www.islamonline.net By Marwan Muhammad The sacred month of Ramadan inFrance does not have the special touch it has in Muslim countries, but we all try to make it special in our lives. There are no fanous (special lanterns) in the streets, and schools do not have a special program for Ramadan, except the few Muslim schools that have been set in the last few years. It is the parents' responsibility to educate their children and teach them the virtues and benefits of Ramadan. For Muslim children at school, fasting is an honor that distinguishes them in mental and physical strength from their non-Muslim schoolmates (at least that is what we used to say when we were children!).
Ramadan is more and more accepted in public schools in France, and some teachers now accept the idea that Muslim children spend `Eid Al-Fitr (feast following Ramadan) with their families instead of distractedly attending school on that same day. In some Muslim-majority districts, the whole place takes a Ramadan-like appearance, with restaurants and shops selling sweets during the day in preparation for the iftar (meal breaking the fast) and serving traditional North-African iftar when maghrib (sunset and time for breaking the fast) time comes. Chorba frik, harira, bricks, and tajines are the typical dishes served in areas like Barbès, Belleville, and Saint Denis.
Moroccan- and Algerian-styled bazaars in France sell special items during Ramadan, and people wait in line in front of butcheries to buy huge amounts of meat in preparation of sumptuous meals after maghrib. One could legitimately ask if this mass consumption feature is truthful to the real meaning of the sacred month of Ramadan? Especially that in Ramadan, each one of us should concentrate on what he or she really needs, remember the poor and the needy, and try more to focus on spiritual matters?
Ramadan Nights in Paris
Supermarkets seem to have found a financially advantageous answer to this question and have taken into account what they call the "specificity" of the Muslim community, by selling halal foods and sweets, and Islamic books in a fair-like area of their malls. It seems that commercial interests are here more important than the so-called laicism France has been keen on in the past few years. Orientalists and party-organizers have also found their own business during Ramadan, by instating what they call "Ramadan nights," where they have singers and dancers parade in a disco-like atmosphere, as if this kind of unacceptable events were part of the Ramadan rituals.
In the professional context, some brothers and sisters experience difficulties in publicly expressing their fasting for Ramadan, and business lunches for them are often the occasion of arguments and unprepared da`wah improvisations. In the mind of non-Muslims, Ramadan is still most often seen as an Islamic diet or part of the Arabian folklore, and it is frequent to get comments like "Ramadan is cool, it's good for your health!" or "You Muslims are good at organizing sumptuous dinners and feasts during Ramadan!" from colleagues, friends, or neighbor who totally miss the religious and spiritual aspects of this sacred month.
Ramadan in Paris is still a month of barakah (blessing) from Almighty Allah, and we all benefit so much from Allah's mercy and generosity, every time we share an iftar with our families or brothers and sisters in faith, every Tarawih Prayers during which we all stand together as one worshiping Allah, every suhur (meal eaten by Muslims before sunrise in preparation for the day-long fast till sunset) we take with the intention of fasting dutifully. It is important for each one of us to make the best of this blessed month from its very beginning and from each second of it, in order not to end up after `Eid Al-Fitr with the taste of regret of not having performed all the good deeds we could have and not having realized the beauty and the greatness of the gift Almighty Allah has given us in living Ramadan.
Ramadan kareem (Arabic for "happy Ramadan") from Paris to all our brothers and sisters worldwide!
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