JEDDAH, 8 October 2005 — The observance of Ramadan has changed over the years, and many say the neighborly iftars, community spirit and piety of earlier Ramadans have been replaced by a culture that flip-flops, conducting usual daytime activities in the wee hours of the night with ostentation replacing the humility of an earlier era.
“In the past, people were closer to each other,” said Mulay Ahmad Al-Shareef, a 96-year-old Madinah man. “We didn’t have much in the past because living conditions were difficult and not as easy as nowadays. Despite poverty people were happy. We didn’t have to buy much for many reasons. Ramadan wasn’t a month of food but a month of worship. Ramadan wasn’t a month to show off but a month of giving. Ramadan wasn’t a month of staying up late but a month of work.”
He recalled old times when the whole neighborhood gathered for iftar, the breaking of fast. He said that people of the neighborhood met in the main mosque.
Families brought whatever food they had and shared it with the rest.
“Fancy dinner tables did not exist — not because people were poor but because this was not the spirit of Ramadan,” he said. “These days, people have lost that. They don’t know what Ramadan means. To them, Ramadan is a month of food and TV shows. It is a month of staying awake late at night and a month of doing less work. I can’t believe this younger generation when they blame their laziness on Ramadan, when Ramadan in the past was the month of jihad.”
He said that Ramadan would probably be a month of fashion shows 20 years from now if the trend continues.
“When it came to work, Ramadan was similar to all other months,” said Abdulghader Sadaga, a 75-year-old government retiree from Makkah. “The main thing that distinguished Ramadan from the rest of the months was the energy to work. We woke up before Fajr prayer, and after prayer we went to work. Thirst and hunger never slowed us down. These days, young people blame Ramadan for their lack of work. They blame Ramadan for their bad temper. They blame Ramadan for everything. They treat Ramadan as an unwelcome guest.”
In the old days, Ramadans weren’t times for midnight blowout sales. “In the past we did not have televisions and there was not much activity at night,” said Muhammad Mahmoud, a 70 year-old Madinah resident.
“After Taraweeh prayer, people would gather for a short time to socialize and then everybody went back home to sleep. That gave them time at night to wake up and pray before Fajr.”
He added that the role of the mosque was very important. “It was the mosque where all social activities took place,” he said.
“Strangers and poor people wouldn’t have any difficulty finding food or a place to stay. During Ramadan, people provided help to people they didn’t know. Children participated in Ramadan by fasting because it was a sign of their adulthood.”
He hopes that younger people won’t forget the true meaning of Ramadan.
“People think Ramadan is a month of watching TV programs, staying late at night and doing less work. Ramadan is not about hunger and thirst,” Mahmoud said. “It is about self-discipline.”
