18 Ramadan 1430: Farook's Zakat
There are only 11 days left in Ramadan. It's not clear to me that the Muslim tithe called zakat must be paid during Ramadan, but many Muslims try to pay a significant portion of it during this month.
For his zakat Farook donates iftars to the poor, and Dubai@Random qualifies, so Farook wanted to give me an iftar. I had just gotten home and turned on Ramadan Murder Mysteries, a regular feature on MBC4 every Ramadan, when my phone rang and Farook said he was desperate to see me, but he had no vehicle. So I had to walk across Karama to meet Farook in a shisha parlour near his flat.
When I arrived, Farook gave me a very late iftar or a very early sohour, consisting of hamees and biriani. Farook bought 20 kg of what he said was mutton, but which tasted more like goat, 20 kg of rice, and some wheat, then he took the lot to a public oven that cooked it all up into a rather spicy harees (goat and wheat cooked until it forms a paste) and goat biriani, which means goat and rice. Now he has to distribute the result to the poor, called meskins, who include Dubai@Random, so he was desperate to see me and give me some harees and biriani. Which, I have to admit, were quite tasty after walking across Karama.
Farook's biriani is quite spicy (at his insistence: I assume the public oven would omit the chili if the customer didn't want it), so we washed it down with diet soda and mint tea.
In Christendom, it is customary to give gifts (generally cash) at Christmas to the workers who provide service all year, e.g., security guards for people living in flats with security guards, porters & etc. In the Islamic world, it is customary to give the poor workers who provide service a little cash for Eid, but this should be given several days before Eid so they will have the money to buy the things they need to have a proper Eid celebration. So, for those people living in flats with security guards, it's time to start thinking about envelopes for Eid, which should be in about 12 days.
For his zakat Farook donates iftars to the poor, and Dubai@Random qualifies, so Farook wanted to give me an iftar. I had just gotten home and turned on Ramadan Murder Mysteries, a regular feature on MBC4 every Ramadan, when my phone rang and Farook said he was desperate to see me, but he had no vehicle. So I had to walk across Karama to meet Farook in a shisha parlour near his flat.
When I arrived, Farook gave me a very late iftar or a very early sohour, consisting of hamees and biriani. Farook bought 20 kg of what he said was mutton, but which tasted more like goat, 20 kg of rice, and some wheat, then he took the lot to a public oven that cooked it all up into a rather spicy harees (goat and wheat cooked until it forms a paste) and goat biriani, which means goat and rice. Now he has to distribute the result to the poor, called meskins, who include Dubai@Random, so he was desperate to see me and give me some harees and biriani. Which, I have to admit, were quite tasty after walking across Karama.
Farook's biriani is quite spicy (at his insistence: I assume the public oven would omit the chili if the customer didn't want it), so we washed it down with diet soda and mint tea.
In Christendom, it is customary to give gifts (generally cash) at Christmas to the workers who provide service all year, e.g., security guards for people living in flats with security guards, porters & etc. In the Islamic world, it is customary to give the poor workers who provide service a little cash for Eid, but this should be given several days before Eid so they will have the money to buy the things they need to have a proper Eid celebration. So, for those people living in flats with security guards, it's time to start thinking about envelopes for Eid, which should be in about 12 days.
Labels: Ramadan
posted by Dubai@Random at 2:02 am
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