Neck of the woods
“Traditionally, Ramadan, which began Friday in most of the Arab world, is a time for introspection, for charity toward the poor, for an increased focus on religion. It is a time when Muslims strive to avoid not only drinking, smoking, eating and having sex during daylight hours, but also gossiping and swearing — and even fighting with one another. The holy month is a time for solemn reflection during the day, and festive meals with family and friends at night……. This is the second Ramadan to fall during the Arab Spring, and in Syria especially, violence showed no sign of taking the holy month off, as government forces clawed back ground from rebels in the capital, Damascus………… Roundups of dissidents continued in Bahrain. Even in Dubai, where relatively timid activists have asked for more rights to free speech, United Arab Emirates authorities have responded with the arrests of 14 people since Monday on murky charges of antigovernment activity. Ramadan begins on Saturday in Iran, Iraq and many Shiite Muslim areas, unlike Friday for much of the Sunni world………...”
Even within each country, Ramadan is often on different days, based on the advise of the clerics. Back home, my family starts on Saturday while some neighbors started on Friday. It is supposed to be based on sighting of the moon’s earliest waxing crescent, but nobody really sees the early crescent anymore. Times have changed since the days of the Prophet, since even the days of my own childhood (long after the days of the Prophet). Too much light in the cities and towns and villages, too much pollution, even weaker eyesight, make it nearly impossible to see the moon on the first lunar night. Maybe some rural Bedus deep in the Saudi desert can still see that crescent, but not the top clerics ensconced in their palaces in the cities.
Another issue is that it is not just a Shi’a-Sunni difference. Morocco is Sunni, yet its Ramadan starts Saturday, along with Iran and Iraq and the people of Bahrain. So do a few other countries.
A third observation is that the most delicious food, the most plenty, is consumed in Ramadan. Which is a lot of fun, but it might make it the least healthy month as well. Of course all this can be just sour grapes on my part since I am far away and don’t have access to the Mehalbiyya and Harees and Zalabia and Lqimat and Kunafa and Gabboot and ……… As a consolation, we shall break our fast at P.F. Chang tonight.
(FYI: Muslims and Arabs never stop their wars because of Ramadan. The Libyan and Syrian fighting continued and continue through Ramadan. The bloody Iran-Iraq war continued through eight Ramadans. Bureaucrats are even less helpful, more difficult in Ramadan. Despots are at least as despotic during Ramadan. Kelptocratic princes and dictators continue to rob their country and people during Ramadan, but they pray more for forgiveness).
In other words: the people get better during Ramadan, but the rulers remain as rotten and pray more to cover it up.
Cheers
mhg
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