Time seems to often fly, so when I
saw several shops stocking up on extra dates, I didn’t immediately realize
that is was almost Ramadan again. In the West, we often race to do this, and
race to do that; it almost seems as if the clock runs faster than in some other
places around the world. But as soon as Ramadan had indeed started, it was
clear; everyone wishing each other “Ramadan Mubarak,” and sharing
understanding nods to indicate that “we are also fasting.” Ramadan seems to
unite us more.
Religiously, the Muslim community
in the UK
is obviously one community, but culturally it is very easy to find roots in at
least twenty countries. People with ancestry in countries from Albania
to Turkey,
from the Arab world to the Indian subcontinent, and also, of course, home-bred
ancestors for most of the converts. What does that mean for the way the Muslim
community spends Ramadan? Are customs more rooted in the culture of their roots
or the culture of the country they now call home?
Looking around and asking around,
it is interesting to see Muslims in the UK choosing to, for instance, wear the
headscarf in so many different ways, the Somali way, the Pakistani way, the
Egyptian way…beautiful! These differences in appearance continue with
preferences in food. For iftar (meal to break the fast) most Muslims eat foods
popular in the country of their ancestry, that is the Bangladeshi community make
their favorite fish and rice dishes, the Pakistani community eats samosas and
chicken curry, and the Arabs enjoy their kebab and baklava, to name but a few.
With typical British dishes like the pork chop or bacon being haram
(prohibited by Allah) and all kinds of “exotic” vegetables being widely
available due to the size of the Muslim community, it seems an easy choice what
to cook for sahur
(meal before fasting) and iftar.
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The cultural differences in appearance continue with preferences in food
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Several shops and mosques in Muslim
areas give out free Ramadan calendars during this holy month with Prayer times,
and they sometimes include the time for the end of sahur.
The challenge is that these timetables sometimes differ by up to five minutes
when indicating the end of the fast. Although most people would choose to follow
the timetable of their local or preferred mosque, some people play it safe and
wait until the latest mentioned time to break their fast. Especially for
converts, who usually don’t have a community mosque, it can be somewhat
confusing as to what time to use.
Perhaps, as much of the Muslim community is relatively
young, Muslims do not always go to their closest mosque for Tarawih Prayers
during Ramadan, but to a mosque which will give the khutbah
(sermon/speech) in their preferred language. With such a large and diverse
Muslim community, there are several languages to choose from. Those that prefer
the khutbah in
Urdu might go to Central Mosque, those that prefer the khutbah
in Arabic might go to the Amanah Mosque. As we’re in the UK, the khutbas will often be followed by a summary in
English. And as more and more of the younger generations have English as their
first language, I hope the Muslim community in the UK will not only be one religious community, but also
more of one cultural community: One British Muslim community taking the best of
all the diverse cultures. During these days of Ramadan, you can feel the unity
that bit extra, when total strangers say as-salamu `alaykum that bit more often to each
other.
Rianne
C. ten Veen is IslamOnline.net correspondent in Birmingham, UK.
Currently, she is an employee in Islamic Relief. You can reach her at riannetv@mail.com
