Ramadan started yesterday at sunset. I know this because we wanted to have a drink outside by the pool at the Hilton and the barman wouldn't let us. The kids were allowed to bring their Sprites outside, but not my glass of wine. I offered to disguise it but to no avail, the barman firmly told me, 'no madam, it is Ramadan'.
There's a special moon sighting committee who decide when Ramadan starts, I'd love to hear that conversation -
-'yup, that's it there, that's the moon alright'
-'where?'
-'there, look, THERE!'
-'oh yeah, I see it now'
-'well, no drinks outside for a month'
-'quick, go and tell everyone'
I know, I know, I'm being flippant, but my flippancy is not reserved for just Islam; all organised religion leaves me feeling a bit baffled. Of course, I like the customs and rituals which accompany religion, and so I consider it a cultural rather than a spiritual thing in my life, and would consider myself an agnostic who loves Christmas. But I've noticed a strong 'cultural sensitivity' from expats in this country. Not wanting to offend is an ever present sentiment here. Anything which can be construed as 'criticism' or 'lack of respect' is often met with the stock response 'well go back to your own country then', which is just silly and besides, in Ireland there is very little respect for institutions, be they cultural or political.
Anyhow, so now it's Ramadan and this year I have to say I'm rather looking forward to the benefits, namely, that DH (darling husband) is home each day by 2pm. Last year it was quite a different scenario, since we had only been in the country a couple of weeks and were staying in a hotel at the time. Since everything is closed during the day, not being able to go anywhere in the afternoon, with four children was problematic to say the least. We spent the afternoons watching Cartoon Network in our hotel room, waiting for 7pm ish so that we could go out and eat, drink and be merry. This year will be easier, the only thing I'll miss is going out and having coffee in the afternoon, but I do that seldom enough so it's no great hardship.
For muslims, Ramadan is a very special month, akin perhaps to Christmas for us. The fasting is hard for them, sure, but they have wonderful feasts in the evenings, after Maghrib (sunset), called Iftar where, traditionally, they break their fast with dates and milk followed by a feast of many different traditional arabic foods. The fasting is done so that they can empathise with poorer people, but it isn't solely for this purpose; they are also supposed to think good thoughts and be kind and charitable during this period. Eating, drinking, smoking and other physical desires, even singing, is considered haram (forbidden), with the idea that it is a time of cleansing and personal re-evaluation.
Personally, I don't really see the hardship in fasting during the day only to overeat in the evening, particularly if you have nothing to do all day. I'm told that many muslims here in the UAE turn night into day and simply snooze the day away (of which the prophet conveniently said 'the sleep of the fasting person is worship') only to feast and celebrate the evening. Makes sense to me. What does bother me is the many poorer people who are working outside during this month -- building site labourers for example -- who are compelled to go without water all day in 50 degrees heat. That's just suicidal in my book and ignores the fact that these people are already poor and don't need to simulate poverty, they live it.
There's a special moon sighting committee who decide when Ramadan starts, I'd love to hear that conversation -
-'yup, that's it there, that's the moon alright'
-'where?'
-'there, look, THERE!'
-'oh yeah, I see it now'
-'well, no drinks outside for a month'
-'quick, go and tell everyone'
I know, I know, I'm being flippant, but my flippancy is not reserved for just Islam; all organised religion leaves me feeling a bit baffled. Of course, I like the customs and rituals which accompany religion, and so I consider it a cultural rather than a spiritual thing in my life, and would consider myself an agnostic who loves Christmas. But I've noticed a strong 'cultural sensitivity' from expats in this country. Not wanting to offend is an ever present sentiment here. Anything which can be construed as 'criticism' or 'lack of respect' is often met with the stock response 'well go back to your own country then', which is just silly and besides, in Ireland there is very little respect for institutions, be they cultural or political.
Anyhow, so now it's Ramadan and this year I have to say I'm rather looking forward to the benefits, namely, that DH (darling husband) is home each day by 2pm. Last year it was quite a different scenario, since we had only been in the country a couple of weeks and were staying in a hotel at the time. Since everything is closed during the day, not being able to go anywhere in the afternoon, with four children was problematic to say the least. We spent the afternoons watching Cartoon Network in our hotel room, waiting for 7pm ish so that we could go out and eat, drink and be merry. This year will be easier, the only thing I'll miss is going out and having coffee in the afternoon, but I do that seldom enough so it's no great hardship.
For muslims, Ramadan is a very special month, akin perhaps to Christmas for us. The fasting is hard for them, sure, but they have wonderful feasts in the evenings, after Maghrib (sunset), called Iftar where, traditionally, they break their fast with dates and milk followed by a feast of many different traditional arabic foods. The fasting is done so that they can empathise with poorer people, but it isn't solely for this purpose; they are also supposed to think good thoughts and be kind and charitable during this period. Eating, drinking, smoking and other physical desires, even singing, is considered haram (forbidden), with the idea that it is a time of cleansing and personal re-evaluation.
Personally, I don't really see the hardship in fasting during the day only to overeat in the evening, particularly if you have nothing to do all day. I'm told that many muslims here in the UAE turn night into day and simply snooze the day away (of which the prophet conveniently said 'the sleep of the fasting person is worship') only to feast and celebrate the evening. Makes sense to me. What does bother me is the many poorer people who are working outside during this month -- building site labourers for example -- who are compelled to go without water all day in 50 degrees heat. That's just suicidal in my book and ignores the fact that these people are already poor and don't need to simulate poverty, they live it.
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