It is now 8:30 on March 11, 2024. A most unusual day. This is not the Ramadan I knew and loved. A quiet, solitary, purposeful, dedicated, lonely time. I am surrounded by sociable Muslims.
Scores of people were saying:
They: I want to breakfast with you.
Me: Well I guess we could work something out with the hotel.
Finally, and at last, in a conversation last night with Zero found the true meaning.
He: I want to break fast with you.
Me: How is that possible. I do not really eat breakfast during Ramadan.
He: No. I mean break fast.
Me: Oh! You mean Iftar?
He: I did not think you knew the Arabic word.
Me: (laughing) Some things I know. Admittedly not many.
A similar text conversation with AF1
Me: The hotel looking beautiful decorated with many lights. But I do not understand the customs. Buffet between 12-3? I can choose between the buffet or breakfast at 6:30-10.
He: That is for Sahur or meal before fasting. There should be one earlier for breakfast between 5:30 and 7:30.
Me: I now know about the break fast meal (Iftar I think) but I though Sahur \ was between Fajr and sunrise. Silly me, The Ramadan according to Alexis had those hours. When in Rome do as the Romans hahaha Or when at the Hilton do as the Hill tons do. Hahaha
He Shout before the call for fajr prayer. Emsak or withholding food is as Fajir Alan is called.This is true in all Islamic countries.
Me: Never been in one before but I am a fast learner. Thanks Father.
Phone rang, it was him, we laughed at my strange and silly ways. Decided I would go to sleep for awhile, wake up for Sahur later.
That is what I did, woke at 220. Got dressed to find the room exquisitely decorated. There were three choices for the main course with appetizers and salads, not the usual buffet but service.. The food was delicious. There were few people, all men.
I had brought my Fasting in Islam library book with me, learning more. It was one of those rules, rules, rules books, but a more learned version. I will give you some examples (some admittedly chosen for their unlikelihood) The book poses several questions, supplying the answers. Here is an example. What actions do not invalidate the fast?
- Having a bath after dawn following a wet dream or marital relations at night.
- Coloring the eyelids or using Kohl
- Unintentional inhalation of cigarette smoke.
- If you see or weak or elderly person forgetfully ear or drink something is better not to remind them of this.
- Ejaculation of semen as a result of looking at or thinking of about someone without physical contact
.Many of the answers seem like common sense. I have one for them.
Me: I had a dream during the night. In the dream I was at a conference, forgot that it was Ramadan and had lunch with other attendees. Does this invalidate the fast?
Book: No You did not intend to break the fast and you did not because you wee sleeping. Honestly I had that dream. I was so relieved to wake finding myself in a hotel but not attending a conference.
I have decided to turn day into night, trying to sleep in the hours between Fajr prayer and Dhuhr prayer. All of my assumptions about the of the essence of Ramadan have been altered. This is very difficult to understand, much less to explain. This now seems like, not my fourth Ramadan, but my first. My preconceived plans have no meaning.
Later yesterday afternoon, in the lobby of the hotel waiting for Zero, I wrote my Intentions for Ramadan in the my Ithra notebook. The cover is perfect – the structure of the buildings remind me of Diriyah – the orb can either be the sun or a dome. It is a lined notebook making handwriting or printing easier. Lines add order. This will be a Ramadan like none other for so many reasons – perhaps I shall add or subtract an Intention or two or three.
This Ramada unlike any prior ones in this rather simple way. Yesterday received SO many Ramadan Kareem and Ramadan Mubarak. These are Arabic sayings that translate to “blessed Ramadan” and “generous Ramadan”. People are most generous in their offerings of a blessed Ramadan. I suddenly realize that I had not sent greetings to my Malaysian sister. Just did it, now it is done. But will take a break from writing and send one to all of my Muslim WhatsAppers. There is a lovely GIF. That and a brief caption makes it easy.
There is is done! It was such fun and so interesting to do. Heard from an old dear Riyadh friend who has a prized job with the Ministry of Sorts. Alhamdullah.
.
Just now, when writing, I received a WhatsApp message
He: Hi Alexis. It was great having that breakfast with you my last day at the Hilton.
Me: Me too. So wonderful to hear from you on this first day of Ramadan. A delicious surprise.
It is surprising. So many people, scores actually, say that they will be in touch and never follow through. They fell off the face of the earth, the phrase just came to me. Looked up scores to find it has multiple meaning. These are the synonyms of my usage: a great many, crowds, droves, armies, hordes, throngs, legions, multitudes, a swarms, umpteen, loads, masses, scads, heaps, zillions, gazillions, gobs. There are more synonym scores that you can shake a stick at. It seem that umpteen, hordes, legions and multitudes say:
They: I will be in touch what is your number?
Well they do not, for many meaningless reasons. But this I have come to understand. This is it. I write this blog, that I how I stay in touch. I have done my part – you of the silent majority, that that fell off the face of the earth. Oops! Two more idiom explanations are in order.
Fall off the face of the earth means to disappear completely. When you say this about someone, you imply that you haven’t seen or heard from them in a long time. They have, essentially, disappeared, or they are not making contact. They seemed to vanish
Wikipedia tell us that;
The silent majority is an unspecified large group of people in a country or group who do not express their opinions publicly.[1] The term was popularized by U.S. President Richard Nixon in a televised address on November 3, 1969, in which he said, “And so tonight—to you, the great silent majority of my fellow Americans—I ask for your support.”[2][3] In this usage it referred to those Americans who did not join in the large demonstrations against the Vietnam War at the time, who did not join in the counterculture, and who did not participate in public discourse. Nixon, along with many others, saw this group of Middle Americans as being overshadowed in the media by the more vocal minority.Preceding Nixon by half a century, it was employed in 1919 by Calvin Coolidge‘s campaign for the 1920 presidential nomination. Before that, the phrase was used in the 19th century as a euphemism referring to all the people who have died, and others have used it before and after Nixon to refer to groups of voters in various nations of the world.
This ended up funny, rare in Wikipedia, Enten described that Trump’s support fits better with the term “loud minority”, based on the fact that he never hit 50% in any live interview opinion poll throughout his presidency.”
I found “loud minority” rather funny. I guess that is just me.
This first day of Ramadan is now at at a close. It is definitely the best I have ever had. It is now 12:17 a.m. and I am eating my second Sahur. It is absolutely delicious. Tonight it is a buffet. I shall take a photo of the salad buffet and your will see what I mean. It is most quiet. I just took the photos You will see what I mean! In my usual fashion I have chatted up the people here finding a woman from Turkey, and a couple recently married. She is from the Philippines, he from Egypt. The owner of the home is here, a prestigious, calm and centered man dressed at this hour casual Western clothes. He is eating with a friend of his, it appears.
I communicated further with the man who surprisingly WhatsApped me, the men met previously at this hotel This was our last conversation.
Me: Its great chatting with you. You did make it to the blog.
He: Oh my. I am honored.
Me: I could send you an advance email if I have your email address or you can wait until it Is hot off the presses to use an old newspaper term. Being old has its advantages as I remember things like that. But that’s about it with the advantages. Hahaha
He: Looking forward to it. (Sending his email address).
Me: I am motivated. (Sending him a funny GIF)
Later I fell asleep briefly, then became lost in correspondence with several people.
Me: Oops. Did not finish. Now is Sahur. Will send what I have in a few minutes then you can wait for the Final Edition.
He: No rush, take your time,
Me: It is almost done. Food helped the creative process. Hahaha
Photos will include a photo of the salad buffer, one of the fruit and dessert buffet. Then a photo of me and a wonderful woman originally from the Philippines – now living nearby with her husband originally from Egypt. We had the greatest chat. The photographer is being honored. His name too long to write, so I took a picture of his name badge. He may have a new career as a Royal photographer. He calls me Queen.
A Saudi man, his wife and two young children arrived, beautifully dressed for Ramadan. The little girl in a dress with crescent moons, her brother in a thobe. I congratulated them on their lovely family – we spoke of many things. The little girl tugged at her father, speaking Arabic.
He translated: Why are you talking to her and not to me?
Me: Oops! I will give you back your Dad, bye now.
The little boy had Arab hair. I received permission to pat him on the head. I do love Arab men’s hair – the opposite of mine. Theirs black, wavy and curly: mine white and straight. You always want what you cannot have. But come to think of it I look rather silly with black, thick, wavy hair.
