22nd of May 2020

Today's reflection has been written by our Muslim Belief Contact, Yahya Barry.

In the depths of the night, communities across the world wake up to have their final meals before the day of fasting begins. In our city of Edinburgh, this tiny community's actions are almost invisible to their neighbours, who, together with the rest of the world are facing a most challenging predicament. It has been an incredible month of fasting this year despite the absence of tangible community.

This picture taken midway into Ramadan, 10pm local Edinburgh time shows how in this part of the world, at this time of the year, the sun never fully sets below the horizon. The red twilight remains till dawn meaning that mosques across the city have to estimate for their communities when fasting begins. 

It reminds me of our human fallibility and inherent vulnerability; despite our greatest efforts to serve and get it right, they remain exactly that - efforts of estimation embedded in alternating hopes that we get it right. We remain humbled - tiny figures - before a magnificient universe which continues without our presence. 

Nearing the end of a month of fasting, the absence of communal gathering has evoked an appreciation for the little things overlooked in the everyday contingencies of life - a smile, a hello and the meeting of eyes. It has amplified how interconnected we are as one body despite our manifest diversity. I hope we hold onto these realisations as hopes glimmer for a return to a temporarily suspended world.