Dear Muslim and non-Muslim blog followers – Ramadan Mubarak! Here’s the upside to Ramadan when you’re not Muslim yourself but have Muslim colleagues:
1. When people bring cake and treats into the office, your Muslim colleagues won’t be able to have any – (haha, more for you).
2. Your Muslim colleagues, friends and neighbours are so embarrassed by “fasting breath” when they run into you that they don’t talk as much – (great, peace and quiet)!
3. Charity is a pillar of Islam and we’re extra generous during Ramadan. Because we know God is handing out extra rewards to those who are sincere, and we greedily want as many as we can get, we’ll be extra nice to you this month. We’re not allowed to lie to you, swear at you or slap you like we did last Tuesday when you forgot to ask if we wanted sugar in our coffee – (*tsk* Well, we can’t eat or drink anything during daylight hours this month so the slapping will be minimal now anyway).
4. When it’s Eid we won’t be at work so you can surf the internet in peace – frankly, we won’t be there to glare at you disapprovingly as you brazenly shop online (whilst we usually do so on a minimised screen. You have to make the effort of pretending to work at least!)
5. The next day or two after Eid (whenever we bother to come back into work) we’ll usually bring in some treats to share with you. I guess a tin of Quality Street sort of makes up for the fact that we didn’t invite you to our house for Eid…Well, come on, you stuffed your faces all month while we starved so I don’t think you want to get in between us and food on the first day we can eat as normal! We’re thinking of you, obviously.
Ok, jokes aside. Here’s why we appreciate you more this month.
1. We’re really thankful for your understanding as we pass out at our desks (ok, not quite, but by the end of the day we may be slightly off focus). The fact that you didn’t nag us about finishing a report or send us to do the lunch run is pretty nice.
2. We love it when some of you go to each person in the vicinity asking “drink? drink? drink?” and then reach us and whisper “sorry” before scuttling off. I’m serious, no sarcasm. It’s almost as sweet as when you hide snacks out of sight in case we see them and when you email everyone about lunch plans instead of discussing them out loud. We do notice your consideration towards us and although honestly we’re fine if you act as normal (eating, drinking and talking about food), we appreciate the fact you care.
3. More appreciation. This time for the way you overlook our sodden appearance as we come back from prayers (and ablutions) and the way you kindly tell us if one trouser leg is still rolled up. We know you’re great colleagues because you do this for us all year round.
Aw, you guys are the best! This year, it will be TWO tins of Quality Street!
Happy Ramadan to all!
(c) Words: Amina Malik. Image 1: with thanks to Ahmed Aqtai, image 2: with thanks to Daria Shevtsova