One 18-year-old Hollister Muslim knows exactly where he’ll go
now that the month-long Ramadan fasting has ended.
One 18-year-old Hollister Muslim knows exactly where he’ll go now that the month-long Ramadan fasting has ended.
“I’m going to eat some fast food,” said Mohammad Huweih, a San Benito High School senior.
Of course, as a follower of the Islamic religion, Huweih didn’t gorge on Big Macs or a bucket of chicken last night. The faith actually forbids eating meat.
Islam is the second most practiced faith in the world behind Christianity. There are more than a billion Muslims worldwide.
For this one month each year, Muslims restrain themselves from all food and water during daylight while primarily focusing their attentions on spiritual beliefs.
Also during the fasting month, Muslims are prohibited from sexual activity and smoking. This year, Ramadan started Nov. 6 and ends today.
“I thought this day would never come,” Huweih said.
He was speaking on his stomach’s behalf. Huweih, of Palestinian ethnicity, respects the faith’s rituals. He follows the Islamic tradition of praying five times daily – that’s year-round – and didn’t once cheat during the month-long fasting rule this year, not even for a snack.
“Fasting was the main thing (about Ramadan),” he said.
But symbolically, Huweih said fasting represents a devotion to God. It’s a showing of discipline, he said.
“It’s so we can feel what the poor feel everyday,” he said.
He said that Muslims are forbidden from sex with spouses during Ramadan, along with an obligation to read more and increase their levels of hygiene.
Out of all those religious duties, Huweih said reading more during Ramadan is most difficult. (He’s not married).
He said after school he would constantly procrastinate with homework because of hunger. Huweih also volunteers at the YMCA, and when that ended, and he finally returned home, Huweih never felt motivated to study. So he’d get up early before school to do homework.
Each day, his family awake since 5:30 a.m. to eat a large meal before sunrise, Huweih ended up doing his homework two, three or four hours before school.
At school, somehow, Huweih still didn’t feel fatigued most of the day.
“But when I’d go to Interact Club (after school) and would see everybody munching, it got hard,” he said.
While he jokes about the riggers of fasting, Huweih said he takes pride in his faith and its rich history. Huweih said he can count 12 other Muslims at San Benito High School. And overall, the county’s population is growing, he said.
Since the area doesn’t have any mosques for worship, Huweih said the family usually drives to a mosque in Castroville.
In 1995, Huweih’s family moved to Palestine because, “Dad wanted us raised there,” he said. Although they only stayed for one year, Huweih became infatuated with the Middle Eastern culture and landscape.
“I love that place. It’s beautiful,” he said “Sure, the oppression… the sadness. But the sites and the beauty, it’s just nature.”
With age, he has also gained a critical viewpoint about a lack of devotion to the faith.
“It’s less special than it used to be,” he said. “It’s supposed to be in a time of peace. If you have a war – stop it… in Kashmir, Pakistan, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.”
During the month of Ramadan – despite his added religious commitments and frustrations with world politics – Huweih maintained his beaming entrepreneurial spirit.
Huweih is famed around downtown Hollister as Rose Boy, as he’s delivered roses to area businesses since the age of 12. And Huweih faithfully continued his duties throughout November.
