Dr Susan Carland sees Ramadan as a 'spiritual bootcamp'

How hard is it to avoid swearing, caffeine, and gossiping when you are hangry during Ramadan? Author and Academic Dr Susan Carland joins host Sarah Malik to share her journey adopting fasting as a young convert and how she uses this time to reconnect with her spirituality.

Dr Susan Carland has created new Ramadan traditions for her family.

Academic and author Dr Susan Carland converted to Islam as a young woman. Her first Ramadan was challenging, being the only person in her family who was Muslim.

It was quite lonely... there was no one to break my fast with, but there was actually some beauty in that as well. I felt very much that it was just me and God doing this first Ramadan.

Susan Carland

Making new traditions for her family and sharing her spiritual practice with others who aren’t Muslim has become an important part of Ramadan for her. But it's also a chance to reconnect with herself.

I think of Ramadan like a spiritual boot camp. If I can control my character and control my tongue when I'm fasting, how much more easy should it be for me to do that outside of Ramadan? So it's also about showing us what we're capable of.

Susan Carland

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Dr Susan Carland sees Ramadan as a 'spiritual bootcamp'

SBS Audio

21/03/202331:37

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My Ramadan is a five-part podcast about how we experience Ramadan and Eid in modern multicultural Australia. 

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