# Ramadam...A very personal view



## Detourer (May 9, 2005)

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Ramadan is a great and extraordinary time here, to see the usually busy coffee shops and food stalls empty; souks [markets] closed, weary locals just sitting and waiting, or sprawled asleep in the shade. 
Wherever you may be watching the sunset is magical.

Like many I have always thought this the most beautiful time of day, when dusk turns towards night in a vibrant and colourful display....... It's especially so over the warm, shimmering Imperial city of Fes, Morocco.

But this time it is even more special. I am in the hills overlooking El Bali, the oldest part of the city, with my adopted "Son" Ahammed. Together we are waiting for the haunting cry that resonates and stirs the soul as mosque after mosque join in chorus.....Calling believers to prayer.

Now the setting sun is turning more orange. Every change has been like a ticking clock, for once it slips below the horizon the call to prayer will follow and it will be time to break our fast; I am not used to this, it has been an ordeal and I feel quite ill, so in one way I am eager for the sun to set but in another I want the spectacle to last just a little longer.

About two hours before L'ftar, the Ramadan breakfast, the souks were bustling with locals buying fruit and vegetables. They purchase fresh hot bread from the bakery, freshly squeezed juices by the bottle to give the hit of sugar, water and vitamins that their weary bodies need, and lots of sticky sweets from stalls. Then abruptly all will close and the alleys will empty as everyone returns home, to be with their families, to make ready and to break the fast together.

During the month long period of fasting, emotions often run wild. There was a very old man who normally just sits placidly, on a piece of cardboard placed between him and the cobbles, selling loose cigarettes....... single or in numbers. I know him well. Suddenly he leaps up and down shouting and cursing between missing teeth and through a flowing, nicotine stained beard. The effect is that nobody who passes will approach to buy his loose cigarettes, even at the new bargain prices! Across the narrow street a small crowd of women has gathered, only to squabble over the best figs or the last of the juice bottles. On the counter a few more hot loaves appear and the crowd pushes forward, coins and arms outstretched over covered heads.

But in truth there is no threat, no anger and most certainly no danger...... mostly everyone just seems to be waiting; you can feel an air of joy and anticipation.

I have lost Ahammed, he had moved on while I paused to watch the commotion and bustle. But there's no problem and it's quite safe here, I will no doubt find him later.

Incredibly people whom I have never met before stop and asked if I am alone and if so where will I break the fast. Concerned but smiling faces are everywhere and gentle hands guide and hold as I am almost dragged along towards low gloomy doorways into peoples' homes. It is not possible to break the fast alone............ It would seem that we are all in this together.

Stepping from the receding but still bright sunlight, into the relative darkness, it took a moment or two for my eyes to fully adjust and focus; I was in a large empty room, save for what was obviously a large family group sitting, cross legged on cushions, around a laid-out carpet. The smell of the hot coals, the spices roasting in boiling oil.....and again that consuming drift of oven-fresh bread filled the air.

I am by birth Canadian, brought up in the UK and now living in Spain..... I consider Morocco to be my second home...in fact I have a second home here...... I am not a Muslim.

Today I had chosen to fast and to gain a little more understanding and to strengthen my already enduring link with Ahammed, his new-born son, and my Moroccan "family"........ But I had been waylaid.

I have fasted before,but that was in England and it was different...... a silly challenge that lasted just a few days.....and anyway there was not the togetherness and spirit that I feel here.

The last shaft of sunlight slipped away from the window and I heard the canon roar...... then the call to prayer........ Around crowded mat, with a stranger in their midst, nobody said a word......Why? Because they didn't have to.

In the moments that followed there is an unusual silence in the city; no traffic and cries, no children chattering.....even the dogs and donkeys were silent...Everyone had disappeared into their houses to break the fast with friends, family or, as in this case, with someone they have never met before and who they had just dragged in off the street.................

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## aldra (Jul 2, 2009)

we lived in Israel and Ramadan was a very special time

Were back there this year and the call to prayer out side our window brought back very special memories

Aldra


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## Bryandh (Oct 6, 2010)

Lovely description, brings back memories of our visit to Egypt/Jordan part of which was during Ramadan of that year (around Christmas/New Year). Inevitably any such trip includes a Nile cruise and on our first nights mooring, in a very tranquil location, I was alone on deck watching the sunset over the West bank when the call to prayer began. It was a remarkable sound, one which I had never heard before, drifting across the majestic river Nile and it moved me deeply at the time. Subsequent nights it was heard, but in more populous areas and that first time has remained with me as a treasured private memory of a fabulous trip.


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## peedee (May 10, 2005)

>Allahu Akbar<

peedee


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