Name: Muntazir Haider
Age: 32 years
Nationality: Pakistani
Occupation: Consultant in marketing and human resources firm
Emirate of residence: Dubai
In the UAE: For seven years
“Well, as I see it, this month means to live a life like someone who is poor or needy and could perhaps be hungry so that we are able to empathise with their pain and suffering.
“A point of concern for me over the years has been that a lot of us leave work early or wake up late in the morning to ensure that we have to spend less time doing our daily activities without eating or drinking anything. For me, that kills the concept of a fast. A fast, according to me, is that we continue our routine operations, only compromising on our food and water intake, to see how those who are less fortunate manage their lives every day. That is what this month means to me.
“To share a great memory from this month, I want to talk about when I was visiting my home town in Karachi, Pakistan during Ramadan last year and was teaching there, too. I asked my students to conduct a campaign wherein they were to walk in to different restaurants, seek iftar boxes and distribute them to different parts of the city.
“At the end of the project, they were to present their achievements in the form of a video. When they were presenting, they were actually in tears and all were very grateful for the opportunity to help. To be honest, the video made me cry, too.
“There was one woman who had children and had lost consciousness because she had no food. When her family was given iftar boxes by my students, they were in tears and gave so many blessings to my students. Their conversation was recorded on video. The students informed the family that it was their teacher’s idea, to which the woman responded with so many prayers for me. I cannot describe the feeling of seeing that message from her.
“That was the moment that truly changed my perception about Ramadan. I reconsidered all the lavish spending on food, which is the norm, without any consideration for the poor and needy who we can feed if we just cancel one of our outings. It taught me to think before I spend.”
