Surely, God understands this is Raiders Week.
Broncos players and devout Muslims’ Ryan Harris and Hamza Abdullah will honor the Ramadan season this month without participating in their usual 30-day fast.
“There are sacrificial alternatives,” Abdullah, a safety, said. “Of course fasting is No. 1. You’d like to fast, but we don’t do it to bring hardship to yourself or your health. You can substitute fasting with feeding the needy, helping out the homeless, things like that.”
Harris is the Broncos’ starting right tackle, a position that will require all his strength and energy if he is to keep the likes of Raiders’ defensive end Derrick Burgess off quarterback Jay Cutler in the Monday night season opener in Oakland’s Black Hole.
People of the Muslim faith fast from sunup to sundown and though large meals are often devoured after dark, it doesn’t compensate for the bouts of draining weakness the body experiences during working hours. Harris is participating in other Ramadan rituals, like saying five prayers a day, but because he is in a career where his body is his temple, he can’t afford to fast from 6:30 a.m., today’s sunrise, to today’s sunset at 7:25 p.m.
Had Harris insisted on the fast, he would have had the blessing of Broncos coach Mike Shanahan.
“I grew up Catholic and I have a lot of Jewish friends,” Shanahan said. “You respect other people’s beliefs. Hamza came to me last year and I said, ‘Hey, you do what you believe in. But then I said, ‘When it gets dark, I’ll have some food for you.’ ”
Abdullah did go through the full Ramadan fast last season, but decided to modify it this year. He suffered a torn hip flexor about halfway through Ramadan last season, and while he doesn’t believe the injury was related to fasting, “I’m sure it didn’t help,” he said. “I want to be smart about it this year, I don’t want to take any risks.
“On light days, days off, I’ll fast. So I got to fast the last two days but today, because it’s a big work day, I consulted with my father and a few higher members, and they agreed I should eat something.”
Mike Klis: 303-954-1055 or mklis@denverpost.com.
