The month of Ramadan is a Muslim holiday marked by the act of fasting and is a time for God to forgive the sins of those who partake. Colorado is home to a large Muslim population, meaning that many Smoky students participate in the holy month.

“Ramadan is a month of patience and it’s just a holy month for forgiveness and mercy and its purpose is to show what the homeless are feeling,” Fajer Abuajina (9) said.

Due to Ramadan falling during the school year many students have to fast during the school day, which can raise a host of different challenges for them. 

“You know, it is a tough experience because I’m not eating all day,”  Ibrahem Abuajina (9) said. “And it’s, it’s tiring, you know, you have to do all these activities with no energy. But Smoky is easy enough, there’s only four classes you need to move through throughout the day.” 

While fasting from food and drink is a marquee of the holiday, these are not the only things that Muslims abstain from. 

“You fast from smoking, you fast from sexual activity, you fast from cursing, and all this stuff, you know,” Abuajina said. “It’s a month to better yourself. So you need to refrain from all the bad things that will put you down I guess.” 

But breaking the fast at the end of the day, following sunset prayer, is also a large part of the celebration and can be an extremely rewarding experience. 

“Oh, [breaking fast] it’s like a relief. It’s a relief. You get full after 10 minutes which shows like appreciation,” Abuajina said.

There are also a lot of additional traditions and practices that make up Ramadan. 

“We pray, like five prayers. You have to pray the five prayers even when it’s not Ramadan, but usually, people try to do their best, you know, we read our holy book, it’s kind of like a Bible study, but like a different book,” Wesam Mohamed (9) said.

While opinions are mixed, some Muslim students feel that the school could be doing more to accommodate their needs during this month. 

“I talked to the principal about how, like, we should go online for the month of Ramadan because, like, you know, it’s better to stay at home than go to school because it’s tiring, but he told us like, ‘Oh, if you go online, like the teachers are not obligated to teach you’,” Mohamed said. “So I feel like if this was like a national thing, like, if it was Christmas, you know, then I think we would be at home right now. Like, it would be like a holiday for everyone like how it’s for Christmas, but it’s Ramadan so it’s different, you know because it’s only for Muslims.”