Ramadan for Non-Muslims (1)
Dubai has a lot of visitors who are not Muslim, and various information services try to explain Ramadan. So far, after reading pamphlets and websites, I'm more confused than ever.
All Muslims agree that Ramadan starts when the crescent moon is sighted. The UAE has an official moon-sighting committee, whose decision is final. In some other countries, different Islamic groups have their own moon-sighting committees, and usually manage to disagree (by up to three days) on when the crescent is first sighted.
All the sites say that fasting is from sunrise to sunset, but this is clearly an inoperative statement. Fasting in Dubai starts 90 minutes before sunrise. Apparently, there are (at least) four recognized methods for determining the start of fasting, and Dubai uses the Umm Al-Qura method. Other countries use methods where fasting starts a few minutes more or less than the 90 minutes before sunrise used throughout the Gulf.
The end of fasting is also not altogether clear, since, at sunset, Muslim men are supposed to gather at the mosque for sunset prayers. Some Muslims say that the body is desperate for nourishment, and that one is too light-headed to pray properly, so, as the sunset is signalled by a cannon shot and the call to prayer, one must eat an odd number of dates (usually three), take an odd number of sips of water (again, usually three) and then pray. Other Muslims say that one must complete the sunset prayers before breaking the fast.
At a typical Dubai iftar sponsored by a restaurant, people make several trips to the buffet before sunset, laying all their heaping plates (three or more) in front of their seats, pour water and juice into glasses and set these in front of their seats, and then wait patiently. When the cannon goes off, they devour all the contents of all their plates and empty all their glasses. About twenty minutes after the iftar buffet starts, most restaurants have cleared away the entire iftar buffet. Only then, some fifteen or twenty minutes after sunset, the Muslim diners waddle off to pray.
Eating from sunset until 90 minutes before sunrise is not much of an inconvenience, it just means moving mealtimes around by 12 hours. The difficulty is that Islamic fasting prohibits anything by mouth. Not even one tiny sip of water. Some sites prohibit even taking a mouthful of water and spitting it out, others allow one to wet ones mouth so long as one does not swallow. Also (and I'm grateful for this) no smoking during the day.
I was with a Saudi and an Iraqi last Ramadan, and the Saudi said the Iraqi never fasted. The Iraqi had a heart condition, and had to take his heart pills every eight hours, so he took one pill with a tiny sip of water during the day. That meant that he wasn't fasting. There are no degrees of fasting: taking one tiny item by mouth, and nothing else, is not fasting at all, though it seemed to me that the Iraqi was just as thirsty as the Saudi by sunset. At sunset, the Saudi had three dates and three sips, but the Iraqi had nothing, then they both prayed the sunset prayer on prayer mats in the Saudi's living room, after which they had dinner together.
All Muslims agree that Ramadan starts when the crescent moon is sighted. The UAE has an official moon-sighting committee, whose decision is final. In some other countries, different Islamic groups have their own moon-sighting committees, and usually manage to disagree (by up to three days) on when the crescent is first sighted.
All the sites say that fasting is from sunrise to sunset, but this is clearly an inoperative statement. Fasting in Dubai starts 90 minutes before sunrise. Apparently, there are (at least) four recognized methods for determining the start of fasting, and Dubai uses the Umm Al-Qura method. Other countries use methods where fasting starts a few minutes more or less than the 90 minutes before sunrise used throughout the Gulf.
The end of fasting is also not altogether clear, since, at sunset, Muslim men are supposed to gather at the mosque for sunset prayers. Some Muslims say that the body is desperate for nourishment, and that one is too light-headed to pray properly, so, as the sunset is signalled by a cannon shot and the call to prayer, one must eat an odd number of dates (usually three), take an odd number of sips of water (again, usually three) and then pray. Other Muslims say that one must complete the sunset prayers before breaking the fast.
At a typical Dubai iftar sponsored by a restaurant, people make several trips to the buffet before sunset, laying all their heaping plates (three or more) in front of their seats, pour water and juice into glasses and set these in front of their seats, and then wait patiently. When the cannon goes off, they devour all the contents of all their plates and empty all their glasses. About twenty minutes after the iftar buffet starts, most restaurants have cleared away the entire iftar buffet. Only then, some fifteen or twenty minutes after sunset, the Muslim diners waddle off to pray.
Eating from sunset until 90 minutes before sunrise is not much of an inconvenience, it just means moving mealtimes around by 12 hours. The difficulty is that Islamic fasting prohibits anything by mouth. Not even one tiny sip of water. Some sites prohibit even taking a mouthful of water and spitting it out, others allow one to wet ones mouth so long as one does not swallow. Also (and I'm grateful for this) no smoking during the day.
I was with a Saudi and an Iraqi last Ramadan, and the Saudi said the Iraqi never fasted. The Iraqi had a heart condition, and had to take his heart pills every eight hours, so he took one pill with a tiny sip of water during the day. That meant that he wasn't fasting. There are no degrees of fasting: taking one tiny item by mouth, and nothing else, is not fasting at all, though it seemed to me that the Iraqi was just as thirsty as the Saudi by sunset. At sunset, the Saudi had three dates and three sips, but the Iraqi had nothing, then they both prayed the sunset prayer on prayer mats in the Saudi's living room, after which they had dinner together.
posted by Dubai@Random at 4:27 pm
1 Comments:
We had a maid in Baku, from Turkmanistan, who was chewing gum during Ramadan. She was Muslim. I asked if she was fasting, and she said, "yes."
Post a Comment
<< Home