Lucknow: Prayers, fast and business as usual

LUCKNOW: It is 3 in the morning. A pot of tea has slowly simmered, ready to be poured in three cups. Dates and rusk, bread and milk have been laid out neatly on the table and 27-year-old Sana Nasir and her parents—mother Najmi Nasir (52) and father Nasir Zain (60)—have all sat down together to have the morning meal called sehri, moments before they begin their almost 15-hour-long roza (fast) from dawn to dusk.
The family has not slept a wink prior to sehri. They have spent the night in vigil, worshipping Allah as the last nights of Ramzan said to be most sacred have dawned upon them. They have read the Quran, offered namaz and been involved in other religious and spiritual activities.
It is in these days and nights that single mother Sana, who lives with her parents in Mahanagar, introspects about her deen (religion) and imaan (belief). During one such conversation around spirituality, Sana says she believes Ramzan is the most special month because it is then that she and Muslims are closest to the lord.
But it is not just feasting, fasting and praying that Muslims set aside for the month. Those who work continue to do so; those who study continue to lead their day the way it is prior to Ramzan. Worldly life does not take a standstill but more spiritually conscious activities are added in.
Sana, mother to a two-and-a-half-year-old, and her parents have two food outlets in Lucknow which they look after ever since they moved back to India from Saudi Arabia. The restaurants were started last year and it is the family’s first Ramzan while managing them in the Lucknow heat.
Running a food business while fasting, the day begins at sehri, followed by the offering of Fajr (morning) namaz. Sleep is allowed after Fajr as the night is spent in prayers on mats laid for the family to pray together.
Around 10am, the parents take off for daily management of the restaurants while Sana begins to tend to her child at home.
In their first restaurant, Nasir takes his place behind the cash counter, making bills and checking for stock.
The retired IT professional, who worked in a cement company in Saudi Arabia for over three decades, also makes trips to the markets and finishes off outdoor work, fasting in the scorching heat.
Najmi, who was a teacher in that country, takes over the kitchen operations.
She goes over recipes with her staff, and checks for feedback on the special iftar box for customers to order online. She cannot taste the salt owing to her roza, but believes her estimation with fingers for sprinkling salt and other spices has adequately measured her experience and given deft results.
Once the day at their first restaurant in Aliganj is settled, the couple heads to the second in Kapoorthala.
One would assume they are tired to go any further, what with the roza, work demands of a food business and the heat, but their day is only halfway done. Around 4pm, Najmi returns home. Sometimes Nasir comes along. At other times, he continues running errands till late evening.
At home, Najmi begins to prepare for iftar and dinner.
While they cook, the conversation moves around people’s perception of Muslims during Ramzan. Most people think that Muslims sleep and relax during their roza, Najmi quips while stirring the hot wok. That is not true.
“Those who sleep are not awakened all through the year, but those who work continue to do so while knowing well the spiritual and religious tasks we need to fulfil to get closer to Allah in this merciful month,” she says.
Working in the kitchen, both at home and in the restaurants, the family claims, is not an arduous task. It is a routine they are aligned with, a task they follow as a way of worshipping too. “Once you know you have to observe the roza as an obligation which is for the good of your own body, mind and soul, every difficulty ceases to exist. Roza gives you strength to go through your normal day,” Najmi continues.