In shadow of coronavirus, Muslims face a Ramadan like never before
20 April, 2020
Days before the holy fasting month of Ramadan begins, the Islamic world is grappling with an untimely paradox of the brand new coronavirus pandemic: enforced separation at the same time when socializing is nearly sacred.
The holiest month in the Islamic calendar is among family and togetherness - community, reflection, charity and prayer.
But with shuttered mosques, coronavirus curfews and bans on mass prayers from Senegal to Southeast Asia, some 1.8 billion Muslims are facing a Ramadan like nothing you've seen prior.
Over the Muslim world the pandemic has made new levels of anxiety prior to the holy fasting month, which commences on around Thursday.
In Algiers, Yamine Hermache, 67, usually receives relatives and neighbors at her home for tea and cold drinks through the month that Muslims fast from dusk till dawn. But this season she fears it'll be different.
“We might not exactly visit them, and they will not come,” she said, weeping. “The coronavirus has made everyone afraid, even of distinguished guests."
In a country where mosques have been closed, her husband Mohamed Djemoudi, 73, worries about another thing.
“I cannot imagine Ramadan without Tarawih,” he said, discussing additional prayers performed at mosques after iftar, the evening meal where Muslims break their fast.
In Jordan the federal government, in coordination with neighboring Arab countries, is expected to announce a fatwa outlining what Ramadan rituals will be permitted, but also for millions of Muslims, it already feels so different.
From Africa to Asia, the coronavirus has cast a shadow of gloom and uncertainty.
‘Worst year ever’
Around the souks and streets of Cairo, a sprawling city of 23 million people that normally never sleeps, the coronavirus has been disastrous.
“People don’t want to go to shops, they are scared of the condition. It’s the worst year ever,” said Samir El-Khatib, who runs a stall by the historic al-Sayeda Zainab mosque, “Compared with last year, we haven’t even sold 25 %.”
During Ramadan, street traders in the Egyptian capital stack their tables with dates and apricots, sweet fruits to break the fast, and the city’s walls with towers of traditional lanterns referred to as "fawanees".
But this year, authorities have imposed a night curfew and banned communal prayers and other activities, so not many people see much point in buying the lanterns.
Among the few who ventured out was Nasser Salah Abdelkader, 59, a manager in the Egyptian currency markets.
"This year there is no Ramadan mood at all," he said. "I'd usually come to the marketplace, and immediately people were usually playing music, sitting around, almost moving into the streets.”
Dampening the festivities before they begin, the coronavirus is also complicating another part of Ramadan, a period when both fasting and charity are seen as obligatory.
‘All sorts of togetherness missed’
In Algeria, restaurant owners are wondering how exactly to offer iftar to the needy when their premises are closed, while charities in Abu Dhabi that hold iftar for low-paid South Asian workers are unsure what to do with mosques now closed.
Mohamed Aslam, an engineer from India who lives in a three-bedroom apartment in downtown Abu Dhabi with 14 others is unemployed due to the coronavirus. Along with his apartment building under quarantine after a resident tested positive, he has been counting on charity for food.
In Senegal, the program is to continue charity albeit in a restricted way. In the beachside capital of Dakar, charities that characteristically hand out "Ndogou", baguettes slathered with chocolate spread, cakes, dates, sugar and milk to those in need, will distribute them to Koranic schools instead of on the street.
Meanwhile in Indonesia, the world’s greatest Muslim-majority country, some people will be meeting loved types remotely this year.
Prabowo, who goes by one name, said he'll host Eid al-Fitr, the celebration by the end of the fasting month, via the web meeting site Zoom instead of flying home.
"I worry about the coronavirus," he said. "But all types of togetherness will be missed. No iftar together, no praying together at the mosque, rather than even gossiping with friends.”
Source: www.thejakartapost.com
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