So I thought when I decided to fast for Ramadaan this year – my first, fully-fledged, wholehearted attempt at adhering to one of the five tenets of Islam.

Initially there were no Muslim friends around to encourage me. (Most of them were back home in Cape Town.)

With no one, except for the Almighty to watch over me, the truth is I did feel lonely in the extreme.

Very few people around me fast. I don’t come from a family that fasts during the holy month of Ramadaan.

And so sighs from me on my private pity party were aplenty.

“What did I expect?,” I asked myself.

My very own imbongi/praise-singer?

An award for keeping the fasts?

A pat on the back?

Come to think of it, all of the above are reserved for non-compromising 6-year-olds who fast wholeheartedly.

And dear God, the way I was seeking an audience, did I not act like I was 6?!

While fasting is not about receiving praises and accolades, my system was ravenous for some sort of spiritual hug to spur me on. In the middle of my piteous state, my prayers began to get answered. I began receiving support from obvious and not-so-obvious quarters.

The obvious was from a great friend who pitched up – a Muslim with hardly a judgmental bone in the body. Taught me all I needed to know.

The basics.

The second was from – strangely enough – my mother, a devout Christian.

On the sixth day when she heard of my keeping the fast, she beamed with encouragement me, and since has awakened this poor soul for sehri each morning. The Good Book says that heaven lies at the feet of a mother.

Who can deny that!

In her own humble, non-judgmental way, she displayed strong support and allowed me to become disciplined in this significant daily ritual God expects from his followers during the month the Holy Qu’ran was revealed. A very special email pal got in on the act and forwarded encouragement and duahs to get me through this spiritually-fuelled month.

And then there were the friends who naturally didn’t take me seriously enough when I said I was fasting. They give you something to ignore during Ramadaan.

Muslims growing up in Islamic households take so much for granted:

The beauty of fasting with family; waking up for sehri together; encouraging one another just by being around. When you go it alone though, fasting tends to become intensely personal and reminds one what an “alone” thing it is.

As it essentially should be.

Surely fasting is about intensifying the relationship between the created and the creator.A time for introspection. A time for bonding. A time for giving. A time for empathy. A time for purification. For someone as deurmekaar as me, Ramadaan couldn’t have come at a more appropriate time.

Now I have a taste of what Jesus and the prophets of old experienced when they were going through the motions of fasting. I can relate to your experience, dear Reader, and that closeness you feel to God during this month.

And it makes me proudly humbled. Like a 6-year-old.

This has been reader contributiobn