My dad is gone, and I will have my own brood to rouse and feed before the crack of dawn. That’s how it went, every night, for the entire month. Some two decades later, life looks very different. Incredulous, we’d scowl undeterred, he’d smile. Blinking, we’d come down to find my dad fresh-faced, frying eggs and cracking jokes – often, he had been awake for hours, praying. In our house, suhoor meant four cranky and sleepy teens stumbling down the stairs to slurp a bowl of cereal at 4 in the morning. We believe the first verses of the Quran were revealed in this month – a time of spiritual discipline, deep contemplation of the Quran, and increased worship and charity. During this month, our day is bookended by two meals: suhoor, the pre-dawn meal, and iftar, the fast-breaking feast. What I do recall was my dad’s sunny cheer in the dead of night. Ramadan, which begins today, is the month in which Muslims fast from dawn to sunset. As my siblings and I grew up as first-generation Muslims in the United States, far from the decorated streets and festive atmosphere overseas, we didn’t have much of a “Ramadan culture” yet.

My childhood memories of Ramadan don’t revolve around presents, decorations, or even elaborate feasts.

Tom doherty associates books