Ramadan for Non-Muslims (3)
The analogy that I like is that Ramadan is like Christmas plus Lent, but I hesitate to use that analogy because most Westerners are no longer familiar with Lent. I can only say that Ramadan, to me, seems analogous to the Christmases of the 1950s and to the Lents of the 1750s.
One of the Dubai TV stations asked, 'Ramadan, fast or feast?' which means rather the same thing.
From 90 minutes before sunrise until sunset, Muslims have nothing by mouth: no food, no water, no cigarettes. By sunset, I am not particularly hungry, having had an ample meal at 2:30 a.m. (called sohour), but I am desperate for something to drink, and the smokers I've seen seem more desperate for a cigarette than for water.
All afternoon, most Muslim housewives have been cooking. It is, in some ways, like a month of preparing Christmas dinners. Once, Christians were required to fast during the four weeks before Christmas, then this was reduced to a single day of fasting, and finally the fasting disappeared, and only the Christmas feast remains.
In Islam, this fasting followed by a feast goes on for a month.
Ramadan is also a time of giving to the poor, called zakat, and Dubai once had a Ramadan shopping festival called, 'Dubai, The City that Cares.' Since Dubai just finished the 'Summer Surprises Shopping Festival,' most retailers were leery of another shopping festival, especially since the Dubai Municipality taxes them heavily for every shopping festival. So, for this year, HE Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum announced a 'Dubai, The City that Cares' campaign (but not a shopping festival). The campaign will provide aid to the impoverished children in the world, supplying food and building schools. All of Dubai's sheikhs have donated, and others may contribute by SMS, by Web, or by going to any of many sites provided to facilitate donations to the Ramadan charity.
Along with charity for the poor, Ramadan is a time for exchanging gifts within families, leading to the usual excesses of commercialism, or at least to perceived excesses of commercialism in comparison with the halcyon days before the first Mall appeared in the UAE.
In some Christian countries, during medieval Lents, people found breaking the fast could have all their teeth extracted. In the UAE, the guidelines state that it is simple courtesy to appear to be fasting in public, even if, in private, non-Muslims are breaking the fast; however, what happens to the discourteous is no longer specified for the UAE. In Ramadan 2005, I saw people in the Free Zones eating and smoking at noon; this year, on 14 September, I saw people smoking an hour before sunset at a mall (something now prohibited in Dubai both before and after sunset, and after Ramadan, as of 15 September 2007, and for which I am grateful).
One of the Dubai TV stations asked, 'Ramadan, fast or feast?' which means rather the same thing.
From 90 minutes before sunrise until sunset, Muslims have nothing by mouth: no food, no water, no cigarettes. By sunset, I am not particularly hungry, having had an ample meal at 2:30 a.m. (called sohour), but I am desperate for something to drink, and the smokers I've seen seem more desperate for a cigarette than for water.
All afternoon, most Muslim housewives have been cooking. It is, in some ways, like a month of preparing Christmas dinners. Once, Christians were required to fast during the four weeks before Christmas, then this was reduced to a single day of fasting, and finally the fasting disappeared, and only the Christmas feast remains.
In Islam, this fasting followed by a feast goes on for a month.
Ramadan is also a time of giving to the poor, called zakat, and Dubai once had a Ramadan shopping festival called, 'Dubai, The City that Cares.' Since Dubai just finished the 'Summer Surprises Shopping Festival,' most retailers were leery of another shopping festival, especially since the Dubai Municipality taxes them heavily for every shopping festival. So, for this year, HE Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum announced a 'Dubai, The City that Cares' campaign (but not a shopping festival). The campaign will provide aid to the impoverished children in the world, supplying food and building schools. All of Dubai's sheikhs have donated, and others may contribute by SMS, by Web, or by going to any of many sites provided to facilitate donations to the Ramadan charity.
Along with charity for the poor, Ramadan is a time for exchanging gifts within families, leading to the usual excesses of commercialism, or at least to perceived excesses of commercialism in comparison with the halcyon days before the first Mall appeared in the UAE.
In some Christian countries, during medieval Lents, people found breaking the fast could have all their teeth extracted. In the UAE, the guidelines state that it is simple courtesy to appear to be fasting in public, even if, in private, non-Muslims are breaking the fast; however, what happens to the discourteous is no longer specified for the UAE. In Ramadan 2005, I saw people in the Free Zones eating and smoking at noon; this year, on 14 September, I saw people smoking an hour before sunset at a mall (something now prohibited in Dubai both before and after sunset, and after Ramadan, as of 15 September 2007, and for which I am grateful).
posted by Dubai@Random at 3:11 pm
2 Comments:
This is my first Ramadan in the UAE (well to be honest, my first Ramadan full stop), and I have tried to respect local customs, as I would expect those who visit my home country to do.
I work in the Jebel Ali Free Zone. Just before Ramadan we had an email sent around highlighting to non-Muslims key do's and don'ts. Chief amonst those was to respect those who fast.
Surprisingly, the main food court in the FZ is open as normal. Perhaps this is sensible and reasonable considering that a vast majority of those who use it aren't locals or Muslims - but it surprised me, particularly since it is about 20 feet away from the mosque.
But what surprised me most was that the Dunkin' Donuts concession in the main entrance to DP World's Headquarters was open for business as normal.
All in all, it has left me slightly more confused than when I started !!
Beansprout: As I said, Ramadan is very confusing for non-Muslims. The guidelines say to respect those who fast, but are no longer very clear on what, exactly respect entails.
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