I am a Muslim.

Every day before the sunrise I get up, hit the snooze button and wash my face three times. Then, I wash my hands, my head and my feet. This is called the Wudu.

Wudu is the ritual performed before a prayer session. I must be clean and wear good clothes before I present myself before God. I do this ritual five times throughout the day for I am required to pray five times a day.

I face the Qiblah to pray. According to Huda, a religious author, wherever we are in the world, we are instructed to face Makka, Mecca, in modern-day Saudi Arabia. More technically, we are to face the Ka’aba, the sacred cubic monument that is found in Makka.

I cannot eat any pork or product made from pork. I cannot consume alcohol. Actions such as cursing, fornication, murder and disrespecting your parents are completely condemned and prohibited.

As a daily routine, I keep a smile on my face because smiling is a form of charity in my religion. The prophet Muhammad said, “Charity is prescribed for each descendant of Adam every day the sun rises.”

He was then asked, “From what do we give charity every day?”

His response was, “The doors of goodness are many. Enjoining good, forbidding evil, removing harm from the road, listening to the deaf, leading the blind, guiding one to the object of his need, hurrying with the strength of one’s legs to one in sorrow who is asking for help and supporting the feeble with the strength of one’s arms -all of these are charity prescribed for you.”

The best part of all this is not only am I required to help people, for 30 days once a year during Ramadan I refrain from eating and drinking from dawn to sunset. The fast is intended to bring me closer to God and to remind me of the suffering of those less fortunate.