admin | 
09 2nd, 2008| 
So, I’m back to blogging again.. won’t board you with the details why I toke a (mandatory) break from blogging, or actually, maybe I will some time soon!
Well, it’s this time of year (lunar year that is) again, where people here call it Ramadan, and I call it the-I-can’t-smoke/eat/drink water (or cheap colored/flavored drink) in a hot summer day-in-public-month, yeah I know it’s a long name.. that’s why I start calling it Ramadan like every body else.
The main idea now behind this month of fasting – and for those who are not familiar with Islamic fasting it’s to abstain from food, drinks, smoke, sex (including French kissing, licking, and other forms of foreplays if I can still remember the rules right) – is to feel empathy for poor people who can’t afford to eat well, and the sex part is probably supposed to clear your mind from you earthy pleasures and put you in a heavenly/closer to God state of minded.. until sunset that is, where you can return to fucking (or making love if you prefer that term) and eating like a starving pig.
OK NOW, that’s the theory (doesn’t every thing look amazing in theory (I do use parentheses a lot don’t I!)), but as every thing else in religion, reality is a totally different issue. The fact is, that in Ramadan, as every person living in Islamic community (even though not religious) knows, people become more tempered, performance decreases at work and schools, more car accidents (especially when it’s near Iftar time – which is sunset), a lot of executives don’t answer phone calls and tend to delay every thing till after Eid, and people spend more time then ever on the idiot box watching stupid Arabic TV drama.
Even not that long time ago, some Islamic countries (such as Saudi Arabia) used to give students and public sector workers the whole month off! a whole month of not doing any thing but sleeping and watching TV until it time to eat more then your body can handle.. plus, I don’t get how you should feel any kind empathy to poor people since you know that the fasting thing is temporary until the sun goes down where you can eat like a king.
The funny thing (not the only funny thing really, just the funniest), is how most (or a lot in worst cases) people don’t have anything to do with religion in their daily non-Ramadan life, they don’t pray (which is by Islam, way much greater to abandon then fasting), some of them even are used to call God’s name in vain on a daily basis; once it’s Ramadan, they suddenly start fasting, and sometimes praying. As expected, once God’s month is over, it’s party time again.. priceless.
These are not isolated cases as religious people always say without having the courage to admit that this is theory in practice. Times are changing (it actually changed long time ago), and community is becoming more diverse.. and it’s time for this Ramadan thing to be canceled.
* I didn’t translate Emad Hajjaj cartoon btw, I found it that way.
