Bob CollinsIf you’ve watched the local news in the last few days, you’ve probably heard the constant motherly advice to “keep hydrated” during the heat wave.
Easier said than done if you’re a Muslim.
It’s Ramadan, when Muslims can’t eat or drink from sunup to sundown. Hydration isn’t an option.
It can be a particularly trying month for athletes. Back when he was trying to make the Vikings, backup safety Husain Abdullah had to participate in the team drills during the day at the practice facility in Mankato, all without water.
“I’m putting nothing before God, nothing before my religion,” Abdullah told the Associated Press at the time. “This is something I choose to do, not something I have to do. So I’m always going to fast.”
It could be worse. It could be Dubai.
“It is more difficult than I thought,” Muhammed Iqbal, a 26-year old Pakistani cab driver in Dubai, tells China’s Xinhua News Agency. But he didn’t give in to the thought of a drink.”Not at all, whether Ramadan is in summer or in winter, it is my duty as a believer in God.”
Currently in Dubai, it’s 104 degrees.
But they don’t have to suffer, according to one imam. Omar Shahin of Phoenix tells his followers that if they need to drink, go ahead. They can always fast in a cooler month.
Ramadan ends on August 7.
