And imagine doing that for an entire month.

Well right now Muslims all around the world are marking the holy Islamic month of Ramadan and they do that by abstaining from all food and drink during sunlight hours.

Fasting during Ramadan started for the Muslim community on the evening of Sunday, May 5, and will end on Tuesday, June 4.

Muslims break their fast by eating dates; according to tradition, the Prophet Muhammad broke fast with three dates.

This is followed by the Maghrib prayer, which is the fourth of the five daily prayers, after which the main meal is served.

The Bathurst Muslim community meets every evening to break their fast, with the fast officially ending when the sun is hidden from view, rather than when it sets.

On Monday afternoon, they broke their fast at 5.12pm after fasting since just after 6am in the morning.

Saeed Enayat, who is a Imam at the Al Sahabah Mosque in Kelso, said Ramadan is a key factor in a Muslim's faith.

"Ramadan is one of the five pillars of a Muslim's faith, so if I don't fast, I'm not a faithful Muslim," he said.

"The other pillars of faith are the profession of faith, prayer, charity and the pilgrimage."

And Mr Enayat has a more difficult job than many to abstain from eating or drinking during the day, as he works at a takeaway shop.

But he said Ramadan is all about being compassionate to others and being patient when it comes to eating or drinking.

"The Quran teaches us to be compassionate and patient," he said.

"Maybe a person is rich and he can eat or drink anytime he wants. But we have people who are in the opposite, who are so poor they only have one meal a day.

"Ramadan teaches the rich one how to deal with the poor ones. I'm working during the day, probably seven to eight hours a day and there's always food around. But I feel for the people who don't have that [kind of food] but I stop myself from eating for the purpose of religion.

"Ramadan also teaches us to more nice, generous and to have more compassion towards others."

Children, the elderly, ill people and women who are pregnant or menstruating are exempted from fasting on health grounds.

Ramadan is particularly significant to Muslims because it was the month when the first verses of Quran were revealed to the Prophet Mohammed in the 7^th century AD.

Ramadan is followed by the three-day Eid al-Fitr festival, which marks the end of fasting.