Ramadan Bonanza

[NGONGE]

Ramadan's beginning to look a lot like . . .

By Hassan M. Fattah The New York Times WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2005

 

 

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- The decorations are hanging, the cash registers are clanging, and the air of holiday cheer is everywhere.

 

For a holy month, Ramadan is not what it used to be.

 

Once an ascetic month of fasting, prayer and reflection on God, Ramadan has gradually taken on the commercial trappings of Christmas and Hanukkah, straight from the hanging lights that festoon windows to the Ramadan greeting cards and Ramadan sales and advertising campaigns that have become the backbone of commerce for the month.

 

Marketers and businesses have caught on to the potential of 1.3 billion people at home fasting or breaking their daily fasts and getting back to normal life, a captive audience eager for entertainment and celebration, and more than willing to feast when the sun goes down.

 

Here in Dubai, the region's uber-mall, commercialism has taken on a life of its own as almost everything has been dressed in the cloak of Ramadan, from consumer goods to cars.

 

Malls are open until the early morning, and the nights rock away at dinner parties in desert tents.

 

"Ramadan is changing from a religious month to a cultural or social event," said Muhammad el-Kuwaiz, a Saudi management consultant based in Dubai. "You're using faith to commercialize something else. It doesn't feel right."

 

Sheik Ahmed Abdelaziz Haddad, grand mufti of Dubai's Islamic Affairs Department, puts it even more succinctly. "The problem isn't that people are trading and doing business," he said. "It's that people have taken this month to be a month of shopping."

 

Ramadan, the ninth month of the Muslim lunar calendar, is considered the holiest month of the year, a time of fasting, family and reflection.

 

It is during this month, Muslims believe, that the Prophet Muhammad received his first revelations of the Koran from the Archangel Gabriel.

 

From then on, Muslims have been ordered to forgo food, water and other worldly pleasures during the day for the entire month as a pillar of their faith, a sacrifice to show they have not forgotten God and the less fortunate.

 

The fast begins at dawn and lasts until sundown, with special prayers held in the evenings in an air of heightened spirituality and meditation.

 

The Ramadan commercialism is more conspicuous in Dubai and in cities like Cairo than in, say, Saudi Arabia.

 

But walk through many Arab cities this month, and the spirit may also move you to buy, buy and buy some more.

 

In Egypt, hotels and restaurants advertise Ramadan feasts while an advertising sweepstakes calls on people to read all 30 days of advertising to win a prize. In Beirut, worshipers hang colored lights that say "Ramadan Kareem," or blessed Ramadan.

 

A Mercedes ad in a Dubai newspaper plays on the theme of the crescent, a common Islamic symbol: "Welcome Ramadan with a visit to Gargash Enterprises and you'll soon be feeling over the moon."

 

Companies and political candidates campaigning for parliamentary elections next month in Egypt give away traditional Ramadan lanterns emblazoned with their names and company logos.

 

A Dubai shopping mall even features a Ramadan display with an uncanny resemblance to a Nativity scene, complete with moving camels, a village elder reading stories and a desert scene.

 

A program in Dubai offers a different twist, a 1 million dirham raffle - about $275,000 - with half the total going to local and international charities.

 

With those kinds of resources being brought to bear, it may be no wonder that many people are troubled by the creeping commercialism.

 

"It is supposed to be about spirituality, but it drives me crazy that it is all about food and banquets," said Naglaa Abdel Fattah, 30, a secretary in Cairo. "I do not feel the spirit of Ramadan anymore.

 

"I call my friend and all she talks about is the 10 dishes her family is preparing for iftar" - the breaking of the fast after sundown. "This is extravagant," Fattah said.

 

Haddad, of Dubai's Islamic Affairs Department, says Muslims who take the month lightly are doing themselves an eternal disservice.

 

"A Muslim who is focused on the worldly trade will miss the benefits he could get in the hereafter," he said. "What we see happening today in the commercialism of Ramadan is caused by Muslim ignorance of what is required of them to benefit their souls. God defined this month to save them and to protect their souls."

 

But Haddad's message seems increasingly unheeded in Dubai's malls and shopping arcades.

 

Many malls are closed from 2 to 6 p.m., or are empty because people actually slumber then. But they come to life after sundown, after many people feast, and they stay open until 2 a.m.

 

"Why can't religion and fun go hand in hand?" asked an Iraqi man who spoke on condition that his name not be used because of the sensitivity of religious matters. "You want to be part of it. The whole thing is one big celebration, and people enjoy it. There's nothing wrong with it."

 

But to Kuwaiz, the management consultant, and others, there is plenty wrong with it. "You're supposed to exercise abstinence, and the opposite happens," he complained. "Ramadan has become a month where people exercise gluttony."

 

Nada el Sawy in Dubai and Abeer Allam in Cairo contributed reporting for this article.

 

Source

[NGONGE]

French Supermarkets Sell Islamic Literature for Ramadan

By Lisa Bryant

Paris

11 October 2005

 

 

This Ramadan season, Muslims and non Muslims living in France can buy Islamic

 

literature in an unusual place: hypermarkets, or large supermarkets. From Paris, Lisa Bryant reports that some 150 of these large-scale stores, which sell everything from deck chairs to string beans, are now selling so-called Ramadan boxes full of Muslim books.

Go shopping at a Carrefour store in France this month and do not be surprised to find a Koran on sale alongside jams, coffees, and chairs. This major French chain store is among several across the country that are snapping up so-called Ramadan boxes, offering a collection of Islamic literature during Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting.

The boxes are the brainchild of Albouraq Editions, a Paris-based Muslim publishing house. Albouraq's 33-year-old head, Mansour Mansour, explains the thinking behind this new venture to tap mainstream distributors.

Mr. Mansour says his publishing house believes that during Ramadan people are especially interested in reading spiritual books on Islam, along with practical ones. But he also thinks that selling Islamic books in mainstream supermarket will also attract non-Muslim buyers and better help integrate Frances five-million-strong Muslim community, the largest in Europe.

Albouraq started testing its Islamic book initiative two years ago, tapping supermarkets in the Paris area. The response was good, Mr. Mansour said, so it began branching out to other regions in France.

Participating supermarkets, about 150 of them this year, get a so-called Ramadan box, with about 24 different Islamic books. Besides two different versions of the Koran, the box also includes books on Islamic history, the prophet Mohammed and practical books on the Muslim faith.

But the Ramadan marketing is only part of Albouraq's larger goal to make the Islamic religion more accessible, particularly to second-generation French Muslims.

When Mr. Mansour's family-owned publishing house opened, in 1992, he said a new generation of French-Muslims wanted access to Islamic literature, but written in French. That is because many second-generation Muslims, often ethnic North African Arabs, did not know how to speak and write Arabic. French converts to Islam also wanted to read the Koran and other Islamic works in French. With time, Albouraq also started branching out from selling its editions only at Islamic book shops to mainstream French book stores like FNAC.

Mr. Mansour says some non-Muslims are also snapping up Muslim books at the supermarkets this year. He thinks that is a good thing. He says after so much negative media attention on Islam, non-Muslims can read and learn about the many positive aspects of the Muslim religion.

 

Source

[Valenteenah.]

Interesting articles, NG.

 

I was talking about this with someone yesterday. Having been off from work since the beginning of Ramadan (today is my first day back at the office and it sucks), I have been on sole cooking and food-shopping duty for the last two weeks.

 

Would you believe it that the larger Tesco supermarkets now sell Halal meat as well as huge packs of dates during the month of Ramadan? Not only that, but they also stock big, fresh bunches of coriander leaves (like u would get in local markets) when all you could get before were packets of four puny leaves originating from Israel.

 

And why not? A huge number of Muslims live in London and it wouldn't hurt big chains to start catering for them. Yet at the same time, increased competition from the larger superstores would drive all the little Muslim Butchers/grocery shops out of the market.

 

What to do? Support your small local shops or settle for the convenience of getting ALL your shopping from one place?

[Pi]

Should we curse all those extravagant muslim countries too?

 

P.S. I'm looking for a Fatwa. Don't you worry.

[Baashi]

^No. We shouldn't curse anyone.

 

My take on this is why not. Why not have a thriving and halal biz going especially for the one of the biggest Islamic holidays. I'm for building the ciid hype up...actually I spiced it up so much for my kids sometimes I wonder if I can deliver their wishes.