Ireland's Muslims are about to begin a month of fasting, reflection, worship and charity. Rosita Boland reports on their preparations

A billion people around the world are preparing themselves for the start of Ramadan, on Monday. Islam's month of fasting, reflection, charity and worship will end on November 26th with the festival of Eid ul-Fitr, when Muslims dress up, eat celebratory meals, decorate their homes, give gifts to children and go visiting. Eid ul-Fitr is possibly the only religious holiday that hasn't been commercialised. It is as important to Muslims as Christmas is to Christians; unlike Christmas, however, the focus of Eid ul-Fitr remains religious.

The Muslim community in Ireland will observe Ramadan in exactly the same way as those abroad. Irish Muslims have one huge advantage, however: our climate makes abstaining from liquids during daylight much easier.

Not even water is allowed during the sunrise-to-sunset fasting; in hot and humid climates, where you are usually encouraged to drink litres of water to keep yourself hydrated, it is an exceptionally demanding test of self-control.

Khalil-ur-Rehman Qazi, who is from Punjab in Pakistan, teaches religion at the 272-pupil Muslim National School in Clonskeagh, in south Dublin. Many of the older children at the school, aged 10, 11 and 12, choose to fast for Ramadan, encouraged to do so by the school, although they are not obliged to begin fasting until adolescence. Like all children, they want to be part of what their parents are doing.

"At 10 and 11, I doubt the children really know why they are fasting," Qazi says in the school's tiny staffroom, which is piled high with copies of the Koran. "It's more like it is practice for them for the future, so that when they are mature adults they are able to do it with the whole spirit of fasting."

Children who are not fasting eat their lunch out of sight of their classmates. As those who are fasting can't drink water, sports, swimming lessons and PE classes are off the timetable until Ramadan is over. They can't play schools-league matches, either. "We keep asking the children to tell us if they are uncomfortable or if they feel weak," Qazi stresses.

His life is exceptionally busy for the month. "Our routine is very busy in Ramadan and very different to usual." A typical weekday involves getting up before first light, at about 3 a.m., eating a meal called suhoor at 3.30 a.m., praying and then going back to bed.He still has his normal working day at Clonskeagh, however, getting home at about 4 p.m. to eat iftar, the meal that breaks the day's fast, with his family. By 8 p.m., after a short rest, he is back at the mosque, leading prayers for two hours or so.

Qazi knows the Koran by heart - all 700-plus pages of it - and each night he spends half an hour reciting a different part of it to the congregationfrom memory. "So in the time coming up to Ramadan, like now, I am busy making mental preparations, revising my knowledge of the holy Koran." He studies the Arabic text for three hours a day to prepare.

At weekends he goes back to bed after the early prayers and sleeps on. The school closes for the final week of Ramadan, making up the days later, so being off work provides an opportunity to rest.

"Ramadan is a kind of training for the mind," Qazi says. "You are not fasting only from food and drink but from everything that is harmful in society. You seek patience. It is a kind of test; you feel the hunger and thirst for those people who do not choose to be hungry and thirsty."

Sohail Rascool, who is also from Punjab, has been working as a GP in Portlaoise for two years. "Apart from preparing mentally, I look forward to the fast. Here in the West it is much easier because the days are shorter. Yes, it is easier to observe Ramadan in an all-Muslim society, but as a good Muslim you should not tell anyone you are fasting. You'd be dying for a cup of tea or a little snack, but you get used to it.

"You are fasting to please God. We all enjoy Ramadan: it is a yearly exercise which teaches you how to discipline yourself. And there are other benefits too; it's a like a physical health renewal plan each year."

Like Qazi, Rascool says Ramadan is a very sociable time of year. When families break their fast at iftar, they often eat together, so they see each other more than they would usually. "You enjoy food more in Ramadan, and you take more time to prepare it."

Rascool's wife, Sarah, is from Co Donegal, and they have two sons, six-year-old Omar and one-year-old Ali. As Sarah grew up outside Islam, how does she cope with observing Ramadan?

"I don't find it hard; I find it very rewarding," she says, punctuating every few words of her conversation with "inshallah", an exclamation meaning "if Allah wills it". "There was a strong Christian faith in my family - and Christianity and Islam, there is no major difference. When I'm fasting even my mum gets excited, and she tries to fast with me too."

Sarah looks after her two small children full-time but says she doesn't get tired during Ramadan. "We have to keep our same routine. I breastfeed even though I'm fasting, and, inshallah, I'll be feeding Ali again next year too. I get some kind of energy from it."

Ibrahim El-Gamati is Libyan. Unlike Qazi, he spends his working day with mainly non-Muslim colleagues, at a computer sales office in Dundrum. "Irish people were interested in finding out more about Ramadan. Last year the manager here even tried to fast with me for a few days," he says.

El-Gamati's working day is long but reasonably flexible. "I consider myself lucky; I can take the time to go and break my fast and then come back and work for another few hours.

"Sometimes, when it is very very busy, I keep working and might have something small to eat at my desk."

Despite what we hear about our often less-than-tolerant attitude to foreigners, El-Gamati has only praise for his Irish colleagues. "People are very respectful. They ask if it is all right to eat near us, and some people even stopped smoking."

What is it? Ramadan is the month of fasting for all Muslims, a time of self-control and devotion to Allah.

How is it observed? Fasting begins at dawn and ends at sunset. Muslims must abstain from food, drink, smoking and sex.

When is it? It is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, getting 11 days earlier each year.

When does it start this year? Monday.

Who observes it? All adult Muslims and their older children, usually from 13 up.

Who else is exempt? Those who are travelling or ill, but they must make up the lost days of their fast later.