Ramadan in Kuwait

Ramadan in Kuwait

by Sami Alrabaa

Muslims and Christians have something in common. Amazed? Carry on reading. Both are secularizing their religious festivities. The Christians are secularizing Christmas and Muslims are secularizing their Ramadan. How?

Three months before Christmas, the German markets, for example, are loaded Christmas confections. Stollen and ginger biscuits are for sale everywhere. Many people are already in search of Christmas presents for their loved ones. The closer Christmas is, the more hectic people get. Marlies says, “I really don’t know what to give my son and husband for Christmas. It is so difficult to find the right present. They have got everything.” She is now shopping for ideas. Her son and husband are doing the same.

Christmas, which marks the birth of a Prophet, Jesus Christ, who was sent by God to spread peace, mercy, and justice, is reduced to commerce, to tediously looking for suitable gifts for loved ones. The majority of Christians have forgotten the original meaning of Christmas and simply changed it into a mundane commercial practice. Many of those Christians who go to the church pray like parrots. They recite the message of Christ without pondering on its deep meaning. Maybe only the poor among Christians pray genuinely and find in Christ’s message a consolation in their miserable situation. They hope that on the Day of Judgment they would be rewarded for their endurance of hardship and deprivation. The well-off Christians have completely forgotten about Christ’s message. They are busy trying to live paradise on earth.

How about Muslims? They are not better off. The simple message of the fasting month is also ignored. In fact, fasting is a commandment that reminds us of how it feels to starve, how the poor live. At least once a year, Muslims are called upon to live like the poor, at least in terms of food. The majority of us Muslims act completely against the message of Ramadan. We have reduced Ramadan to a food festival, to a food fair. The amount of food consumed during Ramadan in most Muslim countries is doubled. We focus on food. We prepare and eat the most delicious, the richest and most conspicuous dishes. On top of that we work less and sleep most of the time. Especially in the affluent Arab Gulf countries, government employees in particular, go to work around 9 in the morning. Around noon they leave under the pretext, they would pray. They go home and sleep until fasting-break time. Someone who stuffs his stomach with all kinds of rich food, cannot feel hungry from Fajer (dawn) to noon. In other words, the majority fast for 4-5 hours. Hence no opportunity is left to feel how the poor feel around the year.

By the way, and because of overeating and lack of exercise, the number of stomach diseases and other diseases, especially diabetes, sky-rocket. Dr. Salem at Al Sabah Hospital says, “In Ramadan, people dump in their stomachs all kinds of food in tremendous quantities."
In addition, how many Muslims ponder over the rest of Ramadan message like have mercy on the poor, love your fellow humans, do not be selfish, act justly, etc.? It is in reality very small. Other than over-eating, very few principles of the message of Ramadan are observed despite warnings by preachers and physicians not to spend the holy month only overeating and sleeping. But who listens?

But of course, everybody is happy, it is Ramadan, certainly, very often, not for religious reasons. Students get shorter class schedules and government employees (90% of the Kuwaiti labour force) work fewer hours. Shortcomings and laziness are blamed on “fasting”.

The poor in Kuwait, largely expatriates, whether Muslims or otherwise, welcome Ramadan most. It is their sole opportunity to eat a decent meal over a whole month once a year. These meals are offered for free by charity organizations.

At the end of the day, who is the winner before Christmas and during Ramadan? Certainly manufacturers, producers, and traders. They enjoy huge amounts of profit over these “religious” festivities.

Losers are both Muslims and Christians. Christians reach Christmas stressed out and exhausted by their search for gifts and Muslims get sick and produce less. The spiritual aspects of their festivities are simply undermined. It is a pity!