Food, getting an extra hour or two of sleep and, for some, the pleasures of smoking and drinking seem especially tempting when facing just a day of abstinence, to say nothing of a whole month once a year.

But for Muslims, the first Ramadan fast is a rite of passage, a test of self-discipline that takes mental and spiritual preparation.

Starting Saturday, depending on the sighting of the new moon, members of Greater Toronto's 350,000-strong Muslim community will abstain from food, drink, dishonesty, bad temper, evil thinking and sexual activities from dawn until dusk for a lunar month. The fast is observed daily between daybreak and sunset.

"If someone comes up and says, `I don't feel hungry,' that's hogwash - because everyone will naturally feel hungry without food, and you are going to be irritable," said Saleha Khan of the Canadian Association for Islamic Relations. "Ramadan is the time you can actually inhibit bad habits and encourage good habits. It is a sacrifice, but it makes you reflect on the things you take for granted every day."

Children are not expected to fast until they reach 13. Adults who are sick, pregnant or travelling are also exempt. But most children begin fasting on their own at a younger age during Ramadan, the month the Qur'an was revealed to Muhammad.

Fatima Sajan made her first attempt at age 5, trying to prove herself without her family's knowledge. But she ended up slipping a doughnut into her mouth before others broke the fast at the Jaffari Islamic Centre in Thornhill.

"Food and water are necessities, but when you don't have it, you realize how much you miss it and how much they are part of your life," said Sajan, now 16 and a Grade 11 student at Thornlea Secondary School. "But when you make it, it makes you feel so good and strong that you have the willpower and patience to do it."

Tharwat Skeik, 24, said his first fast, at 13, was tough but rewarding. The University of Toronto student would be watching hockey at 8 p.m. while waiting to break the fast, because Ramadan fell in spring that year. (It's the ninth month of the Islamic year, which is based on moon cycles and is shorter than the standard calendar.)

But he feels more alert with the adjusted pace, and believes the practice makes him a better soccer goalie.

"I think the mind is stronger than the body. As long as you keep your mind focused on different things, like sports, it will overpower the body eventually."

Daytime fasting means getting up in the dark to eat breakfast before sunrise. For Nadia Abu-Zahra, not normally a morning person, it's an opportunity to get a head start on the day.

"That is the time when your mind is all clear. It is the best time to read the Qur'an. It is all part of a spiritual purification. It gives you more time to reflect on your life," noted the 25-year-old Richmond Hill resident, who prayed at Al-Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem during two Ramadans when she worked for Oxfam as an environmental health researcher.

"We have so much to pray for, whether it's food, water, good health or a shelter. Seeing the sun coming out of the horizon is just the most beautiful thing. It makes you happy and grateful to be alive on that day."

Fasting also provides a lesson in empathy, noted Khan. Muslims are encouraged to donate to the needy.

When breaking the fast each night, many begin with water and dates, a traditional treat, before digging into a feast.

"A lot of people actually put on weight during Ramadan because there is so much food in front of them," Khan said with a chuckle.

Social worker and psychotherapist Wahida Valiante said people would be amazed how much they could achieve if they extended a Ramadan lifestyle.

"It is an incredible mindset, an incredible psychological shift that gives you an insight into human behaviour - that it is within our control to modify our bad behaviour if we can cognitively condition ourselves," she said.

To reflect the Ramadan spirit of sharing, Valiante and others in the Canadian Islamic Congress launched a campaign to donate Islamic literature to all 1,000 Canadian public libraries.

"This is a very important project in light of what happened on Sept. 11. Maybe, as Muslims, we have lacked in building a dialogue with non-Muslims. Ramadan is about sharing. It's about sharing our wealth, our knowledge and whatever one has to give."

Donations can be made to "CIC - the Ramadan Book Project," Canadian Islamic Congress, 420 Erb St. W., Suite 424, Waterloo, Ont. N2L 6K6.