Ramadan fasting and i'tikaf

Domain XIII · Contemplative & religious disciplines

What it is

Ramadan fasting (sawm) is an obligatory religious fast kept by adult Muslims during the month of Ramadan. Food and drink are not taken in daytime, between a pre-dawn meal (suhur) and the sunset meal that breaks the fast (iftar). The Qur'an presents it as prescribed for "a set number of days" and…

Format

• This is an annual cycle of planning and support, not a phased therapy. No source gives a session count or format; the timing below follows the clinical sources where stated and is otherwise.
• Goals: adjusted sessions; monitoring of sleep, mood, eating-disorder and scrupulosity signs; space for meaning, community and grief; routing any physical symptom to the doctor.

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Does it involve fasting, a special diet or 'detox'? Have you discussed this with your doctor?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• How do you and the practitioner understand what is happening, in spiritual or cultural terms? Is that a source of comfort, worry, or both?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• complicated grief, depression, suicidal thoughts; respond by usual standards.
• the therapist being drawn into theological debate; conflicting advice; the client feeling outnumbered. Stay in role.
• guilt that is persistent and fearful (consider scrupulosity, 4.10) or part of depression; disclosures of coercion at home (see 4.14).
• blanket bans or blanket permissions; patients concealing fasting. It is working when each fasting patient has a recorded, individual plan.
• an imam's ruling the client cannot accept, or wishes to override; repeated reassurance-seeking about whether the exemption is valid (see 4.10).

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.