TODAY or tomorrow, Muslims in Bristol and around the world will be celebrating Eid, an annual festival marking the end of the holy month of Ramadhan.

For the last 30 days or so, from sunrise to sunset – a day lasting about 15 hours – every Muslim, male and female, has voluntarily denied themselves food and drink.

There have been obvious exceptions: the sick, the elderly, the weak, the young, women expecting a child, those on a journey, etc – but for the rest, it has been a tough exercise of endurance, not just physically, but also mentally and spiritually.

The mosques have been full of worshippers. They have certainly been filled to capacity for each of the five daily prayers but, unlike other times of the year, the mosques have also been open all day, and usually through the night, to accommodate the sudden demand for a spiritual retreat, a quiet place to contemplate and to reflect upon one's priorities, one's life and one's relationship with the Creator.

That is what the month of Ramadhan is all about. It's amazing how, without the luxuries of food and drink, one's mind is able to focus completely on one's spiritual life and one's connection with the Creator.

The whirlwind pace and demands of the 21st-century world that we are living in leave little time, if any, to reflect upon everything around us; the world that was created for us, not the world that we turned it into.

Do you remember the last time you perhaps saw a honey bee buzzing from flower to flower and took the time to wonder at its creation, its purpose?

Or looked up at the stars at night and felt overwhelmed simply at the scale of it all? In an area that appears no bigger than a grain of sand as you look at the night sky, there are about 3,000 galaxies like our own Milky Way, and each one contains between one billion and 100 billion stars like our sun.

Have you ever wondered at your own place in all of this?

Have you ever wondered how unique you are? Of all the countless millions, nay billions, of people that God has created over the course of the existence of this world, have you ever taken the time to appreciate the simple all- conquering fact: you are unique? You are nothing like God has ever created before, or will do again. You are a one-off. Good or bad, slight or great, you will have an impact on this world and those around you.

How you do that, and what you do, is all down to you, but have you ever given yourself or been allowed the time to reflect upon that simple fact?

That is what Ramadhan has been all about – it has been an opportunity to reflect. It's not about the denial of food and drink – far from it. The food and drink is denied so you can focus.

Have you ever thought how much faith those that suffer hunger and thirst on a daily basis in the Third World have? Even with the little that they have, they will be willing to share that with you. Their faith in the Creator is genuine and unswerving. Is it because they have the luxury that you and I do not: the time to reflect?

The festival of Eid at the end of Ramadhan is a celebration of the re-connection with the Creator. It will be marked with joy and sharing by Muslims from all walks of life.