Keeping the Faith During Ramadan With Zoom

The holy month of Ramadan has started for Muslims across the world. Normally at this time, Muslims gather together to fast and pray during the day, then feast and celebrate at night once the sun goes down. This year, amid the coronavirus pandemic, Muslims in the Bay Area are rethinking the usual traditions.

Sameena Usman, her two kids and her friends usually would gather together for a big potluck every night for Ramadan.

"Or we'd all meet at a restaurant together," Usman said. "This is supposed to be a time of fasting, but we definitely focus a lot on food!"

This year, Usman is spending Ramadan at home with her 13-year-old son Saleh and 10-year-old daughter Serene. Kids aren't expected to fast until they reach puberty, but her son has been fasting for the past three years. This year, her daughter wants to try, too.

"She wants to fast, we're going to see. I don't pressure her," Usman said. "This is her decision, since it's not compulsory on her because she's only 10 years old."

She'll support her kids through the holiday, but after more than a month of sheltering in place, she's nervous how fasting will factor in to how her kids are coping with life during the pandemic.

"They're getting a little bit stir crazy," Usman said. "We try to go outside, go on our bikes or [I'll tell them] go on your bike, go on your scooter or help me with gardening outside."

Usman is a single mom and relies on her community of friends who get together during Ramadan. Traditionally, once the sun sets and Muslims have broken their fast with a date and water, they go from one house to the next for a feast of sweets and savory snacks.

This year will be different. "We'll just cook our food and then just get together over Zoom and have a dinner party!" Usman said.

Despite the changes, Usman is looking forward to this year's Ramadan. Without the social aspect, Usman says she might be able to focus more on the spirituality of the holiday.

Spending Ramadan Alone

Aiysha Irfan moved to San Francisco last year for a job at Airbnb in their public policy department. Last year, to meet new friends during Ramadan, she went to Iftar in the Park, where young Muslims gathered at Golden Gate Park and broke their fast together. This year, she's facilitating her own version.

This year's Iftar in the Park is online. "Every night, during iftar time, people have somewhere to go," Irfan said. "They have a group of people to open their fast with."

Iftar refers to the breaking of fast, after sun down. Together with Bay Area Muslims, she'll break her fast via Zoom. Under normal circumstances she might be shy about eating in front of the camera, but this year is, of course, different.

"We've been awake for all these hours, like, we're a bit hangry. In my mind, my last priority is how do I look on camera," Irfan said.

Irfan moved from New York, where her parents, brother and sister still live. She's afraid for them, because New York has more than 150,000 coronavirus cases, while California has about 37,000.

"I think there's a lot of internalized guilt I was feeling that I should be home," Irfan said. "I moved out here for a job and if the job is allowing me to be anywhere, how does it make sense to not go home?"

If circumstances were different, she'd be on the East Coast with friends and family, but instead, she's on the other side of the country, where she can't even be in the same room with her new social circle.

Ever since the shelter-in-place guidelines started, Irfan has noticed she has been talking to her friends and family more often than she normally would. She's decided that after all this is over — if she can make it until the end of Ramadan — she's going to get on the first plane home to New York for a visit.