Marty Sharpe Hastings man Ghazanfar Ahmed, or "G" to his mates, is one of 1.5 billion Muslims around the world observing the Fast of Ramadan this month.
Ramadan, which takes place in the ninth month of the lunar year, began last Saturday and ends with the first sighting of the
new moon on the 14th or 15th of next month.
This is Mr Ahmed's second Ramadan spent in New Zealand. He moved to Hastings from Bombay in February last year.
The holiest part of the year for Muslims, Ramadan requires followers to abstain from food, drink, and sexual relations between first light and sundown.
"It is hard," says Mr Ahmed, "but that is what it's about. It's about having control over our emotions. Emotion is tested by hunger. It's easy to lose your temperament if your throat is parched and your stomach is hungry.
"It's like going to the gym, but this is a workout for your moral conscience," he says.
Mr Ahmed, who is in his final year of a bachelor of computer systems at EIT, is one of about 150 practicing Muslims in the Napier and Hastings area, most of whom pray every evening at a mosque on Heretaunga Street.
"During Ramadan I go every evening. In the rest of the year I'd go on 75-80 percent of days. That's what we do. You might have a barbecue, we go the mosque," he says, laughing.
During Ramadan Ahmed has a meal of fruit salad, biscuits and water between 4:30am and 5am, then does not eat or drink again until the moment the sun goes down, when he eats dates, in accordance with Sunnat, or the practice of the holy prophet, Mohammed.
"After the dates it's open season," he says.
Mr Ahmed's observing Ramadan was no unusual occurrence in a house containing people of four other religions; landlord John Healey, an Anglican, his wife Joy, a Jehovah's Witness, and two fellow boarders, one a Buddhist and the other a Catholic.
Mr Ahmed alway prays five times a day, facing east toward Mecca.
"Yes, I have a compass on me at all times. You would think it would be instinctive, but it's not. It's really easy to get lost if you take too many turns on the road to someone's place," he says.
Muslims who are sick, elderly, or on a journey, and women who are pregnant or nursing are permitted to break the Ramadan fast and make up an equal number of days later in the year.
If they are unable to do this, they must feed a needy person for every day missed.
Children begin to fast (and to observe the prayer) from puberty, although many start earlier.
Marty Sharpe Hastings man Ghazanfar Ahmed, or "G" to his mates, is one of 1.5 billion Muslims around the world observing the Fast of Ramadan this month.
Ramadan, which takes place in the ninth month of the lunar year, began last Saturday and ends with the first sighting of the
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