Ramadan Tents

Today is the 20^th of Ramadan, 1432. I once thought of myself as 'well read,' but when I arrived in the UAE, I had never heard of Ramadan. I checked Gutenberg, and didn't find many English language books that mentioned Ramadan (I think Byron's Childe Harold has a brief mention, but I've only read excerpts, and not the bit with Ramadan). Of course, there is the transliteration problem, where 19^th century British writers might have transliterated Ramadan in any number of ways, but, if it were ever a major theme in any of the classics, I couldn't find it.

Shortly after I arrived in the UAE, my colleagues warned me that Ramadan would be strange to a Westerner. And they were right.

Ramadan is redolent of several Western traditions, but is also different. First, from 90 minutes before sunrise until a few minutes after sunset, eating, drinking, and smoking are prohibited.

But, during the day, all day long, most Muslim women cook, so that, from sunset until 90 minutes before sunrise, their husbands can eat, drink non-alcoholic beverages, and smoke shisha. The women must cook special foods for Ramadan, so in a way, it's like a month of Christmas dinners, with the attendant duties imposed on the women. Not unlike the West, but for a month, not for a day.

Ramadan is a time for charity, called zakat. All over the UAE there are Ramadan tents where poor men can break their fast after sunset for free. There are also tents which serve a meal three hours before sunrise, also for free. Some of these tents serve people with no questions asked. Others are provided by mosques, so they expect you to pray, which is difficult for infidels, since one must know the ritual and the Arabic responses. But every poor Muslim can eat for free all during Ramdan, with no questions asked. And, if one knows where to go, even infidels can eat for free all during Ramadan.

Early this morning I had the last meal of the night, three hours before sunrise, at a free Ramadan tent. They serve goat (of course), prepared six different ways. I tried to ask my friend (not from the Gulf) about what we were eating, and was told, 'We do not talk while eating.'

I finally found out the real translation of his statement, 'We do not talk while eating': All the dishes are Gulf dishes, and he is not a Gulf Arab, so he has no idea what we're eating, he just comes to eat for free.

I can relate. I had an uncle who loved food, and always asked, 'What is in this? How did you make it?' My father found his brother's curiosity about food disgusting. 'Why does he want to know that?' my father asked. 'Just eat it. If it's tasty, that's all that matters.'

But I fear I'm more like my uncle than my father: I like to know what I'm eating.

But my friend does not like to say, 'I don't know,' so he says, 'We do not talk when eating.'

So I know I had goat, but I have no idea what any of the side dishes were, or if there are names for the six different ways the goat was prepared.

Still, as my father said and my friend says, 'It was tasty, and that's all that matters. No need to know the name.'