salam 3alaikum -
first off, belated ramadan mubarak. i wanted to take a moment to write a bit about ramadan here in egypt.
the first note is that about the ambiance and overall mood – apartment buildings, masajid, and streets are all decorated for ramadan. cans of pepsi contain “ramadan mubarak” messages.
for those in the us, think of the overall ambiance around christmas time – it’s the same here during ramadan. in addition, you hear Quran almost everywhere you go – taxis and busses (which usually are either playing quran or music) are mostly playing Quran. the masajid are a lot more full. you’ll see people on trains reading Quran to pass time.
there is a lot of khair going on – “ma2idat ramadan,” or “ramadan tables,” provide food for the needy and the traveling during ramadan. the “shantet ramadan” (ramadan bag) project prepares a bag filled with rice and other necessary food items to feed a family and gives them to the needy.
many have told me that at iftar time, people walk around busy intersections and give food, dates, and water to those in their cars.
most masajid have taraweeh. friends have told me that some masajid have tahajjud from day 1.
anyhow – that’s it for now, insha’Allah will perhaps write more later.
walsalam 3alaikum.
yesterday after 3isha (friday) i attended the “writing of a book” (katb kitab, aka “nikkah,” aka “marriage contract,” aka “engagement”) of one of my friends (mahmoud) here in alexandria. the gathering was done at masjid 3omar ibn al khattab in alexandria. a few brothers gave short talks (islamic in nature – one brother was telling the unmarried people to “not worry about resources and get married because Allah provides” and quoted the hadeeth, etc), one brother read some Quran (some verses from surat al nur in 2 qira2at), etc.
the legal marriage paperwork was signed, and shortly thereafter, the ma2zoon (the person who is authorized to do the marriage) asked the guardians of both the bride and the groom repeat the words of marriage, sweets were given out, and that was it! afterwards, we took pictures with the groom and then left.
simple, but everyone had an awesome time. masha’Allah, i really like this model, and i look forward to mahmoud’s wedding insha’Allah! we tell mahmoud what the Prophet (saw) taught us to say (as reported by abu hurayrah (ra) in sunan abee dawuud):
أن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم كان إذا رفأ الإنسان إذا تزوج قال بارك الله لك وبارك عليك وجمع بينكما في خير
electricity is human too, you know. it works really hard, so it deserves a break. let the people walk up n flights of stairs (where 0 > n > 14) in the pitch dark. i asked someone at a store, “why is the electricity cut off in this entire area?” he said, “because the circuits get hot, so they turn off the electricity in one area for 1-2 hours every period of time to give the circuits a break.”
the return of the electricity was greeted with cheering that i could hear a good distance away.