Ramadan II- The Exceptions to the Rules

We’re two and a half weeks into the month of fasting. I’ve learned some things.

There are exceptions to fasting. If you’re pregnant, you’re excused. If you’re sick or infirm, you’re excused.  If you’re a child, you’re supposed to be excused, but a lot of kids still fast.  Maybe it’s at the urging of their parents, so the parents aren’t tempted, or maybe the kids just want to go along.  

our office was planning a going away party a few weeks back and the issue of time came up.  With several Muslims in our office we didn’t want to schedule too early.  We’d need to wait until nearly 6 to begin.  We asked one of our staff if she minded starting a little earlier.  

“Oh, I won’t be fasting that day. I’m gonna be having my period.” She announced to the group.

That’s the other loop hole.  If women are menstruating, they’re excused. And apparently this co-worker is regular as well as, um, boundary-free. 

Several weeks on, I passed her in the break room and I asked how her fasting had been going.

“I woke up to good news, Doc! I got my period today.  I LOVE the color red! No fasting for me!” Did I mention boundary-free?

I led a smoking cessation group for local staff part way through the first week of the holy month.  It was all men.  I think that men are the predominant smokers here.  I went around the room. They all started around the age of 8 or 9.  All the marketing is geared toward kids.  Transformers and skateboarders are all linked to smoking here.

Anyway, the topic of nicotine patches came up.  They were curious, but also worried about putting something into their body during their fasts.. I asked if they could take medicine and they said that they could if they were sick.  I also asked if they were allowed to smoke during Ramadan.  “Well, we’re not really supposed to, but we can’t help it, plus we blow most of it back out.”  So I asked “what would Allah do?”

No, I didn’t.  Wanted to, but I didn’t.

Love Jannah

Cinetron is a national pastime here. It is the Indo version of the soap opera, but it comes on in the evening.  And all across the country people tune in.  If you see a road side hut or restaurant, you’ll see a bare lightbulb, a grainy black and white TV and a group huddled around watching the days drama unfold.  

I’d never really watched, but I’d flipped past off and on.  This month I noted more women on the shows wearing head scarves. I thought it was part of the story line, but a colleague told me that every year during Ramadan, the stories change from the usual “boy meets girl, girl stabs boy in back” stories to stories of peace and purity and other holy lessons.  All the characters dress more pure, too. 

Porridge Seller Goes on Haj

Then the day after Eid, it all switches back to the same old sordid tales. Apparently people can only be good for 28 days.

Sitting here in a hotel lobby bar in Surabaya, I asked the waitress how business had been.  She said it’s been swamped because it’s Ramadan and all the bars are closed, so no one can get alcohol.  “Everyone comes here to get a drink.”  

Apparently 28 days is too long.

Ramadan

Ramadan started this week.  This is the Muslim holy month of fasting.  I’m told life is going to change.

The Islamic calendar is a lunar one and Ramadan starts with the new moon. One would think that because the new moon is printed on calendars and that people have been figuring the position of the moon for eons, that they would have figured out when Ramadan begins.  Persians and Arabs were some of the earliest mathematicians probably for just this reason.  But, in this is a holy time and not a scientific time, so the scientists and the math wonks take a back seat to the more spiritual.

Because the new moons are printed on your calendar, everyone has a pretty good idea of the start of the holy month, but here in Indonesia the start is by government decree.  This decree came two days before the start. Apparently the government has a panel of 19 skywatchers from all around the country and they all look at the moon to see if it is totally invisible or not. Then they gather in a room and discuss and come up with a day to begin.  

There is a split between those who believe that the actual date should be when the moon is totally invisible and those who believe that the actual date should be when there is a sliver of a moon starting to show.  If you wonder what Muslims the world over fight over? It is stuff like this.

At any rate, the month has begun.  People have been stocking up and shopping and getting excited.  Food prices are creeping up.  We heard last week that even though it is a month of fasting, people actually eat more this month than usual.  They just eat it all at night.  The eat from dusk to dawn and don’t sleep and then work all day at their normal jobs.  By mid-July, they’re all a little fatigued.

We’ve been told that people just get a little bit squirrely with all the fasting and lack of sleep.  Sure enough I came home to a house that was just a tad bit off from usual.  Cloth napkins lying on the couch. Bathroom cleaning supplies still scattered on the floor.  Fried rice made with everything but the seasoning.  I don’t fault her.  She’s a mom and has probably been up since 2:30 AM cooking an early breakfast.

And here’s something I learned.  After everyone breaks their fast, the young march about the neighborhood banging drums and shouting and shooting off fireworks, entreating others to come to the mosque for the last prayers of the evening.  If this goes on nightly, it will be a long month for the dog.

I heard from my office staff that the last prayer of the day is a special one.  There is usually a special talk.  There is great debate about which mosque to go and who the best Imam is and which one makes you do and abbreviated 8 rounds of prayers instead of 23 rounds.  It’s too much up and down for many. They tried to explain, but I really don’t understand why it’s 23 instead of 24 or 20 or 25.  Something about perfection, but it was lost on me.

The other 10 or 12 percent of the population take a back seat here in Jakarta. Many restaurants close up during the day.  Those that stay open draw their curtains or put up a screen so as not to tempt any of the weak to eat.  We all try and eat respectfully.  There are hardliners who march about vigilante style trying to keep everyone holy.

It’s only been a few days. We’ll see how the month progresses.