Work makes Ramadan hard, but not impossible, for Muslims

(RNS) Fasting during Ramadan may be harder for Muslims in countries where they are a minority, but a new survey said Muslims in America and other countries tried to give it their best effort. The study, by the New Jersey-based DinarStandard website that tracks business trends among Muslims, and British-based Productive Muslim Ltd., found similar […]

(RNS) Fasting during Ramadan may be harder for Muslims in countries where they are a minority, but a new survey said Muslims in America and other countries tried to give it their best effort.

The study, by the New Jersey-based DinarStandard website that tracks business trends among Muslims, and British-based Productive Muslim Ltd., found similar levels of commitment around the world, even as conditions vary widely.

Across the globe, three in four Muslim workers say they try to maintain the same level of productivity during Ramadan, a holy month of prayer and fasting that concludes on Monday (Aug. 29).


In Muslim-majority countries, 74 percent of Muslims said their employers made accommodations for Muslim workers during Ramadan, compared to 48 percent of respondents in countries where they are in the minority.

While Islamic scholars don’t mandate that employers change their hours for Ramadan, more than three-quarters of respondents in Islamic countries said their bosses adjusted working hours or allowed more flexible schedules, compared to 25 percent of respondents in Muslim-minority countries.

The report also found that a third of employers in Muslim-majority countries held iftars, or dinners during Ramadan to break the daily fast, for employees, compared to 12 percent of employers elsewhere.

Despite these differences, 98 percent of respondents in both Muslim-minority and Muslim-majority countries said they planned to fast during the whole month of Ramadan, even if work schedules made it more complicated.

Almost half of Muslims said work made it difficult to attend traditional nightly prayers, while 53 percent reporting trouble staying focused during worship. Some two-thirds of Muslim workers said they failed to read the Quran daily, the report found.

“Fasting is obligatory. To say you’re not going to fast is really hard for a lot of people,” said Zeba Iqbal, executive director of the Council for the Advancement of Muslim Professionals. “We have to do both (fast and work), and do both to the best of our abilities.”


The survey polled 1,524 workers in five Muslim-majority countries (Egypt, Malaysia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates) and five non-Muslim majority countries (the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, Australia and India).

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