I always know Ramadan is coming to an end when my aunt calls me from Egypt to demand I behave for Lailat al-Qadr (the night Muslims believe the Quran was revealed).

"I behave every day for Ramadan ya M. I don't need an arbitrary date to be extra good".

"Ya3ni eh 'arbitrary' dah? Stop using those words with me! Ana ba'olik Lailat al-Qadr is special. So just be good. The last ten days ya S, you have no idea how special they are. Just be extra good".

"M, we don't even know when Lailat al-Qadr is. And it would be hypocritical of me to be good for one night just because I think the heavens are open."

"Ya S, esma3i kalami mara fe hayatik! (S, for once in your life just listen to me!). Don't be so difficult please. The ten days, they're just so important. In either case, ana bad3eelik (basically she's trying to intervene on my behalf with God). Don't go to the clubs, don't do the things you shouldn't do".

I could've kept the conversation going for hours and hours. I often like to do this with her because, well, I'm an instigator and like to hear the screech in her voice when she loses her temper but I had a really bad headache that evening. It was one of those migraines that pounds against your eyes. Hours of not eating can do that to you.

"OK, I'll be good. But I want to go on record saying that if one focuses solely on being good for the last ten days of Ramadan then they haven't really been doing Ramadan properly."

"Record eh? Why are you talking about music? Record, record. When was the last time you used a record anyway, don't you people use CDs now?? I'm talking about LAILAT AL-QADR ya S, not music!!"

The lack of food this month has definitely killed off a bunch of braincells in my family.