Ramadhan’s Winds of Change

Things that change during Ramadhan:

1- Our sense of time:

During the whole year, we’re accustomed to using ‘clock time’ i.e. 1:00pm, 3:30am etc..

But in Ramadhan all time is converted into Islamic time i.e. After Dhuhur Prayer, After Iftar, After Taraweeh etc..

or alternatively to TV show time: “I’ll see you after Baab Al-Haara 3“etc..

2- Anger Management:

During the whole year, cussing and cursing (especially when driving) is normal in everyday life using crude yet witty and colourful vocabulary i.e. F*uck(-ing-ass-tard-er-face-hole-mother+er) and sh*t(face-hole-monkey)

In Ramadhan, your anger is magnified by the fact that you’re hungry and thirsty (and hot!) yet you do not want to ‘ruin’ or ‘hurt’ your fasting you use alternative language including ‘Allahoma ini sa’im’ اللهم اني صائم and ‘La howla wela qowa ila billah’ لا حول و لا قوة الا بالله in an angry tone.

3- Sense of taste:

Eating beef,chicken,fish and shrimp anytime during the year would feel a bit over the top, but in Ramadhan not eating both red and white meat at the same meal is disappointing and some may fear of themselves from under-nourishment.

Also the urge to eat ‘Muhammar’ (fried fish eaten with sweet rice) at 11:30 pm becomes so strong in Ramadhan where any other time of the year such a thing would be considered madness!

Ramadhan is a month of change in everything in our daily habits and it’s amazing how easy we all ‘transform’, whilst it seems impossible to change anything in our society after Ramadhan, especially using less plastic bags!