Ok. I am in another planet. Definitely. Totally and completely...During RAMADAN no one can eat or drink in public from sunrise to sunset. If you do, the police can charge you, fine you and lock you up. My alternative was to eat chocolates in the toilets. The only trick was to transport the chocolate without it melting before we got to the toilet. The muslims normally sleep late and party all night. Shops, beauty saloons, coffee shops, everything opens until after mid night... A huge party all over. The most amusing thing is how they decide when RAMADAN will end. A group of wise muslim guys watch and study the moon and based on it's position, declares EID (end of RAMADAN and 3 days public holidays). Today at 8:30 pm they decided tomorrow is EID. No schools or business will open. They told someone, who told someone else, the text messages started going around, the telecommunications were overloaded, no phone calls were going through...It is hillarious. I was trying to call people to come for dinner tomorrow and just could not reach most of them because the phone lines are totally overloaded. Imagine if you want to take advantage of these holidays. Can I please have a flight going there on the first day of EID and coming back on the last? And I would like to book my accomodation for the third day of EID, whenever it is...Can i please have a car rental too? When?? Not sure, when is EID going to be again? Oh, of course, we don't know yet...heheI am sure I will get used to it. At some stage...PS: my friend has demanded she be named as the source - Inaie Ramalho from Bahrain.
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5 comments:
Aren't there ever false EID alarms?
Yes, rant is probably the best description. But it has a faint element of truth in it.
I was in Morocco recently and our guide, a Muslim, said the dates were published well in advance (Eid in 2009 is September 21st. +/-) but that the scholars in different countries have difficulty in determining the exact day on which the moon will be visible. I mean, is it the same in Indonesia as in Morocco? Consequently different countries can have different starts and finish dates for the 30 days of Ramadan. This is not a problem if you don't travel.
There was anst this year because there was a two day difference between the dates used in Morocco and the dates used in Saudi Arabia. The Koran stipulates 30 days of fasting but what if you travel to Saudi Arabia during Ramadan and people start celebrating Eid because they have finished 30 days but you are still only at 28 days...
Misery, said our guide.
BTW: Can Islam exist in Iceland? All followers would starve to death the first time Ramadan fell in summer and there was no sunset.
And behold the lamp of Allah.
The Kingdom of Bahrain is an island country in the Persian Gulf. Saudi Arabia lies to the west and is connected to Bahrain by the King Fahd Causeway, which officially opened on 25 November 1986. Qatar is to the south across the Gulf of Bahrain. The planned Qatar–Bahrain Friendship Bridge will link Bahrain to Qatar as the longest fixed link in the world.
this is very good. It would be a difficult thing to do, i would be in the loo too, with my mars bars.
i would find the hardest bit not being able to have my coffee or a drink of water. especially in the last couple of weeks when its been so hot.
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