The "business" of Ramadan in the Muslim world
Lee Gomes is posting stories from Amman, Jordan for the Wall Street Journal, including this one about the holy month of Ramadan (subscription required) which is beginning to look more like a month-long New Year's Eve. He asks, "Isn't all this flouting the strictures of Islam?" In response, Hanna Sawalha, manager of the Ammon Hotel, says, "This is a business."
...in Westernized Middle Eastern cities such as this one, where many of the more urbane families have sent sons and daughters to universities in Europe and the U.S., Ramadan is beginning to look a lot like Christmas.
Stores sell electric Ramadan lights in the shape of an Islamic crescent moon. Many Muslims hang them in their windows, much as Christmas stars and Chanukah menorahs are displayed by Christians and Jews. In the affluent shopping districts of western Amman, winter wonderland-style strings of twinkling lights decorate the fronts of many shops. The local McDonald's restaurants have some of the most elaborate displays. There are Ramadan cards Muslims can send to wish one another "Ramadan kareem" or seasons greetings. In stores, special Ramadan posters extend holiday wishes to shoppers.
...This evolution of Ramadan shows how the Muslim world is far more complex than many Westerners appreciate. While large numbers of Muslims are rejecting the West and embracing an ultraconservative version of Islam, others are leading largely secular lives shaped by the same forces of globalization at work everywhere.