“I want to help ease the burden for people who are fasting.”
In a week’s time millions of practising Muslims will be observing the holy month of Ramadan. Showing great feats of self control, worshippers will abstain from consuming any food or drink during the day, breaking their fast at sunset with a meal called ‘iftar’.
But it doesn’t stop there. Ramadan is a personal reset for many, a chance to realign priorities and think about what the more important things in life are. Charity is encouraged and it isn’t uncommon to see local Muslims attempt herculean efforts to help the less fortunate.
One of those is 23-year-old Tanya Hamud, a forensic scientist student from Bolton who plans to feed as many as 600 people this Ramadan. “There’s a different kind of community spirit during Ramadan.” She told the M.E.N.
“It’s what most Muslims look forward to. Quite frankly they’re in need of the month.
“It’s a month of reflection, self-discipline and giving back. I wanted to do something in a more meaningful way, cooking for people who are fasting lets me share that experience with everyone else.
“I know it seems like a small thing, but for people it’s a sense of community and relationship and about strengthening that bond with the community.”
With exams scheduled during Ramadan and fasting herself, Tanya expects the task will be hard. While most of the meals will be made by her, she says that she will have some help.
Food is a real passion for Tanya, who over the years, has built up a respectable social media following, amassing over 16K people on Tik Tok where she posts tutorials on how to make picturesque halal meals.
During Ramadan she will be prepping the day before and cooking on the day of, and she has already devised a plan that will see organisers from four local mosques collect the food and deliver it to people in need.
Speaking about how she will be able to cope with the demand, she said: “Every Ramadan I cook for my friends and my neighbours, so that’s something I’ve been doing anyway.
“This year I wanted to do something a little bit bigger. I’ve been planning this for so long and I have my spreadsheets and measured how much of everything I’ll need.
“Obviously it’s going to need more than one person, but I do have friends who are so supportive, so I’ll be utilising them and their time to help me prepare.
“I’ve made up my mind about doing something, I just want to do it and I find a way to do it. I’ve got days off and times I’ll be able to rest so I’ve planned it all out perfectly, nothing will interrupt the plans.”
Amid the rising cost of living, it has become harder for struggling Muslim families to put nutritious food on the table to make up for the hours of nourishment missed. In 2022, the Islamic Relief reported that an estimated half of the Muslim population in the UK will struggle to provide enough food to break fast with during Ramadan.
In 2024, a survey conducted by Islamic Relief and market research company, Savanta, found that 30 percent of people in the UK are worried about being forced to turn to food banks.
The results lined up with a rise in demand for aid by the Islamic Relief UK’s partners who embarked on their biggest ever food distribution campaign across the country this winter.
Over the years the charity has been deeply concerned about the scale of the problem that faces them with more and more families requesting help. Tanya shares that concern too.
“It’s one of the other reasons I want to do this,” She explained.
“Say I’m feeding a hundred people but 10 genuinely need it, I wouldn’t know that, but it would have helped someone and it’s a win.
“I want to help ease the burden for people who are fasting, particularly those that don’t have the resources.
“If this can inspire others to give back then I feel like I’ve achieved something.”
