I have a rule in my house in Ramadan: No music and no television for the whole month. I usually encounter no resistance except on the weekend from my younger daughter: "But time is not passing. Can I just watch Discovery Channel, please?" My heart goes out to my children. They are so used to the easy lifestyle in Saudi Arabia, especially in Ramadan; I wonder how they will survive anywhere else.
I remember my own Ramadans in the United States. When we lived there, it was in the summers. Time to break our fast was sometimes at 9 p.m. Isha was at 11 p.m. Taraweeh prayers at the mosque ended at 1! I worked from 8 to 4.30 and I had no concessions: I had to try to be both efficient and productive. At the beginning of Ramadan, I always had terrible caffeine withdrawals. I often wore dark glasses the whole day to protect them from the glare of the computer. My colleagues would say, "I bet you are fasting!" And though I had concentration lapses at the beginning and sometimes made errors, my boss stressed that she did not expect fasting to affect my work since it was my own decision to fast! I had to be extra careful in Ramadan and I was. I didn’t want anyone to think that Islam enforced anything that was detrimental to efficiency.
The one concession that my boss allowed me was to combine my lunch break and break time so that I had an hour and 15 minutes of free time. Two friends always knocked on the door when my break was over to ensure I did not oversleep! The toughest thing was to come home and do all the house chores plus cooking!
My husband had a tougher time. He had to deal with lots of customers and he suffered from migraines but he always had to be pleasant and smiling. The toughest Ramadan customer that my husband had was a middle-aged guy who was angry and rude. He calmed down a bit when he discovered my husband was fasting and also a Muslim. He had thought my husband was Mexican and was very upset since his wife had recently run away with a Mexican man!
In contrast to those in America, my Ramadans were very different in Jeddah. They were more spiritual and rewarding due to the proximity of Makkah but I was appalled to see how frivolously the majority seemed to take Ramadan. In a time when Muslims are supposed to be the most tolerant, the most helpful, the most kind, they were instead the most thoughtless, the most inconsiderate, the most lethargic and the worst tempered. Also, in Ramadan, nights are supposed to be spent in worship or in sleep; in Jeddah everybody was playing soccer, shopping and visiting friends and family. I was rudely awakened once at 3 a.m. Groggy with sleep, I opened the door to see my Saudi landlord’s daughter standing there, asking if she could borrow some kitchen item. As it turned out, I didn’t have it. I was shocked that she was awake at such an hour and she was shocked that I had gone to bed so early!
And here I am in Alkhobar now — never thought I’d miss Jeddah so much. Here it is very quiet. The only noise I hear is at our mosque. During prayers, children ran and made noise just as they did in Jeddah. Here, however, a strict-looking old woman told the mother of some children. "Don’t bring your children to the mosque if they don’t know how to be quiet!"
I wonder how my children will find Ramadan in their own countries when they ultimately return. Whatever, I am sure everybody will remember Ramadan here, especially those of us who sleep through so much and leave chores to maids and houseboys.
