Young Muslims in Spain Navigate Ramadan Traditions and Personal Faith

"For me, it’s a very intimate act of introspection, the time to make resolutions to be a better person," explains Saber Lech-hab, 25, who has been fasting "out of conviction and faith" since the age of 15. Lech-hab confesses that he was ready to fast during Ramadan already at the age of 9 or 10, but his parents did not allow him to. The young man specifies that he respects the five daily prayers during this sacred month and that every evening, he goes to pray at the mosque if his schedule allows it. This is probably what most young Muslims born or raised in Catalonia do.

But there are also young Muslims who do not fast because they do not want to or do not believe in it. "Whether or not to do Ramadan is an individual decision. I have friends from Muslim parents who don’t do it and nothing happens. And I have friends who perpetuate their family’s faith," continues Lech-hab. Other young people also practice it out of obligation. "There are a lot of young people in Catalonia who have to do Ramadan against their will," laments Sukaina Fares, 30, a young woman of Moroccan origin and an anti-racist activist. "At first I just did it like that. But over the years, I started to doubt and my parents noticed it and started to control me," Fares details.

The young woman recounts that during Ramadan when she was in high school, her friends "would ask their parents for another sandwich, or a bigger one, so I could eat. And they would lock me in the bathroom or the library to eat and drink water." "It’s a double problem because you can’t do it in public: there’s a kind of morality police in every neighborhood, in every community, that discovers it even if your parents don’t see it. They’re like 24/7 surveillance cameras," she complains, specifying that many young people were in the same situation as her and some probably still are today.

In Fares’ case, the situation became so complicated that she left the family home at the age of 16. "The problem is that you can’t choose to be Muslim: you inherit it," she insists. "You can’t have students in class who don’t eat, don’t drink, who are exhausted or who are absent on those days," adds activist Mimut Hamido for his part. Lech-hab shares this view and supports that no family should force their children to conform to this religious tradition. The Muslim community of Catalonia is the largest in Spain, with 500,