Don’t forget the less fortunate this Ramadan
IT’S not easy spending Ramadan alone, far away from home and loved ones. It gets particularly lonely and depressing at the iftar time. I miss those lively family evenings and all the happy chatter and chaotic buzz that the children generate on such occasions.
There’s nothing to beat a Ramadan in Hyderabad. No words can truly capture the atmospherics and endless hustle and bustle of a Ramadan back home, not to mention its much-loved haleem — a delicate, delectable fusion of meat, wheat and lentils — and other delicacies served especially during the month of fasting.
Even as I miss my kids, I can’t help revisit the Ramadan of my own childhood. The excitement of getting up for suhoor and then looking forward to all the fun and games with friends at iftar time. My mother seemed to stay awake all night to prepare the predawn meal. And who could forget those surreal, nocturnal drum-beaters who would go around singing to wake up the neighborhood for the suhoor! Come Ramadan and I begin hearing those hauntingly beautiful, elegiac songs even here in Dubai.
It’s for traditions like these that one desperately longs to be back home this time of the year. A friend of mine and a fellow Hyderabadi, however, says he wouldn’t miss a Ramadan in Arabia for anything. “The holy month seems to transform this ancient land, bringing out the best of the generous Arab spirit. You indeed feel you are living and breathing in the holy land. This is the best time to be in this part of the world,” insists Hassan.
He is right of course. With the onset of Ramadan, the whole of “Arabistan,” as my friend quaintly calls the Arab world, indeed metamorphoses into something that is out of this world. Peace and serenity seem to descend from heavens above to envelope everyone and everything. Life comes to a standstill and, in Mathew Arnold’s words, there’s sweetness and light everywhere. Everyone appears to be at his or her generous and kindest best.
Even Dubai with its posh malls, snazzy hotels, seaside villas and all that bling-bling wears a somber look as it joins the rest of the Islamic world in celebrating the month of blessings. Sharjah, the more traditional emirate next door where most of those working in Dubai live, welcomes the holy month with much gusto. Named the cultural capital of the Arab world by the UNESCO in 1998 for its over 600 mosques, two dozen museums, art galleries and libraries, the emirate truly comes alive during Ramadan evenings when people come together to break the fast and then stand for night prayers.
But these are familiar scenes across the Islamic world, indeed around the world wherever the faithful live — from Americas to Australia. A billion plus people, tied to each other by an invisible bond of faith, live and breathe together like one body and soul.
Britain’s Independent did a fascinating story this week reporting how most of the 3,000 Muslim sporting stars taking part in the Olympics this year join the rest of the Muslim world in fasting in the face of great odds and at the risk of undermining their prospects in a contest they have prepared and waited for all their life. But then faith, like love, conquers all and cannot always be explained by logic and reason.
The focal point of this extraordinary, liberating global spiritual experience is seen in the holy city of Makkah where believers from around the world gather to celebrate the spirit of the holy month.
Indeed, nothing can compare with the life-changing experience of a Ramadan spent in the city that is home to the first house of worship on the planet and of course Madinah, the city of the Prophet (peace be upon him). Madinah welcomed him when his own people persecuted him. No wonder the city remained his home and the capital of new Islamic state even after the whole of Arabia, including Makkah, surrendered itself to Islam.
With more than 2.5 million people thronging Makkah this time of the year-nearly as many as at the time of the Haj — and thousands perpetually circumambulating around the Kaaba, the Grand Mosque presents a curiously awe-inspiring and moving sight.
While fasting during the day and standing up for prayers at night reciting the Qur’an, revealed during this month, are the obvious highlights of these blessed days, there’s more to Ramadan than going off food and water all day.
The abstinence from life’s essentials for 14 to 16 hours (it’s 21 hours in some countries near the North Pole) is to help us appreciate God’s blessings and everyday things that we take for granted. It’s also meant to help us identify with the less fortunate and their needs and hunger.
Ramadan is all about sharing and caring. The faithful open their doors and purse strings for the poor and disadvantaged and give and give throughout the month, besides offering the mandatory zakat, a fixed portion of their wealth, to the needy. From fasting and feasting together to standing up shoulder-to-shoulder in submission before God, this blessed month brings out the spirit of fellowship and brotherhood like nothing else does. It’s something that has to be really experienced to be believed.
Unfortunately, as with everything else, the Ramadan spirit is also being commercialized and even politically exploited these days. Malls in the Gulf pull out all stops to vie with each other with their crazy promotions while five-star hotels offer all sorts of amusement to entice the patrons during the holy month.
Then there are those bizarre soaps on Arab television networks that are nothing but a mockery of the Ramadan spirit. Just as absurd are those endless “iftar parties” hosted by assorted politicians in India with an eye on votes. What’s all this got to do with Ramadan and its message of abstinence, piety and perseverance?
This Ramadan will be remembered long, not just for the long hours of fasting this summer with temperatures in the Middle East touching 50 degrees. It’s hard to shut one’s eyes to the predicament of thousands of fellow travelers across the region and around the world.
The bloodletting in places like Myanmar and Assam is appalling but not surprising. What doesn’t make sense though is the continuing massacre of Muslims at the hands of fellow believers, from Syria to Iraq and from Afghanistan and Pakistan to Yemen and Somalia. Over the past year and half, more than 20,000 lives have been squandered in Syria. But Assad’s thirst for his people’s blood is far from quenched.
While we enjoy the blessings of the holy month in the comforting safety of our homes and mosques and look forward to Eid, hundreds of thousands of Syrians are fighting every day and every moment for their lives.
It seems all the combined power of the international community and its impressive institutions cannot save a people from the clutches of a diabolic monster. The world stands and stares—literally while a defenseless people get exterminated at the hands of their defenders. This Ramadan spare a thought for the Syrians—and persecuted and less fortunate people everywhere. They need our prayers. When everyone and everything has failed to deliver, prayers might just work.
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Aijaz Zaka Syed is a Gulf-based writer.
Email: [email protected]
