This Ramadan, even non-Muslims can help their friends and neighbours through kindness and compassion

The coronavirus pandemic did not stop us from sharing our Easter, Passover, Vaisakhi and other faith greetings, says Rabina Khan. We can do the same for Muslim families

Muslims break their fast at East London Mosque on the last day of Ramadan (Getty)

As we face another three weeks of lockdown, families of all faiths and none are bracing themselves for yet more disruption to their daily lives. We all struggle with the challenge of finding new ways of doing things that we have previously taken for granted.

Many families of faith have had to celebrate their religious festivals in an entirely different way. As the holy month of Ramadan approaches, Muslim families are preparing to observe fasting whilst exercising social distancing and, for many, self-isolation. Ramadan prayer timetables that are distributed every year no longer have a column to show Mosque prayer times because mosques are closed during the pandemic.

This year, prayers, charity work and communicating with family, friends and neighbours have moved online, but people who are not conversant with using the internet, FaceTime or WhatsApp still need support. It has become the norm for me to teach some of my constituents how to use Zoom to connect them to prayers and other sources of emotional comfort at this testing time.

Even with these tools at everyone’s disposal, I witness situations where families within the same household have to be separated. Last week, I was contacted by a dad whose wife had just given birth to their son three weeks prematurely. The baby was placed in special care after his mum had undergone a caesarean section. The following day, she developed a temperature that subsided within two days. However, she was only permitted to leave hospital if she agreed to completely self-isolate at home for two weeks whilst the baby remained in hospital. This means that she has to be totally quarantined during Ramadan, so her husband and their three-year-old daughter are staying in a neighbour’s flat.

Another of my constituents is in hospital with severe breathing problems, leaving his wife and two young children at home. Communicating from his hospital bed, he asked me to watch over his family during Ramadan. This has been one of my challenges as a councillor and community leader: supporting residents who are enduring difficult situations and making sure that they can break their fast together whilst being apart.

This year, fellow councillor Anton Georgiou, who will be taking part in the first fast of Ramadan in solidarity with me, said he was looking forward to his first ever fast. “As a new councillor for a diverse ward in Brent, I felt it would help me to understand and connect with many residents during this Holy month of Ramadan.”

We are incredibly blessed to know that during Ramadan many non-Muslims are supporting the Muslim community, from cross-party councillors to faith leaders and neighbours, demonstrating that we are all in this together.

Liberal Democrat MP Daisy Cooper, who is asking the government to include BAME journalists and media outlets in the Downing Street press briefings said, “It matters not what faith you are, or if you are of no faith; it is about all of us being able support to each other in troubling times. The spirit of Ramadan is about compassion, kindness, and generosity; we can support our Muslim community through the smallest of acts, like shopping, fasting together using Skype or Zoom, preparing an Iftar and wishing Ramadan Mubarak to our Muslim friends, neighbours and colleagues.”

The coronavirus pandemic did not stop us from sharing our Easter, Passover, Vaisakhi and other faith greetings. And so, on Thursday, it will not stop us from wishing Ramadan Mubarak, because we are all in this together.

Rabina Khan is a Liberal Democrat councillor in Shadwell Ward