Once Ramadan has arrived, the first thing one notices is the amazingly insane shift in the schedule, which I call the 'Saudi Shift'.
Night becomes day and day becomes night.
Most Saudis stay awake all night shopping, eating, visiting family, and running errands. Most stores and restaurants are open till 2 or 3 in the morning in response to this shift.
I was immediately exposed to the craziness of such a schedule during my first Ramadan here, when several of my coworkers took their annual 30 days of vacation during Ramadan. Being naïve I immediately assumed that they wanted to use the vacation to perform extra acts of worship or maybe stay an extended period of time in Mecca or Madina. But it was only later that I realized they use the vacation to sleep throughout the day and stay awake throughout the night.
And the schedule shift is not purely a social phenomenon. The work schedules reflect a similar shift, just not nearly as drastic. I work for the government sector and our hours are trimmed by three hours in the morning (we come in at 10am instead of the normal 7am).
The law firm where one friend of mine works has shortened their hours by almost 5 hours!
In all honesty, those extra hours are so very nice. Not because my family has made the 'Saudi shift' with our schedules - but an extra few hours of much needed sleep, especially after praying Tahajjud (not as much nor as often as I would like), eating Suhoor, and reading Quran after Fajr (one of the best times for this specific act of worship), goes a very long way during the day.
Now you can imagine how overall productivity takes a serious hit during Ramadan. The closest comparison I can think of is the week between Christmas and New Years, but stretch it out for an entire month, increase the inactivity factor by 100, and replace the alcohol-induced hangovers with the sleep-deprived hangovers. That's how slow it gets at the office.
Schools also make a similar adjustment by starting two hours later during the entire month. Again, a very convenient adjustment, especially for kids who are fasting. But one thing really did shock me the other day concerning the school scheduling.
Humza got a note from school informing us about special after-school activities during Ramadan. I was confused as to how they thought the boys would have any energy for sports while most of them would be fasting. To my great surprise, I found that the hours for these activities were from 9:30pm to 11:30pm. And that's for elementary school kids!
Humza is fast asleep by 8:30 every night and here they expect him to play sports until almost midnight. Truly insane!
On the plus side, you'll find many institutions willing to go the extra mile to assist the worshippers. One brother told me that his company actually gives the employees a day off for the performance of Umrah. Similarly, you'll be hardpressed to find a boss (especially in the government) who will reject your request for a day to go to Mecca or Madina.
And all government employees (which is almost half the workforce) are given their Eid vacation from the 24th of Ramadan upto the 6th of Shawwal. That gives them the opportunity to spend the last 5 nights of Ramadan in extra worship - one coworker of mine goes to Madina every year for 'Itikaaf.
Such is life in Saudi - the good mixed with the bad.
So while I think the Saudi shift is very much against the spirit of fasting, I love the accommodations that Saudi society has made for the fasting person - changes which in spirit were made to facilitate extra worship and ease the hardship of fasting but in practice are abused for less than holy reasons.
On a side note, I hear that a similar shift takes place in Jordan as well. Not sure if business or school hours make the shift, but I was told that socially speaking, people tend to sleep most of the day and go out for most of the night. I wonder how it is in other Muslim countries (anyone from Egypt or Pakistan??).
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Ramadan in Riyadh (RinR) - The Arrival
RinR - The Saudi Schedule Shift
RinR - Iftar Time
RinR - Tarawih prayers
WAW
2 days ago
6 comments:
Assalaamu 'alaikum,
Many times I have read articles about Ramadan in the western press that say in all the Arab countries they sleep all day during Ramadan. It makes it sound easy to fast, kind of like cheating. Here in Palestine, they may shorten the working hours a bit, but nothing like you describe! My kids start school at the usual time, and they shorten the classes about 5 or 10 minutes. I am not sure exactly how much they shorten it, but they only get home a half an hour early. At my husbands place of business, they leave at 4 instead of 5, and everyone is expected to show up on time! Many times I have wished that everything would open an hour later, just to get a little more sleep. I am always seriously sleep deprived by the end of Ramadan.
Two years ago, the schools' midterm exams fell during the last 10 days of Ramadan. One boy in my son's class fell asleep during his deen exam, because he had spent all night at al Aqsa in hopes of catching laylatul Qadr. He studied in the masjid, after all it was a deen exam, but he couldn't stay awake for the test! I am glad that exams will be after Eid this time.
Enjoy your Ramadan, and may Allah subhana wa ta'ala accept your fast. InshaAllah someday I want to be there, in Makkah for Ramadan!
AA- alajnabiya,
So nice to see a comment from Palestine! And thank you for sharing with us your Ramadan experiences.
How is the social life over there? Do many people extend the nightlife (and I don't mean for the sake of worshipping) or are sleeping hours pretty much normal (due to work and school hours remaining the same)?
May Allah (swt) accept all our fasts! Ameen.
Assalaamu 'alaikum,
I know a lot of people here stay up later, and let their kids stay up later, but I doubt they do it to the extent of turning their days upside down like in Saudia. I have heard that the shops and restaurants stay open late, especially closer to Eid. A shop owner in Ramallah told my daughter's friend that he was looking for someone to work until 11 during Ramadan if that is any indication. But mostly I see people spending time visiting with their extended family. But honestly, my experiences are limited, even though I have been here 13 years. My family, and my in-laws are quiet and religious mostly.
Another thing that would limit the amount of "nightlife" is the roads. We live in a village between Ramallah and Jerusalem, but you have to pass one Israeli checkpoint to get to Ramallah, and 2 to get to Jerusalem, even though we are less than a mile out side of the Jerusalem municipal boarder! There is nothing to do at night in the village, except visit family and taraweeh. Also, lots of people here don't have private cars, which might limit how much people go out at night.
Say A prayer for your brothers and sisters in Palestine the next time you visit the Haram please.
It is a bit of joke , that people in saudi do that , of all places , I read this other sisters blog saudi stepford wife , what she said about what saudis do , it soundid like all they do is get drugged up with food and sleep all day , that is like the one month you should not be doing that type of thing !
ps, I checked your about me , really inspirtaional I left a comment .
AA- Amal,
Yeah, I sadly find the Saudi shift to be very unfortunate, but one thing I’ve learned since moving here 4 years ago is that there are soo many good things here that outweigh the many bad things.
So when it comes to Ramadan, in spite of the negative Saudi trends, I find that Riyadh is extremely amenable to Muslims who wish to increase their iman in this month long training camp.
So I don’t get sidetracked with all the Saudi-bashing (and indeed they are very easy targets...LOL). I just appreciate all the small things here that add a bit of delight to being Muslim.
I *think* they shift timings in Pak too, for office workers anyway. And they get the 3 days off work for Eid. Not too sure about schools though.
But the shops stay open til really late during Ramadhaan (not to mention hiking the price up too!Ouch)
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