Banging the drums in Ramadan

With Ramadan starting in a couple of days, you can feel the excitement mounting in preparation for the Holy Month of fasting.

In the UAE, the faithful are expected to start the dawn to dusk fast on Wednesday depending on the visual sighting of the crescent moon.

It is a month of spiritual reflection, improvement and increased devotion and worship.

Ramadan also inculcates such virtues as self-discipline, self-control, sacrifice and empathy for those who are less fortunate. It encourages acts of generosity and compulsory charity or zakat.

Daytime life slows down considerably during Ramadan and most expats leave the Emirates, especially as the Holy Month has been in the summer for the past few years.

But after iftar -- or breaking of the fast – at sunset and the special Taraweeh prayers at the mosque, everyone is out and about until suhoor, the meal just before dawn.

I find the Taraweeh magical and usually rush home after work at 9 pm to sit in the garden and follow them from the mosque next door. (See Ramadan Taraweeh: A 14-century legacy).

The Taraweeh are special prayers featuring recitations of the Quran after 'Isha (the last evening prayer). They are performed at the mosque, where the congregation prays and listens to passages from the Quran.

About a thirtieth of the Qur'an is recited each evening so that by the end of the blessed month, the entire Holy Book would have been completed.

Attending Taraweeh in congregation at the mosque after 'Isha is recommended but non-compulsory. They are a very popular and anticipated feature of the day.

Although I don’t observe Ramadan, it is still a month that holds great memories accumulated over the years.

Ramadan is all about the spirit of giving and communal gatherings, whether with friends or participating with family.

Every year I look forward to writing these Ramadan posts and you can read some past ones from the links below.

This year I was looking back on my time in Sidi Bou Said (Tunisia) and Beirut, when we used to wake up to the M’tabbel or M’sahhir – the Ramadan drummer that is.

Just before dawn, Muslims observe suhoor -- the pre-fast meal – followed by the fajr prayer, the first of the day.

In times gone by, the Ramadan drummers would walk the streets, beating their drums to wake people up in time for suhoor. It is a tradition that dates back to the Ottoman Empire and is dying away with the onset of technology.

Urban living and high-rise buildings make it more difficult for the drummer to be heard. In some places it is considered noise pollution. It is also thought that with mobile phones and alarm clocks, there is no danger of sleeping through suhoor.

But we used to look forward to the M’tabbel passing through the neighborhood.

He was known to most residents and often survived through the tips he was given at the end of the Holy Month for Eid.

The M’tabbel would walk the streets, often joined by children and would beat his drum three times every couple of houses while chanting. He was invariably invited to share people’s suhoor, a cup of tea or juice at one home or another because he wouldn’t get back to his own in time.

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar and its annual observance is one of the five pillars of Islam considered obligatory by believers and the foundation of Muslim life: belief, worship, charitable giving, fasting during the month of Ramadan and the pilgrimage to Mecca for Hajj at least once in a lifetime.

The pillars are mentioned in the Quran and summarized in the famous hadith of the Angel Gabriel. The hadith attributed to Abu Hurairah (Sahih al-Bukhari, 1:2:48) goes like this:

One day while the Prophet (PBUH) was sitting in the company of some people, (The Angel) Gabriel came and asked, "What is faith?" Allah's Apostle replied, “Faith is to belief in Allah, His angels, (the) meeting with Him, His Apostles, and to believe in Resurrection."

Then he further asked, "What is Islam?" Allah's Apostle replied, "To worship Allah Alone and none else, to offer prayers perfectly, to pay the compulsory charity (zakat) and to observe fasts during the month of Ramadan."

Then he further asked, "What is Ihsan (perfection)?" Allah's Apostle replied, "To worship Allah as if you see Him, and if you cannot achieve this state of devotion then you must consider that He is looking at you."

Then he further asked, "When will the Hour be established?" Allah's Apostle replied, "The answerer has no better knowledge than the questioner. But I will inform you about its portents.

• “When a slave (lady) gives birth to her master.
• “When the shepherds of black camels start boasting and competing with others in the construction of tall buildings. And the Hour is one of five things which nobody knows except Allah.”

The Prophet then recited: "Verily, with Allah (Alone) is the knowledge of the Hour." (31.34)

Then that angel (Gabriel) left and the Prophet asked his companions to call him back, but they could not see him. Then the Prophet said, "That was Gabriel who came to teach the people their religion."

Abu Abdullah said: He (the Prophet) considered all that as a part of faith.

Are there still, I wonder, Ramadan drummers waking the faithful for suhoor?

Are there any in Dubai that we could join on their route?

I wish my readers who will be fasting a Ramadan Kareem and syam ma2boul.

Related Ramadan posts:

Awaiting Ramadan's Laylat al-Qadr -- August 11, 2012

Ramadan Taraweeh: A 14-century legacy -- July 27, 2012

Glorifying Virgin Mary in Ramadan -- August 15, 2011

Vimto perks up Ramadan in Dubai -- August 4, 2011

Don't miss on dates in Ramadan -- July 28, 2011

Ramadan in Dubai -- August 18, 2010

Ramadan Taraweeh: A 14-century legacy

What captures me most during the Holy Month of Ramadan is the Taraweeh.

These are special prayers featuring recitations of the Qur'an after 'Isha (the last evening prayer).

From the Arabic word meaning rest and relax, the Taraweeh are long prayers, sometimes lasting over an hour. They are performed at the mosque, where the congregation prays and listens to passages from the Qur'an.

After each cycle -- standing, bowing, prostrating -- one sits for a period of rest before continuing, hence the name rest prayer or Taraweeh.

About a thirtieth of the Qur'an is recited each evening so that by the end of the blessed month, the entire Holy Book would have been completed.

Attending Taraweeh in congregation at the mosque after 'Isha is recommended but non-compulsory. They are a very popular and anticipated feature of the day.

Tradition says the Prophet Mohammad [PBUH] initially prayed the Taraweeh in congregation for three consecutive nights but discontinued this practice out of fear that it would be made mandatory, rather than Sunnah.

According to a hadith:

The Prophet [PBUH] took a room made of date palm leaves mats in the mosque. Allah's Apostle prayed in it for a few nights till the people gathered (to pray the night prayer, Taraweeh, behind him). Then on the fourth night the people did not hear his voice and they thought he had slept, so some of them started humming hoping he might come out.

The Prophet then said,

"You continued doing what I saw you doing till I was afraid that this (Taraweeh prayer) might be enjoined on you, and if it were enjoined on you, you would not continue performing it. Therefore, O people! Perform your prayers at your homes, for the best prayer of a person is what is performed at his home except the compulsory (congregational) prayer." [Sahih Bukhari -- Volume 9, Book 92, Number 393, narrated by Zaid ibn Thabit. Also see Hadith No. 229, Vol. 3 and Hadith No. 134, Vol. 8]

Under the second caliphate of Omar ibn al-Khattab, praying the Taraweeh in congregation was reinstated. A hadith by Sahih Bukhari, narrated by Abu Huraira states:

Allah's Apostle said, "Whoever prayed at night the whole month of Ramadan out of sincere Faith and hoping for a reward from Allah, then all his previous sins will be forgiven." Ibn Shihab (a sub-narrator) said, "Allah's Apostle died and the people continued observing that (i.e. Nawafil offered individually, not in congregation), and it remained as it was during the Caliphate of Abu Bakr and in the early days of Omar's Caliphate." Abderrahman bin Abdulqari said, "I went out in the company of Omar ibn al-Khattab one night in Ramadan to the mosque and found the people praying in different groups, a man praying alone or a man praying with a little group behind him. So, Omar said, 'In my opinion I would better collect these (people) under the leadership of one qari (reciter, to pray in congregation)'. So, he made up his mind to congregate them behind Ubai bin Ka'ab. Then on another night I went again in his company and the people were praying behind their qari. On that, Omar remarked, 'What an excellent bid'a (innovation in religion) this is; but the prayer which they do not perform, but sleep at its time is better than the one they are offering.' He meant the prayer in the last part of the night. (In those days) people used to pray in the early part of the night."

Cars in front of a mosque in Umm Suqeim during Taraweeh

In Dubai this fasting month, all the mosques are packed with men, women and children participating in the nightly prayers. There are often dates, juices and water on offer, usually donated to the congregation by neighbors or patrons of the mosque.

The Ramadan night only starts after the Taraweeh, when at around 10 p.m. Dubai time, people head to visit their families and friends, join majlis gatherings, make their way to the malls, or head to Ramadan tents and restaurants in order to pass time until Suhur (the meal consumed before daybreak and the beginning of the fast).

Listening to the Taraweeh in my garden

I live right next to a mosque and rush home after work at 9 p.m., sit out in the garden to join in these prayers and try to connect as much as possible.

Although my Arabic is not good enough to follow all the recitations, it is still a time to pray, reflect, give thanks and participate.