Ramadan in Mombasa

The 4:30 am call to prayer is much louder during Ramadan. During the rest of the year, many Muslims sleep through the obligatory pre-dawn prayer, but during the Holy Month of fasting, many recommit themselves to communal prayer and give up things like cigarettes as well as food and water during the daylight hours. Of course if you're going to miss out on the day-time meals, you'd want to wake up in time to eat a quick meal (Suhuur) before dawn. In some Muslim countries, neighborhoods appoint someone to walk around with a drum to wake everyone up for their early meal; but here it seems that the mosques just turn up the volume on their speakers.

Patience still manages to sleep through these early morning supplications, but I usually wake up for a few minutes before drifting back to sleep. I find the prayer calls quite beautiful. A 'recitation' rather than 'music', they blend the melancholy timbre of Arabic semi-tones with a joyous praise that motivates the faithful to prayer. Besides the pre-dawn prayer, the calls are repeated four times throughout the day, with an extra one during the month of Ramadan. In the afternoons, sermons usually reserved for Fridays are piped through speakers every day of the week. Living in Old Town, we had grown accustomed to these sounds so much that we rarely noticed them. But this month, the muezzin (prayer callers) are gaining our attention again as they seem to put more attention and care into their craft.

The favorite part of everyone's day is, of course, iftar--the breaking of the fast at sundown. It is still bright outside when the sun sets in Mombasa, and groups of men gather on corners and established spots throughout the island to share some 'bitings' - dates, spiced potatoes, samosas, bhajia, and some sweet cakes are favorites. The meal is started as soon as the prayer is called; then the start of the prayer is postponed 10 minutes for everyone to eat. After the prayer all of the shops close for an hour or two as friends and family gather for a larger meal. My friend pointed out yesterday that during the rest of the year the evening prayer calls for each mosque (there are about 15 in Old Town alone) come at different times; but during Ramadan they all come at once; following the careful sunset/sunrise calendars that restaurants, shipping companies and stores distribute at the start of Ramadan.

The other day I happened to be out doing an errand for Patience before dinner when the store owner who supplies our drinking water invited me to join their iftar meal. About 7 men and 6 boys crowded a small table on the side of the street near our apartment. Every few minutes another would join the group, spilling the contents of a greasy newspaper onto the table. There was pleasant conversation about football (soccer) as we waited and then everyone dug in as soon as the prayer call began. I tried to let others have a turn (after all, I wasn't fasting), but they encouraged me to eat until I was satisfied. The boys were kept at bay until the adults had their turn. Black arabic coffee was served, but when they learned I didn't drink coffee someone quickly fetched a small bottle of water for me - free of charge. As I finally bid farewell they encouraged me to pass by again to share another meal.

Almost every day we are asked if we're fasting (umefunga leo?). We keep promising them that we'll join them in their fast during the last week... but now that the last week has arrived we're feeling a little less committal. 14 hours of fasting seems light compared to the 24 hour fast we just finished today, but who wants to wake up at 4:30am for breakfast?