Making online connections for Ramadan celebration
Lockdown restrictions could mean a quiet Ramadan for NZ Muslims, writes
The feel of the month of Ramadan this year is not the same as always. It is quiet and lonely in terms of its festivity. I only realised Ramadan was not far away when one of my friends sent me a big pack of dates. Breaking fast with dates seems as mandatory as fasting itself in most of the Muslim cultures. Seeing my favourite dates, I could not resist but ate too many without realising the calorie count. To find ‘‘how many dates’’ are healthy to eat per day, I did a Google search, the results of which were way more interesting than I thought. These homographs!
Ramadan is believed to be the holy month for Muslims in which rewards for good deeds multiply. One righteous deed that would normally get one reward point could earn more than tenfold so most Muslims try to indulge in all kinds of deeds that enrich their deed book. Many Muslims who won’t pray and observe Islamic rituals otherwise, engage in righteous deeds during Ramadan.
The month starts with the sighting of the moon. Many New Zealand Muslim organisations organise an outdoor evening tea for families for sighting, followed by the communal evening prayer. The evening gatherings continue the entire month followed by Eid congregational prayer and Eid celebrations.
Ramadan for Muslims provides opportunities for expression of social cohesion and collective consciousness to live the doctrine of Islamic Umma. Muslims living in a minority context have to make extra effort to create the feel of Ramadan. This includes having shared meals at friends’ places, community halls and mosques.
Ramadan this year is going to be hugely different in New Zealand because of lockdown restrictions. Unlike Muslims in Pakistan, who are negotiating with the government to keep mosques open, New Zealand Muslims are finding ways to keep the spirit of Ramadan in line with Covid-19 guidelines.
Webinars, virtual gatherings, YouTube streaming and Zoom meetings are becoming a new normal. The Palmerston North Pakistani community started Zoom Quranic Circle and also initiated online congregational Friday prayer during alert level four but it was discontinued because some members deemed it impermissible. Friday live sermons in New Zealand have been scheduled.
Social media platforms are helping create a feel for Ramadan. Nur ul Ilm academy in Auckland is offering Ramadan webinars. Muslim women like Azra Zubaida offer sisters-only webinars. Sadia from the Nelson community has shifted her weekly Quran classes to Zoom.
My research participants also shared mix feelings about Ramadan.
Faiza said, ‘‘this (Ramadan) would be interesting with no gatherings. But it’s for our safety so all good.’’
Farhat used to attend Ramadan gatherings with her family said that she would ‘‘miss not being in the masjid every day . . . Most of all I will miss taraweeh (additional Ramadan prayer) with an imam’’.
Ayesha, who loved to break fasts at masjid, said ‘‘ . . . this would be the Ramadan after years that I’ll have to make iftar for the whole month’’.
Shahida and Razia are looking forward to enjoying special iftar with their families.
‘‘I am really excited . . . we can concentrate in a real sense on Ramadan and ibadah (prayers) Insha Allah rather than planning iftaris which is more of social activity,’’ Sarah said.
Khadija, a single Muslim girl, said that this would be her first Ramadan all alone: ‘‘I’m missing Masjid badly’’.
Another single friend told me that she is ‘‘feeling depressed and was feeling like crying the other day’’.
Lockdown restrictions will impact New Zealand Muslims differently. Muslims living in larger bubbles may experience it differently than those in smaller bubbles and singles. Similarly, Muslims who are working in essential services and those who are staying at home will experience it in a different way.
However, at the beginning of the Ramadan, I can see a thirst to find alternative ways of engagement to seek rewards and solace. One of my Fijian friends shared his thoughts to deliver iftar food packs to the Nelson Muslim community. For some, this may sound like going over the top, but for him, it was all about comfort and achieving the spiritual reward.
As a researcher, I am interested to see what this virtual month of extensive worshipping offers to its observers. This also raises interesting feminist questions of mixed ‘virtual gatherings’ which would not happen in normal circumstances.
Coming back to the internet search, ‘‘how many dates’’ enriched my information on all the suggested search results on Google but the calorie count – ‘‘how many dates is too many . . . ’’, ‘‘how many dates before relationship . . . ’’ and so on.
Hina Tabassum Cheema is doing a PhD in Social Anthropology at Massey University. Her research explores the challenges of Muslim women immigrants in New Zealand.