim community here, make some new friends and find new charities I can give my time to. I’ve heard that certain streets of Western Sydney are closed off every night of the month for a special street food bazaar including the infamous Lakemba camel burgers that I’m so excited to try! 

Lebanese on my father's side, English Australian on my mother's side.

Ramadan is definitely a time of celebration and family but also a time of self-reflection and discipline. We deepen our connection with God and abstain from worldly pleasures, increase the amount of charity we give, and focus on family and union. I also find it helps me cleanse mentally, physically and spiritually. It’s a great time to better yourself in so many ways.

Only the best memories: The after-school iftar dinners in primary school and breaking my fast with Turkish soup with my friends. The Islamic stories we were told as we counted down the minutes until we could eat. But the best part is always the food my mum makes and how the smell roams through the house with Quran playing in the background. My mum still puts up the cutest Ramadan and Eid decorations to make sure we get excited and never feel like we’re missing out on what our peers experience during Christmas and Easter, since we don't celebrate those occasions.

This year will hopefully be just as great as other years. I hope to donate more to charity, read more of the Quran and make sure that my younger brother and cousins all have the excitement I felt when I was their age. Due to Covid, we didn’t get to have Ramadan food markets or go to the mosque for Taraweeh prayer in the last few years, so I’m so excited to do that again.

I'm Fijian-Indian. My family is Muslim, and I was raised to be pretty devout. 

I'm not a practicing Muslim anymore, but Ramadan is still very special to me. It's a time when I can enjoy the cultural traditions that were a big part of my life growing up, and also an opportunity to spend more time with family. 

When I was growing up, Ramadan was the most special time of the year. I remember living in a small country NSW town, and all of the Muslim community came together during Ramadan for shared Iftar and Tarabi prayers throughout the month. My family would make sweets in preparation for Eid all month, and we'd even hand make vermicelli to make the traditional semai which we always have on the morning of Eid. It always feels momentous, and I still even go to the mosque, even though I don't pray, because the atmosphere is so lovely. 

Throughout the month, we'll go over to my parents' place for Iftar, and also host family and friends together. And then on Eid, my family gathers for a special breakfast, and we have a huge gathering with all our friends where my sisters go all out cooking amazing food and we celebrate together. The kids get money from the adults and gorge themselves on sweets. It's a lovely day!

Italian Australian.

Ramadan is a time to dedicate to my religion. It reminds me to reset and regroup my values and beliefs as a Muslim woman. 

I am a Muslim revert; I converted to Islam two years ago now. As I didn't grow up Muslim, my experience hasn’t been the typical journey, however I’m excited for when I have children one day, InshAllah, to raise them with the religious values and beliefs that I hold now. 

I’ll be with my fiancé and his family. As I'm sure some reverts can understand, the first Ramadan I had was difficult, as my family isn’t Muslim. I’m so blessed to have Ahmed (my fiancé) and his family. They’ve made me feel included and it’s beautiful to be able to celebrate these traditions with people I love. I’m grateful to have these family experiences as a revert. 

Australian-born Lebanese.

Ramadan is such a special time. It’s a time for reflection, humility and mindfulness. Not only are we fasting to understand the less fortunate, but we are thinking about our actions, words and intentions. Life is so fast-paced and it’s such an important month to slow down and reflect.

My Mum made sure that Ramadan was such a wonderful time for us growing up. She made fasting seem so inviting and exciting, and always kept us busy making decorations for Eid and the most beautiful handmade Eid cards for all of our extended family and friends. She would gently remind us of the importance of feeling with those less fortunate and really helped us develop our appreciation for everything we have.

It was also a time for welcoming friends and family to our home for Iftar and she would make some of the most humble yet delicious dishes, unique to Ramadan, many of which have become part of Sunday Kitchen's menu today. 

This year, my daughters Layla and Eden are almost five and three and becoming old enough to begin to understand Ramadan and Eid more. Although they won’t be fasting, we will be busy making decorations and cards and ofcourse cooking some of the memorable dishes, such as Fatteh, Shish Barak and Wara Enab. Hopefully there will be more weekends spent with extended family as Covid hindered this over the past two years.

We wrap up the month of Ramadan with a few days spent baking delicate Maamoul to share with friends and family on Eid, and it is here I really think about my maternal grandparents who are no longer with us — and the joy Eid brought to us all.

Bangladeshi.

Growing up, Ramadan was a special time of family bonding, especially because I'm blessed to have a large extended family here in Sydney and we would see each other at iftar parties and, of course, Eid al-Fitr. As an adult, the month unfortunately became a source of stress every year, trying to juggle work and social commitments, study and the chronic lack of sleep, because most of the prayers and obligations of the month occur at night. I can't tell you how many times I've found myself at my desk at work in a sudden panic because sundown had been and gone and I'd forgotten to break my fast, or I had to race home to catch the last few rakats of Taraweeh, the Ramadan evening prayer.

It was only in 2020 when we had our first Covid Ramadan that I finally understood the spirit of the month, because there were no other commitments to distract from what it actually is meant to be — a spiritual reset. Everything we do — the fasting, the prayers, the feeding of friends and family — is specifically designed to bring us into a closer connection with our faith and God. It's essentially a month of reflection and meditation. 2020 prompted a belated realisation that in order to get the most out of the month, I needed to make a decision to prioritise it above the day-to-day of my usual life wherever possible. Thankfully, I was in a position to actually do so. 

In 2021, I requested to work from home for the whole month, which my employer readily agreed to. It allowed me to participate in daily Taraweeh and even Qiyam, the overnight prayers in the final ten days of Ramadan, and really soak in the wonderful community and spirituality at my incredible local masjid. In the last two years, I actually felt a palpable sense of loss once the month was over, which is a great indication of a Ramadan well-spent!

Growing up in south-west Sydney in the '90s meant observing Ramadan in the heart of a vibrant, diverse Muslim community that began at Minto Masjid and grew very swiftly beyond its capacity. My younger brother was in the process of memorising the Qur'an, and Ramadan is often used as an opportunity for those memorising/have memorised to revise their knowledge, so the locals would gather in our massive garage, where Dad created a makeshift musallah using carpeting offcuts, and my brother would lead the prayers alongside one of our most beloved community leaders. I have such strong memories of finishing iftar and heading downstairs to set up the musallah every night, rolling out the carpets and hanging the curtain between the men's and women's sections. After we completed prayers every night, at least two or three people would have brought dishes of sweets or fruit that everyone would sit together and enjoy them before heading home. There were also the family iftar parties hosted by my parents or aunts and uncles, where the tables would literally groan under the weight of all the incredible food that had been prepared. All these lasting memories are ones of community, togetherness and celebration.

I've been lucky enough to get approval to WFH this year as well, so I'm hoping to recreate the same routines I established last year. The hour prior to sundown, I like to spend reading the Qur'an, then iftar is usually a simple, light meal before preparing for Taraweeh, which usually goes for about two hours at our local masjid. Then it's an early bedtime in order to wake before sun-up to eat suhr. I've found it's easier to balance all my life commitments if I go underground a little bit over the month, so my friends are used to me disappearing into my hole for a few weeks. It's going to be my first Ramadan spent alone in a few years, which will be interesting to navigate because I'm very organised when taking care of others and a complete mess when it's just myself that I have to provide for. I always try to go on a bit of cultural detox over the month — no TV, music, minimal online activity — and like a lot of people, I try to make a Ramadan resolution for something spiritually beneficial to carry on after the month is over. I've got a couple on the cards this year, inshAllah, and looking forward to the rest and rejuvenation a well-observed Ramadan can bring.

I'm Afghan.

I have so many wonderful memories of Ramadan. Each one symbolises a special moment in time. For example, when I was younger, Ramadan came in the summertime. The days were long and hot and the nights were short and sweet. We were on school holidays so we had developed a routine where we would break fast on Aash (a traditional Afghan soup often eaten with plain yoghurt) and then head to Taraweeh prayers where all our friends would gather for the night prayers.

On the way home, we would stop over at the servo and get slushies. My parents would go to sleep while my sister and I would re-arrange the lounge furniture and lay on the couches up all night watching movies. The prayers at the mosque was particularly special since all our friends would gather together. I would always know who I'd expect to be there but I would still search for their shoes while taking my own shoes off, just to be sure that when I opened the doors, they would be there.

But of all the memories, the memory that was the most beautiful was when I was very young, around four years old. I slept over at my great aunt's house — I called her Bibi (grandma). I awoke to an empty bed and went out looking for her. I found her sitting at the kitchen table peeling green apples and munching on them. I was so shocked that she was up for a snack at night. I thought that was so cool. I asked her if she does this every night and she said she only does it during Ramadan. I was so impressed. The idea of waking up in the middle of the night to eat snacks blew my mind — I thought it was the best idea ever. I sat silently with her and we ate green apples together — and it's one of the best memories of my life. Words can't describe how my heart explodes with emotions when I think of that moment. I went home telling my parents that Bibi had come up with an amazing idea called suhur and that we should all eat snacks late at night as well.

I spend most of Ramadan having Iftar (or breaking fast) at my parents' house with my siblings, husband and kids. It's really special because we spend the entire month together. We also spend a lot of time at community gatherings with many other families. This is an extra special time for my daughters because they play with their friends and get many gifts.

For the past two years, I've started another tradition where I invite as many of my non-Muslim friends to come over and have Iftar with us. I do this intentionally as I want to spend this special time with them and I want them to share Ramadan with us. I love so many things about Christmas — the way the entire country comes to life with all the beautiful decorations and twinkle lights. So I want to share some of Ramadan with my friends that wouldn't ordinarily get to enjoy it.