The muslim world of over 1 billion are now labouring through their supposedly holy month of Ramadan. This is one of the pillars of their faith. It means fasting (during daylight hours), abstaining from earthly pleasures (sex?), charity, goodwill to all men (not women!) and an orgy of praying. After having spent 3 decades living and working in the Middle East, all that really seems to happen is that night is turned into day. Apart from a few supermarkets, everything is closed during the day. The cities and towns are almost deserted during daylight hours. Although muslims are supposed to work normally (albeit restricted hours - normally 10am to 3pm but can be variable) few, after a few days, turn up. The reason for this is that once the sun goes down everyone appears to go crazy. Gorging themselves all night, charging around in their cars like madmen - especially the young. A continual round of visiting friends and relatives. After a few days of this existence, few feel able to complete a days work so - to their credit - dont even bother trying. When they do try they just loll about half asleep causing a nuisance. It all reminds me of an original Star Trek episode 'The Return of the Archons' when Kirk and his crew arrive on a planet where a 'Festival' is celebrated at a certain time of the year. During daylight all are respectable law abiding citizens but come nightfall they go absolutely beserk.
So what does Ramadan achieve really? To my mind very little. They whole mad month is rounded off by 4 or 5 days of monumental feasting called 'Eid'. Everyone is wildly happy, fireworks, giving presents etc etc. The only ones who might not be looking forward to this are the huge numbers of sheep slaughtered (around 250,000 in Saudi Arabia alone) in the most barbaric fashion the satisfy the appetites of the faithfull!
I once asked several Arabic friends why everyone seemed to go mad after sunset during this month. One answer I got sort of sums up the sillyness of it all 'O'h when the sun goes down god cant see what you are doing'??!!
So what does Ramadan achieve really? To my mind very little. They whole mad month is rounded off by 4 or 5 days of monumental feasting called 'Eid'. Everyone is wildly happy, fireworks, giving presents etc etc. The only ones who might not be looking forward to this are the huge numbers of sheep slaughtered (around 250,000 in Saudi Arabia alone) in the most barbaric fashion the satisfy the appetites of the faithfull!
I once asked several Arabic friends why everyone seemed to go mad after sunset during this month. One answer I got sort of sums up the sillyness of it all 'O'h when the sun goes down god cant see what you are doing'??!!
