Coffee with: School principal gets set for Ramadan

Next week, Sukaina Jaffer won’t be packing a lunch. In fact, she’ll skip the midday meal for a month.

Ramadan, a holy month for Muslims that involves fasting from dawn to dusk, begins June 6 or 7 — depending on the sighting of the moon. Its arrival is determined by the lunar calendar, and this year coincides with summer solstice. In other words, fasting hours will be long.

“It is going to be very challenging this year,” says Jaffer, principal of Az-Zahraa Islamic Academy in Richmond, during an afternoon interview. “We’ve been practising — gearing up a little bit.”

Jaffer is an 11-year teacher at the independent elementary school on No. 5 Road and this year is also serving as its top administrator. She began her teaching career even earlier in public schools.

“I was adamant I would not become a teacher because my mother was a teacher,” she laughs.

Jaffer completed a bachelor of science at Simon Fraser University with an eye on studying medicine, but the classroom called her instead.

Outside of school, Jaffer has put her teaching talents to use by hosting visitors at the adjoining Az-Zahraa Islamic Centre. She’s also taught introductory courses on Islam and recently offered a workshop with a similar theme to public school teachers.

“When this mosque was first built, there was an interest. People wanted to come see it and learn about it. Somehow I got hooked into being a tour guide,” says the mother of four. “It just evolved from there.”

Jaffer still leads tours when time allows, and hundreds of people, including many school groups, visit the mosque each year.

“It’s really a passion. I wish I could turn it into a profession,” she says. “It helps me in my spiritual journey.”

Jaffer says she isn’t a scholar or expert. She’s just keen to tell others about true Islam. Reaction, she says, is positive.

“I’m always surprised at how little people know about Islam. That’s why I’m so passionate about sharing what I know to be the faith that’s really shaped who I am. It teaches me how to be a good human being, how to be a good wife — and it doesn’t restrict me from having a career, having a profession. In fact, Islam promotes women to be educated. As women, we’re the ones who raise the next generation, and if we’re not educated, our next generation would be at a loss.”

As academy principal, Jaffer is eager to connect with neighbours in No. 5 Road’s cluster of faith-based independent schools. The academy has an ongoing partnership with the Jewish Day School, for example, in which both school communities come together to distribute sandwiches and clothing in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.

And serving the community is one important part of Ramadan, says Jaffer.

“Those who are less fortunate than us don’t have the luxury of knowing at the end of the day they will have a meal. It’s really having that empathy towards the needy and the less-fortunate,” she says.

“It’s also a time of self-building, self-improving and setting goals. At the end of this month, it shouldn’t just be that you abstained from food and drink. You might abstain from other things that may be harmful to you, your family or to society in general.”

When the sun goes down Jaffer follows tradition by breaking fast each day of Ramadan with a piece of date. For a meal, fried foods like samosas and pakoras are favourites in her family. Ramadan ends with the celebration of Eid-ul-Fitr, a day that begins at the mosque with prayer and giving to charity, followed by visits with family and friends, and exchanging gifts.

“It’s a real day of celebration. We feel that we’ve been able to hopefully become a better person through this experience of sharing, giving, sacrifice during the month, and be able to celebrate those achievements.”