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Ramadan is upon us.
I’ve been trying to learn as much as I can about this Holy Month, and wanted to write a quite objective post, just trying to describe it. Personal opinions and adventures will come throughout the month, I’m sure.
So Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar. During this Holy Month, every day, Muslims spend the daylight hours in complete fast. This is a time to refocus on God, to purify the soul, to be grounded with the reality of those who aren’t lucky enough to have food on their tables every day, to purify the soul, and to practice self sacrifice.
During Ramadan, Muslims re-evaluate their lives and the year gone by. They seek peace with those who wronged them, strengthen their relationships, give up bad habits, and generally clean their lives, thoughts and feelings.
I’m told that in Arabic, the word for “fasting” (sawm) literally means “to refrain” – and it means not only refraining from food, drink, cigarettes, sex, but also from evil actions, thoughts, and words.
During this month, every part of the body must be restrained. The tongue must be restrained from badmouthing and gossip. The eyes must restrain themselves from looking at unlawful things. The hand must not touch or take anything that does not belong to it. The ears must refrain from listening to idle talk or obscene words. The feet must refrain from going to sinful places. In such a way, every part of the body observes the fast. Fasting is then seen as a complete commitment -body and soul- to their faith and the worship of God.
My friends have told me the rules for Ramadan are pretty much lived person-by-person. There are certain things no one would do, but then for other things -listening to music, watching films, etc, it’s pretty much up to each one’s feeling on how that will affect their inner peace. The body is drained from lack of sleep and nourishment, and all free time should be devoted to reading the Q’ran, but if you feel that listening to music will help you feel closer to God and to your soul’s purpose, then it’s up to you, for example.
I’m fascinated by this idea and by the type of inner processes my Muslim hosts go through during all this, so expect to read a few more posts about this.
How about you, dear readers (all 3 of you), would you be able to not drink or eat during daylight and sleep only a couple of hours a night?
), and the guys at the table next to me started a conversation. They were Lebanese, both in Dubai for over 5 years. So I explained my newbie status, asked a few questions, we chatted for a bit. Just as I was leaving, one of them tells me, as a goodbye, “…and give Dubai a chance, ok?”. Intrigued, I turned around and asked what he meant, if it was that bad, and he just explained, with a big sigh, that the first few months can be tough and it’s easy to forget the good parts when you’re only reminded of the bad ones.
