Last of Ramadan, 1430
It is now Saturday, 19 September in the Western calendar.
Today should be the 29th and last day of Ramadan, since, according to my Chinese lunar calendar, the crescent moon should be clearly visible tonight at sunset, so tomorrow should be Eid al Fitr, the festival at the end of Ramadan. Of course, if there is a dust cloud obscuring the moon in Saudia, then the crescent won't be seen here, and tomorrow will be 30 Ramadan 1430.
As Ramadan runs down, Farook must pay his Zakat, the Islamic equivalent of the Christian tithe, only a bit less (2½% rather than 10%). Farook showed me his pot, which is huge, much too large to fit into any home cooker. On alternate nights, he either buys a goat and a 20 kg sack of rice, or a bunch of chickens and a 20 kg sack of rice, then takes them to a public oven for cooking and gives some to the Dubai religious authorities (called the Awqaf) to distribute, and distributes some himself to the meskins he knows. One of these meskins is Dubai@Random, so I've been given huge quantities of goat or chicken biriani and harees (whatever that is) every night for the last 10 days or so (and I've managed to put on several kilos as a result).
Last night, we went to a Ramadan tent. People sit around and talk from around 10 pm until 11:45 pm when they bring out six roast goats on beds of different items, plus accompaniments such as pancakes with date syrup, pasta, and beans, and everyone digs in for fifteen minutes, then goes outside the tent for tea, coffee, thanks to the host, and goodbye (in Arabic is masalama).
As we ate, I kept asking, 'What's this,' meaning, not the goat, of course but the different items on which the goats were sitting. 'Shhh,' I was told.
After, Farook explained that it is very rude to talk while eating.
'But I want to know what the dishes are called,' I tried to explain.
'Why? You must eat what is put before you. No need to know name.'
So (other than goat) I have almost no idea what I ate, except for the pasta, pancakes and beans (and they wouldn't tell me the Arabic names for the type of beans or for the pancakes or pasta).
So, after today, Eid meaning festival, for a few days, then back to what is considered normal for this part of the world.
Today should be the 29th and last day of Ramadan, since, according to my Chinese lunar calendar, the crescent moon should be clearly visible tonight at sunset, so tomorrow should be Eid al Fitr, the festival at the end of Ramadan. Of course, if there is a dust cloud obscuring the moon in Saudia, then the crescent won't be seen here, and tomorrow will be 30 Ramadan 1430.
As Ramadan runs down, Farook must pay his Zakat, the Islamic equivalent of the Christian tithe, only a bit less (2½% rather than 10%). Farook showed me his pot, which is huge, much too large to fit into any home cooker. On alternate nights, he either buys a goat and a 20 kg sack of rice, or a bunch of chickens and a 20 kg sack of rice, then takes them to a public oven for cooking and gives some to the Dubai religious authorities (called the Awqaf) to distribute, and distributes some himself to the meskins he knows. One of these meskins is Dubai@Random, so I've been given huge quantities of goat or chicken biriani and harees (whatever that is) every night for the last 10 days or so (and I've managed to put on several kilos as a result).
Last night, we went to a Ramadan tent. People sit around and talk from around 10 pm until 11:45 pm when they bring out six roast goats on beds of different items, plus accompaniments such as pancakes with date syrup, pasta, and beans, and everyone digs in for fifteen minutes, then goes outside the tent for tea, coffee, thanks to the host, and goodbye (in Arabic is masalama).
As we ate, I kept asking, 'What's this,' meaning, not the goat, of course but the different items on which the goats were sitting. 'Shhh,' I was told.
After, Farook explained that it is very rude to talk while eating.
'But I want to know what the dishes are called,' I tried to explain.
'Why? You must eat what is put before you. No need to know name.'
So (other than goat) I have almost no idea what I ate, except for the pasta, pancakes and beans (and they wouldn't tell me the Arabic names for the type of beans or for the pancakes or pasta).
So, after today, Eid meaning festival, for a few days, then back to what is considered normal for this part of the world.
posted by Dubai@Random at 2:25 am
2 Comments:
And then it is said that westerners do not do enough to learn about the Arab ways. ;.)
Trust that the food was good, even if you didn't know what you were eating, DR!
You have mistaken the 2 Zakats with each other.
ZAKAT al MAL is tthe roughly 2.5% on money, jewelry, and money making assets (Stock, your business) and must be paid in 12 month intervals. Not necessarily after Ramadan. Infact most pay it at the end of the Islamic calender.
What you are talking about is Zakat Al Fitr, which is (roughly) 3 kilos of the main source of food in the location you live in (Here it is rice, in the US we used to give potatoes)
Zakat al Firt must be given anytime before Salat Al Eid, tomorrow morning at 6:20 AM.
You need to correct this in your blog post as your post is 100% incorrect now. There are TWO separate types of Zakat in Islam.
As for your friend not telling you what the food is. That was very inconsiderate. What if you were a vegetarian and he fed you meat? Just saying, it is not impolite to ask what something is, especially if you are curious.
Oh, and it's confirmed, Tomorrow is infact Eid. Eid Mubarak.
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