David McDermot converted to Islam last year. He was introduced to the faith after meeting a Muslim woman whom he later married. David speaks to Asian Image about how he approached his first ever Ramadan last year.

“My friends cannot understand why I converted to Islam,” says David. “So you can imagine how they don’t understand why I was putting myself through the long fasts.”

David says he was asked so many questions about his decision, sometimes the same questions were asked repetitively in the same day.

“It was challenging enough approaching Ramadan for the first time, but dealing with all the scepticism didn’t help.”

David said that playing football during Ramadan helped him to stay fit and energised during the long summer fasts.

“I play for a football team and I didn’t want to miss a full month of training and matches. My team mates were convinced that I would become weak because I wasn’t eating or drinking water.

“I was on a mission to prove that my fasting would not deter my abilities on the pitch!

“Last Ramadan saw me playing the best football I ever had!

“I trained harder just to prove a point.

“I started researching Muslim football players who carried on playing major football matches during Ramadan.”

David researched what foods would benefit him during Ramadan so as to not to disrupt his football regime and looked at ways at quitting cigarettes.

“I wanted to stay fit and hydrated, so I read up a lot online about the best things to eat and drink during Ramadan.

“I didn’t have any fizzy drinks. I changed my diet and ate lots of fruit and vegetables.

“I Googled the benefits of eating dates as I was told to open my fast with them.

“I found out that dates are a slow release of energy so they were perfect.

“The most difficult thing about fasting was not the hunger or the thirst, but the lack of sleep.

“Lack of sleep can leave you irritable and lethargic.

“Most people say the first couple of days of Ramadan are the hardest. For me it was the third week onwards as the days seemed to drag on.”

David reveals how fasting helped to curb his smoking habit.

“Surprisingly, I didn’t crave it once. Because I knew I simply couldn’t have a cigarette, there was no urge for it.

“Ramadan brings out this amazing willpower in people which we really only ever see in that one month.

“As soon as Ramadan was over last year, I was back smoking again.

“My wife says that’s because the devil persuades me to do it.”

Although David had a positive experience during his first Ramadan, it was the discrepancy over which day Eid would take place that he found a little disconcerting.

“What I don’t understand is, the whole of the Muslim community unites in Ramadan. We’re all fasting. We’re all together in this great spirit of unity and solidarity.

“Yet at the end of Ramadan there is so much division over when Eid is.

“There is only one moon, so how can there be so much disagreement?

“Every day when we open our fast, we follow the time of the sun setting in our respective countries.

“So if I follow Maghrib time in the UK and not Maghrib time in Saudi Arabia, why am I suddenly following what Saudi Arabia have to say about the sighting of the moon? Surely we should be observing the sighting of the moon from UK sources?”

He says he is enjoying Ramadan this year despite the longer fasts and hot weather.

“This year I am trying to get a couple of lads on my team to fast with me for a day!”