Source: WAM 22nd June 2010
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The Muslim's fasting month of Ramadan will start on Wednesday, 11th August 2010, and the Eid Ul Fitr will fall on Friday, 10th September 2010, according to a UAE astronomer.
Ibrahim Al Jarwan, Astronomy Researcher and Supervisor of Sharjah Planetarium, said the crescent moon of the holy month of Ramadan will be astronomically born on Tuesday, 10th August 2010, at 7:08 am (UAE time) and will disappear after sun set on the same day and Wednesday will the first day of Ramadan.
''The crescent moon of Shawwal will be born on Wednesday 8th September, at 2:30 am local time and sink down 14 minutes before sun set.
''It's impossible to sight the crescent by naked eye at that day and therefore Friday (10th September) will be the first day of Shawwal,''he said.
Citing astronomical calculations, he added that this year's summer season will begin on 22nd June and end on 23rd September but it will start on 21st June in the UAE at 3:28 pm when the sun is directly overhead on the Tropic of Cancer.
Showing posts with label Ramadan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ramadan. Show all posts
Tuesday, 22 June 2010
Thursday, 6 August 2009
Preparing for Ramadan in Dubai
Ramadan '09 is expected to commence around 21 or 22 August. For followers of Islam, this is a month of fasting, prayer and reflection. Discretion is exercised as to who fasts; the expectation is that all Muslims will fast with the exception of young children (the very broad cut-off point is about 12 years old/puberty), the sick and elderly, the insane, travellers, pregnant or nursing women, and those who are fighting in battle. Just being elderly is considered insufficient reason not to fast but being elderly and sick is; some pregnant women fast, some don’t; some young children want to participate with their older siblings and will be allowed to fast for part of each day or maybe one full day each week; faced with the challenges of changing time zones some Muslims who are required to travel regularly over Ramadan give to charity during the holy month and then complete the 30 days of fasting later in the year.For expats and visitors to the UAE, the most noticeable change during the month of Ramadan is that eating, drinking or smoking in public is forbidden, including in your car. The food courts in the malls are closed during daylight hours but reopen after evening prayer and remain open until late. (The local Maccas near Spinneys in Bur Dubai stays open until 3am!) Some restaurants are open during the day but cover their windows with curtains or sheets of newspaper so diners can't be seen from the street. Hotels still offer dining facilities to guests but its limited to areas that are hidden from public view or room service. There is no background music at all in many malls during Ramadan while in others recitations from the Qur'an are played over the PA. In the gym there's no background music or videos shown and if you need a drink of water while you're working out, you go into the change rooms and take it discretely.
Nightclubs are closed for the month as are all the alcohol outlets including Barracuda and The Hole in the Wall. Supermarkets are unaffected and last year lolly barrows in the malls were still open but purchases can’t be eaten in public.
For Muslims who are fasting, the day begins with an early meal called suhour which, depending on prayer time, may be as early as 4am. This is followed by the early morning prayer (Fajr). The faithful fast during daylight hours each day of the month. The fast is broken each evening at sundown. In the early days of Islam one of the Fatimid caliphs decreed that the end of the day's fasting should be announced by the firing of a cannon which could be heard all over the local area. The cannon was introduced to Dubai during the rule of Sheikh Saeed Al Maktoum (1912-1958) to regulate the timing of the call for iftar. To keep the tradition alive, each year the Dubai Police have placed cannons in Al Musalla, Al Ras, Karama Musalla and Al Safa Park which are fired every evening to announce iftar. There are differences within the Emirates; while Sharjah also uses the cannons and had 10 in use in 2008, the Emirate of Abu Dhabi has never introduced the practice. People gather to watch the cannons firing before going to the mosque for the Maghrib (evening) prayer.
The day's fast is broken initially with something light, often exactly seven dates as was the practice of The Prophet (pbuh) along with some laban (drinking yoghurt). The evening prayer is followed by a meal called iftar. Across the Muslim world iftar, which is served as a buffet, is the opportunity for families, neighbours and friends to get together, enjoy the meal, play board games or just relax and chat. In homes, hotels and restaurants iftar has also become an important social event for expats. Many hotels construct special “iftar tents” (or “Ramadan tents”) where customers can get a feel for the tradition of community. Each evening during Ramadan the tents fill with families, friends and workmates both Muslim and non-Muslim enjoying the iftar meal together. Many businesses hold iftars for clients and news of which hotels are giving the season's best iftars circulates quickly. While loud music is banned during Ramadan, many iftar tents have an oud player quietly playing classic Arabic music in the background.
During Ramadan, by law, working hours in the UAE are reduced to 6 hours a day whether the employee is Muslim or not.
This article from the Gulf News gives advice on the healthy approach to fasting.
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A dietician advises those fasting during Ramadan to eat a breakfast high in fibre during the pre-dawn suhour so that it will stay in the stomach for longer and hunger pangs will be delayed.
Foods from each of the five food groups should be eaten during suhour, said Dr Anjali Bange, dietician at Welcare Hospital. "It should leave you feeling satisfied," she said.
Bran flakes or whole meal bread are a good source of fibre. Fibre digests slowly, taking up to eight hours, while other foods may be digested in just three to four hours. Other sources of fibre include vegetables such as green peas, spinach, marrow, fruit with skin and dried fruit such as apricots, figs and prunes as well as almonds.
The dietician also warned that those who will be fasting should eat in moderation, rather than stuffing themselves because they know they will be going hungry for between eight to 10 hours during the daylight hours of the fast.
Besides the religious significance of fasting during Ramadan, abstaining from food helps detoxify the body, Anjali said.
"It helps in improving your immunity. Your skin looks better and you feel more energetic as the digestive system cleans up," she explained.
Fasting also helps to develop willpower and stave off a number of ailments, such as chronic stomach ache, inflammation of the colon, obesity and high blood pressure.
People are generally recommended to drink about eight to 10 glasses of water every day, and when you are fasting you should try to drink a further two glasses, the dietician said. This can be done by drinking tea and fruit juices or eating soups or fruit with a high water content, such as watermelon.
However, doctors warn that tea makes you pass more urine, stripping the body of mineral salts that are needed during the day.
Those ending their fast during iftar are advised to take it easy and not to eat the wrong types of foods.
"People should try not to eat large quantities of fried foods, such as samosas and fried chicken," Anjali said.
According to Islamic injunctions, the suhour and iftar must be observed to avoid prolonged fasting that might harm the bodies of those observing Ramadan.
Healthy tips
What you should do - Eat high-fibre foods during suhour - vegetables such as green peas, spinach and marrow, fruits with skin and dried fruit such as apricots, figs and prunes, as well as nuts. - Drink up to 12 glasses of water a day. This can also be achieved by drinking fruit juices, consuming soup or by eating fruit with a high water content (e.g. watermelon).- Eat foods from the five food groups.
What you should not do - Drink too much tea during suhour. Tea makes you pass more urine, stripping the body of mineral salts that are needed during the day. - Eat too much fast food at iftar, such as samosas or fried chicken. - Over-eat when ending the fast.
Foods from each of the five food groups should be eaten during suhour, said Dr Anjali Bange, dietician at Welcare Hospital. "It should leave you feeling satisfied," she said.
Bran flakes or whole meal bread are a good source of fibre. Fibre digests slowly, taking up to eight hours, while other foods may be digested in just three to four hours. Other sources of fibre include vegetables such as green peas, spinach, marrow, fruit with skin and dried fruit such as apricots, figs and prunes as well as almonds.
The dietician also warned that those who will be fasting should eat in moderation, rather than stuffing themselves because they know they will be going hungry for between eight to 10 hours during the daylight hours of the fast.
Besides the religious significance of fasting during Ramadan, abstaining from food helps detoxify the body, Anjali said.
"It helps in improving your immunity. Your skin looks better and you feel more energetic as the digestive system cleans up," she explained.
Fasting also helps to develop willpower and stave off a number of ailments, such as chronic stomach ache, inflammation of the colon, obesity and high blood pressure.
People are generally recommended to drink about eight to 10 glasses of water every day, and when you are fasting you should try to drink a further two glasses, the dietician said. This can be done by drinking tea and fruit juices or eating soups or fruit with a high water content, such as watermelon.
However, doctors warn that tea makes you pass more urine, stripping the body of mineral salts that are needed during the day.
Those ending their fast during iftar are advised to take it easy and not to eat the wrong types of foods.
"People should try not to eat large quantities of fried foods, such as samosas and fried chicken," Anjali said.
According to Islamic injunctions, the suhour and iftar must be observed to avoid prolonged fasting that might harm the bodies of those observing Ramadan.
Healthy tips
What you should do - Eat high-fibre foods during suhour - vegetables such as green peas, spinach and marrow, fruits with skin and dried fruit such as apricots, figs and prunes, as well as nuts. - Drink up to 12 glasses of water a day. This can also be achieved by drinking fruit juices, consuming soup or by eating fruit with a high water content (e.g. watermelon).- Eat foods from the five food groups.
What you should not do - Drink too much tea during suhour. Tea makes you pass more urine, stripping the body of mineral salts that are needed during the day. - Eat too much fast food at iftar, such as samosas or fried chicken. - Over-eat when ending the fast.
Monday, 1 September 2008
The First Iftar of 2008
The first day of Ramadan ends and we have been to iftar at the Khan Murjan at Wafi. The restaurant is large and in a courtyard open to the sky which was clear with only a couple of stars. The restaurant was a bit quiet as I guess many people will spend the first iftars at home with family and will go out later in the month. The food at the Khan Murjan buffet was delicious, starting with 3 types of soup then starters, a wide range of mains and fresh fruit to finish. There were a few interesting Lebanese specialities including stuffed baby marrows in a cheese sauce with toasted pita bread at the bottom, can't remember what its called. Anyone know? Nadia? And of course shisha ruled by the end of the evening.
I'd recommend the Khan Murjan both for the food and for the interesting setting and atmosphere though unfortunately its so incredibly hard to find. Go to the new part of Wafi, find Pauls and take the 'down' escalator directly in front of Pauls. This takes you into the souk and you just have to wander round and you'll find the restaurant. The souk's been really well done, lots of alley ways and little shops but its not cheap unfortunately. The souk is over two levels and there are a number of shops selling gorgeous Bahraini dress and abayas and lots of other places selling art work and there's lots of other interesting stuff to look at.
Sunday, 31 August 2008
Sunday, 24 September 2006
Ramadan begins
It’s the first day of Ramadan today. We got an email on Thursday evening to say that the firm is allowing all staff, Muslim and non-Muslim, to work 9:30am to 3:30pm each work day during Ramadan with no reduction in pay. Realistically I won’t be leaving early if my boss is still working though but if I have a few early marks during the month when I can go to the beach that’ll be nice. Ramadan Kareem Nadia!
What a grand and glorious game yesterday, though as usual the Swans made the red and white faithful suffer in the process. As I was out of Dubai I’d taken my laptop hoping that there’d be a wireless network I could get into so I could listen to the Triple M webcast. No luck unfortunately so I was phoning my kids every half hour - if I could wait a whole 30 minutes - for score updates. In the evening we went to watch the replay at Aussie Legends, a bar in Rydges Hotel. Of course nobody will be surprised to hear that I have my Swans scarf, hat and tee shirt with me (you'd be surprised if I didn't). The Grand Final will be on live at Legends at 9:30am Dubai time on Saturday morning and then, depending on the result, I’ll spend the rest of the day being unbearably happy watching the replays, or unbearably depressed, despondent and possibly drinking gin.
I was at the Hatta Hotel while the game was on. Hatta is near the Omani border and Colin had taken me down there so I could do what’s known here as a visa run. Until I have Dubai residency I use 30 day or 60 day visitor visas which means that, like a huge number of other temporary residents in Dubai, I have to leave the country when the current visa is close to expiry and then re-enter to get a new visa. To do the visa run many people drive or fly to Oman, others fly to Qatar and Colin’s flatmates fly to a small island off the coast of Iran. My most recent visa says quite clearly in English “Valid for 30 days from date of issue” which meant we had to do the run this weekend as the 30 days expired on 25 Sept.
The Omani border is about 2 hours drive from Dubai. We drove down Friday morning and went through the procedure of exiting the UAE through their border post which looks like a handful of portacabins that have been thrown onto the side of the road. The UAE immigration man said to Colin that my visa is actually for 60 days. Yes, it was my passport but the immigration guy didn’t speak to me directly or even acknowledge me at any stage. This would have really pissed me off when I was younger, but now it doesn’t faze me at all, in fact I can see the funny side of it. Colin pointed out that the stamp says in English quite clearly “30 days”. The immigration guy laughed and said that some border offices hadn’t been issued with the “60 day” stamp so they just kept using the “30 day” stamp instead. Apparently the visa says “60 days” in Arabic which is good if you read Arabic, but I know this how?
Anyway we’d got this far so we carried on and drove through the no-mans land (no-person’s land surely) to the Omani border post which is completely different to the UAE post. The Omani border post looks like a palace, all cool marble, manicured lawns and landscaped gardens. Once inside, I had to stand in a queue to get the immigration form that needs to be completed. Why you have to queue to get a blank form is a total mystery to me. You fill in the form and then join another queue where you’re issued with the actual visa and your passport is stamped. Everyone in front of me in the ‘collect the form’ queue was having issues with the immigration man behind the counter. Yikes, my turn. I step up, hand him my passport and he gives me one of those looks that makes you think “Jeez, how does he know about that?”(insert darkest secret) and he says “Ah New Zeeleendee” and he doesn’t give me the form. Yikes again. Instead, he reaches over to the visa issuing guy’s desk, takes the guy's stamp, issues my visa and stamps my passport. No paperwork, nothing. Ooookaaay!!
The next step was to get the Omani exit stamp in my passport. As Colin has UAE residency he doesn't need to enter/exit Oman so he was waiting in the car park ready to post bail if I wasn’t back in an hour. I headed out the back door of the passport palace and round the corner. As there is no provision for people to exit Oman on foot, well not legally anyway, I had to stand in the queue of cars waiting to exit Oman and re-enter the UAE. Look at me, I’m a car! The immigration guy who rules the car queue stamps my passport and he also gives me a form in Arabic that says who-knows-what. I jump back into the car and we drive back up to the UAE border where they refuse to let us re-enter because the form the car queue guy gave me isn’t exit authority for two-people-and-a-car it’s just for one person (me). So we drive back to Oman, I jog into the passport palace past the people in the queues who look at me curiously, exit out the back door, and again I’m standing in the queue with the cars - I wish I had a photo. I then had to explain to the car queue man that while he may see one woman standing in front of him I am in fact two-people-and-a-car! Strange, but in this part of the world it all seems so logical. Unfortunately he starts making phone calls and giving me suspicious looks and I have to make the painful confession that at this point, for the first time in my life, I resorted to Every Girl’s Final Fall Back Position. I took off my sunglasses, batted my eyelashes and tossed the blonde hair while giggling and saying words to the effect of “Oh dear I don’t know what to do, you big handsome immigration man, I’m just a helpless little lady…….” Oh my God! It works! I can’t believe it – that routine is bloody magic, why have I never used it before? The end result is that he gives me a huge smile and the form that clearly states that I’m two-people-and-a-car. Let’s hear it for flexible feminist principles! I’m glad to say we got back through the UAE border without any problems, then had a lovely bbq lunch at the Hatta Fort hotel and a swim before returning to Dubai.
My residency application still hasn’t started because I’ve had to have my NZ UE certificate notarised in NZ and then authorised by both NZ Internal Affairs and External Affairs. The certificate is in the post to me now thanks to Raewyn. When it arrives here I take it to the NZ Embassy who then authorise the Internal and External Affairs signatures then it goes to the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs for something else and then it finally comes to my employer to start the application process. There’s a charge for each signature of course. All this for a 30 year old certificate that shows that in 1971 amongst other things, I could draw a crash hot diagram of the Waipa River (UE Geography) and write a boring précis on the Unification of Yugoslavia a topic which is now of course totally redundant. Ah well, it’ll all work out in the end I guess, insha’allah.
Go Swannies!!
What a grand and glorious game yesterday, though as usual the Swans made the red and white faithful suffer in the process. As I was out of Dubai I’d taken my laptop hoping that there’d be a wireless network I could get into so I could listen to the Triple M webcast. No luck unfortunately so I was phoning my kids every half hour - if I could wait a whole 30 minutes - for score updates. In the evening we went to watch the replay at Aussie Legends, a bar in Rydges Hotel. Of course nobody will be surprised to hear that I have my Swans scarf, hat and tee shirt with me (you'd be surprised if I didn't). The Grand Final will be on live at Legends at 9:30am Dubai time on Saturday morning and then, depending on the result, I’ll spend the rest of the day being unbearably happy watching the replays, or unbearably depressed, despondent and possibly drinking gin.
I was at the Hatta Hotel while the game was on. Hatta is near the Omani border and Colin had taken me down there so I could do what’s known here as a visa run. Until I have Dubai residency I use 30 day or 60 day visitor visas which means that, like a huge number of other temporary residents in Dubai, I have to leave the country when the current visa is close to expiry and then re-enter to get a new visa. To do the visa run many people drive or fly to Oman, others fly to Qatar and Colin’s flatmates fly to a small island off the coast of Iran. My most recent visa says quite clearly in English “Valid for 30 days from date of issue” which meant we had to do the run this weekend as the 30 days expired on 25 Sept.
The Omani border is about 2 hours drive from Dubai. We drove down Friday morning and went through the procedure of exiting the UAE through their border post which looks like a handful of portacabins that have been thrown onto the side of the road. The UAE immigration man said to Colin that my visa is actually for 60 days. Yes, it was my passport but the immigration guy didn’t speak to me directly or even acknowledge me at any stage. This would have really pissed me off when I was younger, but now it doesn’t faze me at all, in fact I can see the funny side of it. Colin pointed out that the stamp says in English quite clearly “30 days”. The immigration guy laughed and said that some border offices hadn’t been issued with the “60 day” stamp so they just kept using the “30 day” stamp instead. Apparently the visa says “60 days” in Arabic which is good if you read Arabic, but I know this how?
Anyway we’d got this far so we carried on and drove through the no-mans land (no-person’s land surely) to the Omani border post which is completely different to the UAE post. The Omani border post looks like a palace, all cool marble, manicured lawns and landscaped gardens. Once inside, I had to stand in a queue to get the immigration form that needs to be completed. Why you have to queue to get a blank form is a total mystery to me. You fill in the form and then join another queue where you’re issued with the actual visa and your passport is stamped. Everyone in front of me in the ‘collect the form’ queue was having issues with the immigration man behind the counter. Yikes, my turn. I step up, hand him my passport and he gives me one of those looks that makes you think “Jeez, how does he know about that?”(insert darkest secret) and he says “Ah New Zeeleendee” and he doesn’t give me the form. Yikes again. Instead, he reaches over to the visa issuing guy’s desk, takes the guy's stamp, issues my visa and stamps my passport. No paperwork, nothing. Ooookaaay!!
The next step was to get the Omani exit stamp in my passport. As Colin has UAE residency he doesn't need to enter/exit Oman so he was waiting in the car park ready to post bail if I wasn’t back in an hour. I headed out the back door of the passport palace and round the corner. As there is no provision for people to exit Oman on foot, well not legally anyway, I had to stand in the queue of cars waiting to exit Oman and re-enter the UAE. Look at me, I’m a car! The immigration guy who rules the car queue stamps my passport and he also gives me a form in Arabic that says who-knows-what. I jump back into the car and we drive back up to the UAE border where they refuse to let us re-enter because the form the car queue guy gave me isn’t exit authority for two-people-and-a-car it’s just for one person (me). So we drive back to Oman, I jog into the passport palace past the people in the queues who look at me curiously, exit out the back door, and again I’m standing in the queue with the cars - I wish I had a photo. I then had to explain to the car queue man that while he may see one woman standing in front of him I am in fact two-people-and-a-car! Strange, but in this part of the world it all seems so logical. Unfortunately he starts making phone calls and giving me suspicious looks and I have to make the painful confession that at this point, for the first time in my life, I resorted to Every Girl’s Final Fall Back Position. I took off my sunglasses, batted my eyelashes and tossed the blonde hair while giggling and saying words to the effect of “Oh dear I don’t know what to do, you big handsome immigration man, I’m just a helpless little lady…….” Oh my God! It works! I can’t believe it – that routine is bloody magic, why have I never used it before? The end result is that he gives me a huge smile and the form that clearly states that I’m two-people-and-a-car. Let’s hear it for flexible feminist principles! I’m glad to say we got back through the UAE border without any problems, then had a lovely bbq lunch at the Hatta Fort hotel and a swim before returning to Dubai.
My residency application still hasn’t started because I’ve had to have my NZ UE certificate notarised in NZ and then authorised by both NZ Internal Affairs and External Affairs. The certificate is in the post to me now thanks to Raewyn. When it arrives here I take it to the NZ Embassy who then authorise the Internal and External Affairs signatures then it goes to the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs for something else and then it finally comes to my employer to start the application process. There’s a charge for each signature of course. All this for a 30 year old certificate that shows that in 1971 amongst other things, I could draw a crash hot diagram of the Waipa River (UE Geography) and write a boring précis on the Unification of Yugoslavia a topic which is now of course totally redundant. Ah well, it’ll all work out in the end I guess, insha’allah.
Go Swannies!!
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