Ramadhan, Fatigue & Classes

Recently I have received an email from the University Chaplaincy. A snippet of the message is as follows:

"The biggest issue facing the University regarding Ramadhan is the inability of students to rise before dawn and therefore the difficulty with lectures / classes in the afternoons. A number of students have already visited the Health Centre complaining of severe headaches as they have failed to drink sufficient liquid to be faced with staring at computer screens or data projections.
I believe what we need is an educational leaflet which can be made available to Muslim students (especially International Students and those living away from home) which details how to care for yourself during Ramadhan. This would probably discuss the medical difficulties no food or water for a whole month can cause and some simple ways of preventing these - especially rising early enough each day to consume water and food before dawn prayers, and then returning to sleep if you have no morning lectures.
NZ Universities are not going to change lecture times etc during Ramadhan although some schools are more open than others to allowing movement between lecture and tutorial option times, and neither are scheduled tests going to be re-scheduled. It is up to Muslim students to make both their religious obligations of Ramadhan and their University study work together. This must be possible !! But they do need some help."

One thing I can be sure of is the Muslim students referred to above are not Malaysian students as there are only 3 Muslim Malaysians at MU in Albany. There are quite a large number of Middle Eastern Muslim students here and they are mainly doing foundation programmes and a handful of Muslim Indonesian. This being the “biggest issue” is something that has to be dealt with. The Chaplaincy, at least, have a wrong perception of Ramadhan as a burden to our students. My immediate reply to the email message is as follows:

“…I understand how difficult it might be for some students to cope with Ramadhan and classes/lectures especially without the support of their families. However, fasting in Ramadhan isn’t an excuse to re-schedule exams and classes. Things should go as normal as outside the Ramadhan month. Talking from my experience, I performed best when exams are conducted in the Ramadhan month. Dawn (Fajr) prayer is already a routine, so waking up just half an hour before Fajr prayer to eat will not be a major adjustment to a student’s daily routine. A short nap during lunch break i.e. before the Noon (Zuhr) prayer could help too. Its sad that this has become “the biggest issue” … something, indeed, needs to be done and I am willing to assist wherever I can. Islam, like any other religion, isn’t a religion of hardship what more to burden. Please do let me know of what I can do to help.”

Even my 6 year old son managed to wake up for Sahur and fast (though till 2pm) and still be as energetic as ever. Comments welcomed.