On the BBC Birmingham website, local businessman Nadeem Malik is writing a blog during the month of Ramadan, sharing his thoughts throughout the holiest of Muslim months.

After our meeting we talk in detail about the state of Muslims in the UK, his intrigue and questions about Ramadan were enlightening to me. After my meetings I dash into the Bullring, I remember when this place was alive with market traders, and I expect the same hive of activity, but the place seems a little slower, maybe a little happier.

The people I walk past are all smiling, but I’m not smiling at them. Soon the contagious grin from the last person who smiled at me slides across my face and I find myself walking along New Street with a smile. I guess I’m starting to understand the phrase that a smile in life is charity.