Saturday, September 5, 2009

The Most Wonderful Time of the (Muslim) Year















That's right, lunar calendar fans... it's the month of Ramadan! Because nothing says "I love God...and rainbows!" like starvation, dehydration, and running people off the road in your hurry to break the fast.

I kid, I kid. On the first two, at least.

(I'm not a Ramadan scholar, so please forgive any errors in the quick summary below.)

Ramadan is the Muslim equivalent to Lent -- but instead of giving up soda every day and beef on Fridays, Muslims fast from sunup to sundown every day for a full lunar month (28 days). No lunch, no snacks, and no beverage of any kind INCLUDING water (Jessie just died a little inside as I wrote that...) The purpose is to focus Muslims both on service to God and on charity to the poor and hungry. I think it's an interesting example of the influence of the personal experience of the religious leaders; the Prophet Mohammed grew up poor, hungry, and illiterate, and one of the central directions he received from Allah happened to be the prevention of hunger for the unfortunate. It makes me wonder how much of Christianity stemmed from Jesus's experiences growing up as a carpenter.

Anyway, moving on from heresy and apostasy.

I find the difference in the Ramadan experience between the rank-and-file followers and the truly devout to be pretty interesting. For the nationals, Ramadan apparently provides an excuse to get even less work done while providing ample time for naps. Once the Iftar meal is eaten after sundown, the remainder of the night is spent party hopping. Traffic is almost non-existent throughout the day, but 11PM traffic jams clog up all the major roads. Motorcycles race between stalled lanes of Land Cruisers, all of which are packed with nationals visiting Ramadan gatherings until the early morning. The students snatch a couple of hours of sleep, often not even waking before sundown to grab the pre-dawn meal. Then they sleepwalk through their morning classes until early afternoon, when they nap until the sunset call to prayer. Businesses aren't much better; although shopkeepers will stay open late at night, it is bloody impossible to get any kind of government form processed. Once sunset rolls around, hotels and restaurants host gluttonous Iftar banquets where people stuff themselves with massive plates of food. A lot of people actually end up gaining weight during Ramadan from overcompensating. The driving actually gets worse than normal as sunset approaches; people rush home in a dehydrated and dizzy fury with no regard for anyone in their way.

Ramadan seems to be a very different experience for the devout. Most of the guys in my lab are Egyptian and very religious. They wake up for the morning meal before the dawn call to prayer, and then they work all day without a word of complaint. One of the other MS students went to Mecca on omra, or "little hajj", after the first week of Ramadan. I have yet to see anyone in the lab nap or leave early; in fact, they've been staying later than me most days. It's definitely a contrast in styles, and it's good to see the spiritual side as well.



The pictures are of the City Center Mall downtown. Massive versions of traditional Ramadan lanterns hang all over the ceiling, and a creepy animatronic display of traditional Bedouins dominates the center walkway. I really wanted to catch a modern Qatari talking on his cell phone while walking past the guys on a camel, but I couldn't quite get it. Enjoy the pics. I especially like the one where the Qatari guy looks like he's arguing with the animatronic imam...