A rainy Sunday in Dakar, just a day after Eid al Fitr, the end of the Muslim
period of fasting and the 9th anniversary of Nine-Eleven. What a juxtaposition
of worlds. It's been fascinating to experience Ramadan in Senegal.
Senegal is a country that's over 80% Muslim. Though I must have experienced it
in Indonesia as well, it either didn't strike me or I just don't remember it.
But in the Muslim countries of West Africa, there's no missing it.
Ramadan begins with the sighting of the first dim sliver of the newly waxing
moon, and because it's at the discretion of local religious bodies unique to
each Muslim country, Ramadan often begins a day earlier in one country than
another. Once begun it lasts a month. Ramadan is the period of fasting: the
day begins with prayers before dawn, after which no one eats or drinks while
the sun is in the sky. These facts weren't new to me, but experiencing it
– and I tried fasting myself a few days as well – is much more
impressive. The real challenge in the tropics is not drinking water, and the
urge to have a sip just to wet your lips begins as early as 10 AM. Not eating
begins to hit you around 2 PM if you're in the habit of eating lunch. By
mid-afternoon you're feeling weak and by early evening everyone is positively
grumpy. Friends warned us about late-afternoon traffic, when a nation of
fasters is weary and irritable, but still behind the wheel.
Ramadan is more than just an exercise in privation; I found it's a time of
community and sharing. You break fast at the end of the day at a meal called
an iftar, when friends and family gather to eat together. You break fast by
first eating a date, and follow it with warm, sugary tea or coffee. Then you
pray, and only then do you share a meal. I also found the fasting in community
engenders a powerful sense of solidarity and brotherhood/sisterhood.
Lastly, it turns out Ramadan is somewhat a period of introspection and
reflection, when you take a pause from your regular activities and dedicate the
month to prayer and shared meals with family. I find that the most endearing
aspect of Ramadan.
It hardly bears mentioning, since it's not a surprise, but Senegal's version of
Islam is anything but radical, and as far as I could tell, the whole period of
Ramadan was a time of peace and introspection. How beautiful and important a
reminder when the demagogues back home are hoping to profit politically by
creating a polemic around the "threat" of Islam. Phooey to all the
hate-mongering associated with the "Ground Zero Mosque" and similar; at the
moment we most need to show our ability to rise above the fray, we show the
world just how unable we are to do so. Nine years after Nine-Eleven, our
national character is tested and found wanting. Islam is fundamentally a
religion of peace, and it becomes obvious when we simply experience it rather
than relying on our leaders to interpret it for us.
