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RAMADAN IN BAGHDAD

October 09, 2006 1:24 PM

The Muslim world is in the middle of Ramadan, a period of fasting and self-reflection aimed at cleansing the body and the soul.  But while cities throughout the Middle East have overflowing mosques during the day and crowded restaurants after dark, sadly in Baghdad Ramadan has a different face, due to the ongoing violence.  Baghdadis have even had to give up their traditional Ramadan game, Mihaibis, or ‘hunt the ring.’

The normal daily rhythm of Ramadan is for people to be woken at about 3 o’clock in the morning by the mesaharaty, a man who wanders through the neighborhood beating a drum.  People eat a meal, and then the muezzin at the local mosque call them to morning prayer, at which time the fast begins.  In the Koran the timing of this is meant to be when it gets light enough to distinguish between a white and a black thread.  During daylight hours the observant are not allowed to eat, drink, smoke or have sex.  Children who haven’t reached puberty, travelers and the sick are exempt.  At sunset the fast is broken with the iftar feast, usually a loud and festive affair with many platters heaped with food. 

Restaurants and cafes stay open all night in many cities during Ramadan, and it is customary to travel around visiting friends and relatives, bringing, of course, gifts of food and sweets.

However in Baghdad the number of people attending mosques has been sharply reduced by the threat of violent attacks against the mosques and their vicinities.  One friend who lives near the large Um al-Qurra (Mother of Villages) mosque in Ghazaliyah in western Baghdad says that before during Ramadan the rows of praying men would flow out of the hall and even into the streets.  Now there are only one or two rows at the front of the hall.  At one stage the imams in the mosque actually advised people not to come because they were concerned about their safety.

Restaurants are as empty as the mosques – few people dare to go out after dark, and the curfew starts at 9 pm, so the restaurants and cafes that used to be crowded across Baghdad until the early hours of the morning during Ramadan are now all closed.

And then there is  Mihaibis, a game that Baghdadis traditionally play during Ramadan.  Two teams face off, and one side is given a ring.  One of the team holds the ring in his fist, the other players clench empty fists.  A member of the opposing team walks down the line of the men with outstretched fists and stares each one in the eye, trying to work out who is holding the ring.  The team with the ring try to keep totally impassive, expressionless faces – while the onlookers are hooting with laughter at the spectacle.

Before the war this game was often played by teams from different neighborhoods in the city, some Sunni and some Shia, who mixed with each other quite happily.  It is a sad sign of Baghdad today that such interaction between communities is now virtually unthinkable.  The only big mihaibis games now are conducted in the safety of the Iraqia television studios and broadcast into peoples’ homes, where they can watch it without going outside, remembering better days when the game brought the city together.  How far this city, once one of the proudest in the Middle East, has fallen…

October 9, 2006 | Permalink | User Comments (1)

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Posted by: Marwan | Oct 9, 2006 4:18:36 PM

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