"James, the moon hasn't been sighted yet!"

Has anyone seen the moon yet?

Last night, as I read and responded to an array of positive and encouraging messages in response to 'Why am I fasting for Ramadan', my friend Zenab got back in touch...

Huh?! "Have I written something wrong", I anxiously thought. No-no, James, read it again. The actual moon hadn't been sighted yet - and I can be honest, I wasn't sure at this stage by who or from where the moon would be sighted. As became clear very quickly, Glasgow Central Mosque (amongst plenty of others around the world I imagine) had announced via social media that Ramadan would not start until the following night.

Cue great excitement and I immediately asked Zenab what was now the most pressing question...

In what was now an incredible change in events the birthday cake that my wife had slaved over all evening could be enjoyed as a family - with breakfast, lunch and dinner! Everyone has cake for breakfast on their birthday, right?

Despite the understandable urge to go wild and eat my heart out today, I actually want to show caution and not do something my body might regret. I'm currently eating a fairly high carnivorous diet (as high as I can afford to pay for high quality meat and animal fat) and am due to test my blood sugar before breaking my first fast during Ramadan. My previous blood sugar test showed me as being prediabetic (6.6 mmol), but this was after a very indulgent Easter weekend. I am very keen to see that my fasting blood glucose reduce now that cheap chocolate is not my main source of energy.

Why is the new moon so important?

So, this is the part where I do my best to explain why the moon is fundamental to the start of Ramadan, and in Islam in general.

The crescent moon symbol (often along with a 5 or 6 pointed star) is used in various sects and religions, not just Islam. Islam began in Arabia, and it is said that the moon and stars were of great importance and essential for guidance when travelling in the night. My friend Zenith has also informed me that the moon itself is representative of "the guidance of God on the path through life". This is a lovely concept to consider. Thank you, Zenith!

The Islamic ('Hijri') calendar is based around twelve lunar months, each lasting thirty days. A new month begins whenever a new moon is sighted. All religious events and important dates are determined by physical sightings of the new moon. You may already be familiar with the use of new moon crescent symbols when seeing Ramadan posts on social media.

As per the solar calendar (the 'Gregorian' calendar, if you want to Google it) dates for certain Christian events will change slightly year on year, e.g., Easter. In Islam, the lunar year is approximately 11 days shorter than the 365-day Gregorian year. This means that over time Ramadan comes earlier each year. This year it starts in mid-April, but during my research I saw that in 2012 it actually started in mid-July. 

This was definitely something that would have affected athletes at the London 2012 Olympic Games and I'm now disappointed that back then I had no idea this was a challenge for so many athletes. Similarly, at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth games catering for athletes was managed around the clock to ensure all fasting athletes had access to the right nutrition and hydration at the times when they needed it.

Back to Ramadan 2021...even when the calendar has been predicted and published based on the moon's activity in the previous year, dates for religious events such as Ramadan can change at short notice, and are different depending on where you are in the world, in relation to the new moon. This is exactly what happened last night, when it was communicated that Glasgow's Central Mosque would now not be observing the first fast until Wednesday 14th April.

Personally, I'd like to thank the Imam's at Central Mosque for enabling me to celebrate my 34th birthday by having cake for breakfast with my family this morning!

I would normally eat birthday cake for a day or two until it's gone, but because I'm only going to have such a short window to fuel my body effectively, I don't think it'd be wise to overdo the cake tonight, knowing I'll have a blood sugar crash tomorrow. I will also definitely enjoy my birthday meal so much more tonight with my family, having prepared myself mentally to be fasting beyond Junior's usual bed time.

Fasting for Ramadan will begin for me tomorrow morning at 3:39AM and Iftar (the meal served to break the fast each day) begins at 8:28PM. 

Thank you for all the wonderful feedback, advice and understanding that has been shared with me so far by such a large number of people. I'm very much looking forward to writing about my first day of fasting tomorrow night.

Ramadhan Kareem!