Ramadan is a period which brings humility and blessing, according to Wolves’ Adama Traore.
The 27-year-old is one of four members of Julen Lopetegui’s first-team squad currently observing the Islamic holy month of Ramadan marked by fasting, charity and spirituality.
Between the evening of Wednesday 22nd March and the evening of Friday 21st April – the day before Wolves’ trip to Leicester City this weekend – Traore has joined millions of Muslims across the globe in fasting during Ramadan, which is one of the five pillars of Islam.
Traore is accustomed to playing at the top level whilst also observing Ramadan and contributed on the pitch in Wolves’ recent Premier League matches against Nottingham Forest, Chelsea and Brentford during the period of Ramadan, where fasting can last between 14 to 16 hours each day, abstaining from food and drink from dusk until dawn.
Contrary to the thought that Ramadan may have adverse physical effects on a footballer, Traore takes strength from Ramadan and embraces its true meaning, to grow as a person and even when fasting and the month of Ramadan is complete.
“I think it’s a great month spiritually,” he explained. “We understand the people who really don’t have the position I have to eat every day. It’s easy to give back because I’ve fasted for how many hours and then I eat but some people are living every day like this. It makes you humble, and you feel blessed.
“Ramadan means a month of blessing, a month of cleaning yourself spiritually and understanding the sacrifice. I think it’s a blessing month and it’s a month also to get yourself back to being a Muslim.
“I speak with the dietician to give me the best advice to follow what I have to eat in the night and before Ramadan started – the drinks I have to drink, the food I have to eat to keep my energy through training and through the day. That’s very important for the athletes, try to get the best performance on the pitch.
“You work out, through experience, that it’s better to do things. When you’re active, time passes quickly, and sometimes we think time moves quickly if we don’t move, but you have to be busy. I used to play a lot of football in Ramadan and most of the time my mum would have to call me and tell me to eat.”
Ramadan begins at the first sight of the new moon on the ninth month of the Islamic calendar and throughout the month those observing Ramadan will abstain from eating and drinking in the period between sunrise and sunset.
Muslims believe fasting (sawm) allows them to understand the needs of the poor and those without food and also allows them to feel closer to Allah through prayer (salah), giving to charity (zakat) and reading the Quran, the Muslim holy book.
For Traore, Ramadan has been part of life since childhood, when his Muslim parents explained the purpose and aims of this period, which has stuck with him into adulthood.
“I remember Ramadan nicely because I was fasting and after I remember by mum cooking the best food she had in the house with the family, when we break Ramadan. I remember Ramadan nights and after it finishes, the little party we have with the family and going to the mosque with my father. It’s a togetherness, if you are in a Muslim community, you get together, you get to know different people and it’s a nice feeling, spiritual energy.
“My mum was putting the best food out and it was one of the best times. You feel the energy, understanding being a Muslim, and also you give back. At that time it was giving money or milk to people who don’t have food. You’re fasting, and you understand it’s tough, so imagine the people living like that. For me, it was also to teach me to understand how blessed I am to have food on the table whenever I want.
“Eid was amazing. It’s family time. Everyone’s coming to the house, they’re speaking about the experience of Muslims, the experience of themselves, when they are fasting and when they are travelling. They’ve been in different countries before getting to Europe. It’s that time you hear the history of all your uncles and it’s a family time.”
Traore is joined by Mario Lemina, Rayan Ait-Nouri and Boubacar Traore in marking Ramadan within the Wolves dressing room, and while appreciating his Muslim colleagues, he’s happy to stand up and speak about Ramadan with non-Muslims – a true spokesperson of his faith.
“It's nice to have conversations with the people who don’t do Ramadan and explain a different point of view. Bouba, Lemina, Rayan, we come from different places and it’s nice to speak with them. They say their point of view, how they stay in Ramadan, and share the experience for people who don’t do Ramadan.
“It’s a strange feeling. I remember the pre-season I was most fit was in Ramadan time because that focus, that tunnel vision is all the time on. You know when you have to eat, you know you have to switch on because sometimes people offer you drinks and food because they don’t know you’re fasting and you have to explain. That makes you switch on all the time and that focus helps you on the pitch.”
Eid is expected to be celebrated by Muslims next week on the evening of Friday 21st April subject to the sighting of the moon and will mark the end of the blessed month of Ramadan and fasting, and Traore, he will hope, will feel a renewed sense of humility and blessing.
From everyone at Wolves Ramadan Kareem and Eid Mubarak.
