By HANIFA ABDULNASIR AND HABIBA SAMAILA
Fasting is one of the five pillars of Islam prescribed in the holy Quran as mandatory for all healthy adult Muslims across the world. It is a period of active religious observance and spiritual reflection to strengthen your iman (Faith). However, people who are physically or mentally weak are exempted from fasting. Such individuals include pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, children who have not reached puberty age, the elderly and long distance travelers.
Ramadan is the holiest month of the Islamic calendar. It begins and ends at a different time each year as it follows the lunar calendar. The festival is celebrated in the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar.
The Muslim community observes the fast from dawn to dusk. They start by eating a light meal before dawn, which is known as “Sahoor”, at the end of day, they break their fast by eating meals, known as ‘Iftar’with family or friends.
Ramadan usually last for 29 to 30days depending on the Islamic lunar calendar, the end of the fast is marked by a celebration known as Eid Al Fitr which lasts for 3 days.
Within the university Jos community, many Muslims students however, complained about weakness and tiredness in the phase of increased assignments given to them by lecturers in some departments. They are finding it difficult to reconcile their academic pursuit with the series of mandatory religious activities that comes with Ramadan.
Fatima Abubakar, a 200L student of English Department said she wakes up around 3:45 a.m. to have her meal before the sun rises, when fasting begins, she briefly sleeps and wakes up again at 5: 20 a.m. for morning prayers and then continue with her house chores before getting ready for morning lectures.
“Early in the day, it’s fine but around five or six, my blood sugar gets really low to the point of feeling like crashing because of lack of energy and you know that lectures awaits you in school with assignments that are not easy to cope with”.
Abbas Ahmad, a 300L students of Political Science Department, also expressed concern over fatigue as a result of fasting, but promised to do his best and cope with the situation.
He, however , appealed to the department to minimize assignments and strenuous school activities, especially towards the latter half of the Ramadan.
Aside the challenges posed by spiritual activities during fasting, the cashless policy introduced by the Federal Government is also affecting students.
Abdul Aziz Muhammad, a final year Sociology Department student noted that, “the policy has affected us because going to the market to purchase food stuff is difficult as people reject transfer.”
Ibrahim Muhammad, a 200 level student of Economics Department stated that even though circulation of money is gradually improving, there are still some challenges in accessing cash due to the cashless policy.
He called on the privileged students to support others, adding that the campus SUG should fulfill his promise of providing cash to the students.
