Ramadan Kareem!
Ramadan is the annual fast required of Muslims which happens once every Hijri year (about 355 calendar days per Hijri year). This year Ramadan began on August 22 and will run through September 16th. During this time, the national law disallows any substance from passing the lips during daylight hours (currently the day runs from approx 3:30am to 6:30pm here in Saudi). This includes:
- Food of any kind.
- Liquid of any kind (no water, no coffee).
- Smoking.
As a byproduct, I have noticed that opening hours for establishments are even more staggered than usual. The official opening hours for my employer are 10am to 3:30pm. Every Saudi employee is gone at 3:31. However, work must go on – if somebody has business to do or work to finish, they will come back to the office after 9pm and work for another 4-5 hours. I’ve heard of formal meetings being held at 10:30pm without anybody batting an eyelid. I’ve been invited to a formal dinner with a law firm scheduled for 11pm!
No food-serving retailers open during the daylight hours, but they will typically be open after evening prayer at 6:30 through the early morning hours – expect anywhere from midnight to 2am. Clothing and other retail is open normally from about 1pm to 4pm and then about 9pm to 2am. Ironically, grocery stores seem to be open all the time. I’ve been told this is to accommodate the cooking process – food can be prepared and tasted (no swallowing!) prior to dusk but can only be imbibed after the fast opens.
Not only is it immoral to eat during the day, it is actually illegal here in Saudi. Remember that the governing law is the religious law, Shariah. This implies that you could be arrested and thrown in jail for drinking water in public (whether this holds in practice for non-Muslims, I can’t tell). This makes for a strange balance in the workplace for all Westerners and other non-fasters that want to survive the day. Often an office will incorporate a kitchen or some other closed area where employees are expected to lock themselves up prior to eating. Most importantly, as an expat here using any common sense you would not want to offend locals by breaking these specific rules in front of their face (even in the workplace).
There are exceptions. Youngsters do not fast – if a boy or girl is too young to wear the traditional dress (typically around puberty) then they are not required to fast either. If you have a condition that would require you to eat during the day – diabetes being a good example – it would actually be your duty NOT to fast. The same goes if you have contracted some illness that would be worsened by fasting. I have been told that if you do not do the full month of fasting, it is possible to make up the missed days throughout the year before the next fast.
Roads are multiplied in treacherousness immediately before the evening prayer. I’ve seen packs of 10-15 cars at a time running red lights and performing all sorts of dangerous maneuvers to try to get home in time for food. However, the upside is that after the mad rush, driving is a complete luxury! If I go home between 7-8pm, I can go miles and see no more than a handful of cars with me on the road.
