How do people survive for
sixteen hours on no food and no drink – not even a drop of water – during
Ramadan? Well here in Marrakech I witness it every day … and I am stunned by
the stamina of the people, by their stoic determination to observe the saim/saima
(fast), but most of all by their overwhelming faith, their conviction that
there is a God up there and that He will protect and help you if only you pray
enough.
And as if sixteen hours without food or liquid
aren’t enough of an ordeal just to survive, try to imagine what it is like when
the temperature is in the mid-40s daily, as it is now! And then go one step
further and try to imagine what it’s like to be a builder: because during the month
of Ramadan the majority of restaurants and cafés are closed until sunset, many
owners of buildings will take advantage of this ‘low’ season to renovate or
restore them. So it is not an uncommon sight to see ladders and scaffolding and
paint pots – and men toiling in overalls under the full glare of the sun, men
who have not drunk a drop of water since 4am ...
There are of course Ramadan exemptions for
certain categories: children and old people; sick people; and people who are on
journeys … though I am not clear about this last one as when I was coming back
from Rabat on the train everyone waited until the sunset – and then the man
with a trolley did a roaring business, and smokers gathered in huddles at the
end of each carriage.
In Morocco the King formally changes the hour
for the month of Ramadan, so that the sun will go down an hour earlier and the
people do not have to wait until too late for their ‘ftour’ - the ‘breakfast’
(made me think about the literal sense of the word) meal they take at 7.45 each
evening. From about 7 all the cafés are preparing plates of ftour for everyone
– this usually consists of a bowl of harira soup, a pancake, a hard-boiled egg,
some dates, yogurt, fruit juice, and maybe some sweet cakes.
Everyone is waiting for the imams in the mosques
to make the 7.45 call – as the words ‘Allahu Akhbar’ (God is great) ring out
around the city, the people can finally break their fast ...
And even before the Imam has begun that prayer,
an utter silence has descended on the city. The streets are completely
deserted, all the more astounding because this city is normally one non-stop
heaving belching mass of traffic and humanity. At 7.45 the street outside my
hotel – usually the same chaotic cram of honking buses, motorbikes, taxis, bicycles,
horses and carts, – is totally dead. The
first time I was here in Ramadan I just went and stood in the middle of the
road and gaped. I could not quite believe my eyes. The stillness. The silence.
Meanwhile the Moroccans set to on their harira
soup and boiled eggs, no matter the weather. They tell me it is important for
the digestive system not to eat heavy, fatty food after a day's fasting – and
after a day or two’s experiment I can see the sense of that. It is also apparently
quite healthy for the body to purge itself this way for one month a year ... again
Moroccans say there has been research conducted into the Ramadan fasting
system, and the body seems to benefit (although I cannot for the life of me
understand how going 16 hours in 45 degrees of heat without water can be good
for the kidneys.)
So there you go: Moroccans say everything Allah
ordained was for the good of his people – he had thought it all out. The
fasting is good, as is avoiding pig, a dirty animal they say: it will only
bring you infection and stomach problems. Every day during Ramadan the local
newspaper carries an article on a subject covered by the Koran which has
subsequently been proved scientifically …
As for what the Koran has to say about alcohol,
well … you will find here that Moroccans are divided. Being a frequenter myself
of places where alcohol can be obtained, I see many people I know to be Muslims
partaking … and they don't hold back. But when it comes to Ramadan, wow!...
they are all drinking Coke and coffee!
I am not sure whether I find this hypocritical,
as some Moroccans do, or not. In a way it’s a bit like Catholics giving up
things for Lent I suppose. But Catholics are not asked to avoid them during the
rest of the year – and Muslims are. Still, the human flesh is weak and people
must have treats.
I can only think, however, that it’s a good
thing Muhammad didn’t have anything to say about marijuana … kif is generally
accepted here, just as long as you are not too blatant about it, and it seems
to be indulged in even more during Ramadan. So, if you can’t have your usual
kick, at least there’s another one waiting in the shadows.
And those shadows are important, because the
Moroccans’ attitude is: if you can’t resist, then OK, do it … but don’t do it out
in the open; do it in the privacy of your own home!
But back to the drink: The first drink anyone
actually has at the ‘ftour’ is usually a fruit juice – the Moroccans are very
inventive with their juices (as indeed they are with almost everything) and you
can have some exquisite mixtures: freshly squeezed beetroot and orange is the
on trend drink in Marrakech this year and my particular favourite. But lemon
and ginger also works really well (this often has some herbs in as well), as
does a delicious combination of avocado, milk and almonds. Orange and cucumber, orange and carrot,
melon, banana juice with milk, apple and orange – all these are on the menu.
Apart from giving your body a digestive break,
the main point of Ramadan is of course to review your faith and pass a very
holy month praying fervently for an improvement in every part of your life and
your faith. One of the five pillars of Islam is about giving helping the poor
with donations whenever you can (and on Ramadan’s last day, the ‘azakat’
tradition means that everyone finds a little something to give to the poor).
During Ramadan, people come to my hotel every
evening a short while before sunset with an empty bowl ... and they are never
turned away. In fact, pots of extra soup are prepared so that everyone who
wishes can get a bowl of harira.
One Saturday night I was on my way to meet a
friend and I saw something even more moving. It was about 7.40 and so the
streets were deserted ... as before, with everyone either at home, or racing
there, in order to share the ‘break fast’ ritual. So, the only people to be
seen at that hour are odd groups of disconcerted tourists who do not understand
what is going on ...
But that Saturday night I saw a man ahead of me,
who looked really down-and-out and was rifling through bins and pulling out
paper cups and drinking what was left in them.
Wary Western woman that I am, I was just
thinking of crossing the road to avoid him ... when a car appeared from nowhere
and stopped by the man. A small boy got out of the car and handed him a bag of
food. The man looked amazed and motioned whether it was really for him and the
small boy said ‘Yes, enjoy’, smiled, and got back in the car, which drove off
just as rapidly as it had appeared.
And every Moroccan to whom I have told this
moving story says the same: that to give to others poorer than you is Islam and
you do it whenever you can. In fact, there are lots of beggars in the street
and I see more Moroccans giving them coins than any of us suspicious Westerners
...
But probably the most powerfully moving aspect
of Ramadan is the very demonstration of the people’s faith. There are normally
five calls to prayer a day, but during Ramadan the Imam summons people to pray a special sixth
extra prayer for Ramadan – called the Tarawihh.
The call for this particular prayer goes out
about 9.30 and way before then preparations have been put in place in the Pink City.
Railings bar the busy main road from the
old medina to the Ville Nouvelle (Avenue Mohammed VI) so that the traffic is
diverted away from the great Koutoubia mosque. Then thousands upon thousands of
people flock to the square in front of the mosque to join in the haunting sung
prayer. The men are all in their traditional jellabas and there must be over
20,000 people there each night - to see them bend and stand and bow down again,
and listen to the sung prayers, is absolutely humbling and awe-inspiring ( I
have a top view from the roof of my hotel).
In the last week there are more special prayers
that begin at 2am – again the road is barricaded, around 1.30, and the faithful
make their way to the same rush mats outside the Koutoubia. I wake to the
strains of the sung prayers floating through my window … and they go on until
about 3.30.
The 27th night is extra special as it
is believed to be the night that Mohammed received the revelations that would
later form the Koran. The people make a special meal for the sunset breakfast,
and that night those who can and wish (of course) will pray all night until 6
in the morning. They then go to visit their loved ones in the cemetery the next
day.
On my last night this time in Marrakech – the 28th
night of Ramadan – I was walking back towards the Koutoubia along the main
Avenue Mohammed V about 11.30 and it became apparent that the road ahead was
already closed to traffic. The nearer I came to the mosque the more densely
packed with people the road was. I could barely move for thousands and
thousands leaving the square – definitely more than normal.
My friend Aziz saw me and yelled: ‘Come with me
to the roof to watch’ and we dashed up there. He explained that the Imam at the
Koutoubia had declared that tonight was the last night of the Tarawihh prayer –
even though Ramadan wasn’t over. So more people than ever had turned up. But
why finish before Ramadan, I wanted to know. He’s tired, I think, says Aziz,
but it turned out that he (the Imam) had simply finished singing his way
through all the special prayers two days early.
You’d have thought he could have timed it a bit
better – but in a way that’s what I like about Morocco: nothing is ever that
straightforward and explanations are always a little hazy. It keeps a kind of
mystery there.
