Ramadan peculiarities

It’s almost halfway into the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, a time where Muslims around the world fast from dawn to dusk. The duration varies; ten hours in Australia, fourteen hours in Malaysia, and twenty hours in places in the northern hemisphere such as Finland.

Regardless of the distance between a Muslim and the Sun, life goes on right? Or so it seems. For the whole day, Muslims are not allowed to eat or drink, among other restrictions. This would undoubtedly affect their energy level in the office or at school. For some Muslims, however, Ramadan is an opportunity, maybe an excuse, to ‘close shop’. Ramadan is taxing on the body, so why work?

It is better to rest at home for practically a month and look forward to breaking my fast rather than be productive throughout the day. I am not speaking about all Islamic countries or places where Muslims fast. Nor am I assuming that the practice of Muslims closing their businesses during Ramadan exists everywhere in the Muslim world. Malaysia will be the case study instead.

Today, I took a stroll down to a nearby mall just to get some fresh air, and maybe devise a spontaneous plan of things to buy. I also had my eye on the food stalls to buy food for breaking fast later at night. Inexplicably, hardly any stall was open. One solitary stall was, a hero of the day standing tall amongst the other stallholders that could not survive the rigours of fasting. The mall itself could be likened to a ghost town, with many shops being closed.

The practice of Muslims in Malaysia closing their food stalls during Ramadan has not been a recurrent theme since time immemorial. It is a recent phenomenon that is state-sanctioned, with stalls being allowed to sell but at limited hours. In 2014 for example, then Islamic Affairs Minister Jamil Khir Baharom announced a rule where Muslim eateries were not allowed to sell food before 3 pm to Muslims who were fasting. This was to ensure that they did not skip their fast.

Otherworldy matters were more important than serving customers, be they Muslims or non-Muslims. Violating this rule risked eateries facing a seizure of their equipment. The fact is Islam does not proscribe Muslims from operating their food businesses during Ramadan. Imposing a limit on when food can be sold is unfair, to say the least, to Muslims who can’t fast for various reasons and need to buy food.

The stalls I saw today go a step further, not even operating at all! Apart from the fact that there are non-Muslims who wish to eat at these same stalls, especially during their lunch breaks from work, this practice of closing stalls during Ramadan sends a message to Muslims and non-Muslims that Ramadan makes Muslims weak and can’t function as per normal.

Ramadan is supposed to have the opposite effect. Ramadan is a time for spiritual introspection, but not at the expense of providing material goods and necessities to people who demand it.

The hypocrisy of all this is the sumptuous Ramadan buffets in hotels and various events. Spiritual introspection during the day instantaneously turns to exorbitant consumption of food with the sound of the Muslim call to prayer at sunset.

The cycle repeats itself for the rest of Ramadan: sleep, eat (a lot), pray, repeat. Policing religiosity is a priority, well at least during fasting hours. Closing shops when you’re supposed to work like any other day only to come out of hibernation at sunset to feast does not exactly jive well with the spiritual endeavour to be closer to God.

If fasting is supposed to remind Muslims, even remotely, of what it is like for the poor to have to fast by force and be hungry most of their lives, I dare say that working during the day is a small start for empathy. -Mkini