Welcome back to My Ramadan Routine, our weekly series exploring the lives of Muslims as they celebrate the holy month. So far we’ve heard from an avid runner, a baker, and the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan.
For the fourth and final part in the series, we speak to Sagal Ibrahim, an Instagram influencer from London.
The full-time content creator and mum of two incorporates her faith into her social media, often sharing religious tips and guidance on her channels.
Sagal also endorses modest fashion in her posts and has amassed an impressive 197,000 followers online.
Let’s see how Sagal’s fast has been going.
Hi Sagal, tell us about your Ramadan routine
“So a typical day in a Ramadan for us usually starts like this – we wake up for Suhoor (a pre-dawn meal), which in my case usually is a glass of milk but others however do have a full or perhaps a light meal. After that the call to prayer is announced, I then pray Fajr (around 4.20am) and usually do not go back to sleep as it’s so close to the time I would have usually woken up anyway.
“My children usually wake up about hour after that and I get one ready for school – making pack lunch and getting the uniform ready to wear. I get them both ready and we take my eldest to school. I usually then run errands and check off my to-do list with my little one with me.”
“We sometimes go for a walk or the playground. I then come back home just in time for Duhr prayer (usually, I’ll work my day around my prayers so I can always be present fully and pray on time).”
How do you break up your day – do you have any rituals?
“After prayers, I get lunch ready for my little one and usually tidy up the house, go through my emails and shoot content for Instagram if I have any partnerships to work on with brands.
“I usually try to take it easy on the content creation during Ramadan as it is a special month for us Muslims. My little one and I then do an activity: for example, yesterday we made doughnuts. We then pray Asr which is another compulsory prayer. After that, we get the kids ready for bed and start cooking for Iftar. We then usually go to the mosque to pray Taraweeh (the long nightly prayer), but since having children, I tend to pray at home every evening.”
What are you having for Iftar?
“Today we had Somali soup with salad and garlic naan bread, and for dessert we made cookie dough which we’ll have with ice-cream later in the evening.”
What do you crave the most while fasting?
“The one thing I probably crave the most during Ramadan has to be coffee, I rely on it so heavily everyday so being without coffee is definitely number one.
“The hardest part of fasting I think is definitely not having the same time I had pre-kids, when I was able to be really present, read the Quran and learn new things regarding my religion.”
How does Instagram play a role in your Ramadan routine?
“During Ramadan I usually share more religious things with my Instagram community, cutting back on other content creating to be more present. However, if I do have collaborations to work on with brands, I set aside an hour or two to shoot this during my daily routine.”
We hope you’ve enjoyed the series looking into the lives of Muslims and how they spend Ramadan. See you next year.