Ramadhaan is undoubtedly the magical month in the Islamic world. For Muslims around the globe it is a time of sharing and giving, a time where great efforts are made to be in the rememberance of God Almighty and to thank Him for all that He has given us. It is also said to be the 'spring season' in the Islamic calendar. However, there is no other country in the world except Saudi Arabia, the birth place of Islam where the Ramadhaan atmosphere is totally electrifying. As I sit here in my office typing away, my mind wanders to the land of shifting sands, a land of culture and tradition, a land I called home. Whilst my body is here physically in South Africa, my heart will always remain in the magical Kingdom. Ramadhaan in the Middle East is welcomed with great cheer and festivities. I recall my patients coming to the hospital personally or calling me to wish me well over the fasting month. Arabs usually greet each other with the words' Kullu 3am wa antum bekhair" which means,
" May you be well for the whole year". The streets are decorated with lights and and restaurants and hotels are all decorated with trimmings. Most hotels and restaurants would offer special fatoor (iftaar) buffets. My dear and best friends Abdullah and Faraz along with Brother Hassan and his family would always invite me to one of the hotels to break fast. During the month we would frequent different restaurants and buffets sampling a variety of cuisines from all over the world. In general we would arrive a few minutes earlier at the hotel or restaurant, break our fast, perform our Maghrib prayers and then indulge in a spread of fine cuisine including an assortment of desserts. Thereafter we would head off to the local masjid for the taraweeh prayers. Whilst I enjoyed having my meals in a posh hotel type setting I was also equally disappointed at the amount of wastage that does occur at many of these five star hotels. Most of the left over foods are simply thrown away in a dustbin instead of being distributed to the poor. When I enquired about this at one hotel, I was told that the food needed to be thrown away for health and hygiene purposes. Frankly speaking this did not make any sense to me. During the fasting month in the Kingdom, the night becomes day and the day becomes night. After the night prayers everyone hits down town to the various shopping malls where various activities are arranged especially for the kids.Naturally the traffic is horrendous. Men and women scamper down to the tailoring shops for custom made abayas and thobes to be worn during the fasting month and of course a special one is made for the day of Eid. Restaurants and fast food outlets are busy until the early hours of the morning. After the morning prayers the city becomes dead once again as everyone retires to bed. It is also during the month of Ramadhaan that the famous television program 'Tash Ma Tash' is aired. This program is well received by all Saudi citizens as satire and humour is used to ridicule and mock at some of the happenings within Saudi society. Controversial issues like polygamy is tackled in a fun and humorous manner. Whilst the entire Middle East is in complete celebration due to this magical month, for many of the western expats it is usually the worst month of the year. Many of them would complain about the fact that the shops are closed during the day or many would be livid about the fact that they are unable to eat in public. Well I say when you in Rome, do as the Romans do. If you can't respect and abide to the laws of the country, leave. It's that simple.
Ramadhaan is also known as the "month of the Quraan". It is during this month that the divine verses of the holy Quraan was revealed to our beloved Prophet Muhammed (saw). Hence it is for this reason that thousands of Muslims travel far and wide to the Holy cities of Makkah and Medina to perform umra, a mini pilgrimage that is given the same reward as one haj and of course to listen to the beautiful verses of the Quraan rendered by the highly respected Imaams of the Haram. The first time I performed Umrah during the month of Ramadhaan was a few years ago and I could not comprehend or believe what I seen before me especially in both the cities of Makkah and Medina. Prior to breaking the fast thousands of people would gather in the haram area. Some are praying, some are watching the people go by whilst others are distributing dates, cakes, qahwa, laban, bagels and other goodies to those around them. No one leaves the haram area hungry or without food. Every one eats to their hearts content. It is the most amazing feeling in the whole world. It is interesting to note that in the Prophet's (saw) city, the inhabitants of Medina have taken it upon themselves to feed all the pilgrims at the time of fatoor. Many families have upheld this tradition for generations. Each family would come to the haram area an hour or two prior to the time of breaking the fast. They would lay rows and rows of tables on the floor and serve dates, zam zam water and a variety of other foods to the pilgrims present. Very often they would send their kids to pull the pilgrims passing by asking them to be a guest at their table. I have never seen such hospitality and generosity any where else in the world. There is such a powerful sense of sharing and caring that there are times when your tears would just automatically flow for no real reason. Perhaps it flows out of joy, contentment and happiness.
A Ramadhaan in the holy city of Makkah would not be complete without hearing the sound of the cannon at the time of breaking fast. According to the Saudi Gazette, during the past 50 years, Makkah residents have been hearing the booming sound of the city’s Ramadan cannon. They have become so accustomed to hearing the sound of the cannon that many residents, young and old, do not break their fast until they hear the boom of the cannon, which was used in the past as a sign to break the fast at dusk or begin the fast at dawn. The cannon also heralds the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan. This was before the appearance of loudspeakers during a time when mosques did not have electricity and the call to prayer was difficult to hear for people outside its immediate vicinity. The mountain on which the Ramadan cannon is located has been named by Makkah residents as Cannon Mountain (Jabal Al-Midfa). The cannon’s blank shots are prepared for the entire month beforehand. It fires one shot at the time for breaking the fast at dusk (Iftar time), one shot at the time for the last meal (Suhoor) and two shots when it is time to stop eating and drinking (Imsaak time). That brings the total number of shots fired in Ramadan to about 120. In its 50-year life span, the Ramadan cannon has fired about 6,000 shots.
The best fatoor experience I ever had was breaking fast on the beach in Jeddah last year with my family. Brother Mefarrah who resides in Makkatul Mukarramah drove us to Jeddah after the Asr prayers. He brought qahma, chaai sulaimani and an assortment of dates along with him. There were many Saudi families gathered on the beach front with their picnic baskets. It was such a wonderful sight to see. As we all watched the sun go down it was finally time to break fast. I noticed a few Arab men giving out water and dates to a line of people who had gathered outside the floating masjid. Naturally after breaking our fast we all headed off to the masjid for prayers. It was such a lovely experience. Here in South Africa I find the Ramadhaan to be boring and somber. I'm pretty sure breaking fast on the beach would be considered wrong and immoral in this part of the world and yet in the magical Kingdom I found that along with all the praying and fasting, families still had time to enjoy themselves and have fun. On that note, I would now like to take this opportunity in wishing all my friends and family across the globe a wonderful Ramadhaan Kareem!!!May the Almighty accept your fast and prayers during this blessed month and may it also be a time for reflecting on our inner selves.Let this month be a month where we can all achieve and attain high levels of spirituality. Let this be a month of sharing, giving and a start towards bettering ourselves in every way. Let us all try making a concerted effort towards doing good, helping others and staying away from all activities that goes against Gods will!!!
