LOCKDOWN DAY 25
THE Muslim community says this year’s Ramadaan will be a very different one, with many beloved rituals suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Ramadaan is expected to begin on Thursday evening, based on the sighting of the new moon.
Covid-19 Bo-Kaap Community Response Team member Shafwaan Laubscher said this Ramadaan was going to be a different experience, with a few challenges.
Usually during this time, the community response team would be preparing loads of food and guest speakers for events, among other activities.
“This will surely be a different Ramadaan for Muslims throughout the world. Due to the lockdown rules, and precautionary measures in place such as social distancing, many aspects of Ramadaan will not be done this year,” said Laubscher.
He added that the Taraweeh, an evening prayer performed in mosques, would be done at home, and the traditional pre-Boeka practice of ensuring your neighbour had food on their table after breaking fast might not occur.
“The mass boekas we had in Wale Street was a catalyst of performing some of our objectives as a community, that is to have unity and to ensure everyone is able to break their fasting with something to eat, and synergy among all. The boekas had a domino effect in other communities, in fact throughout South Africa.”
Auwal Mosque Sheikh Ismail Londt said it would be the first time in history that rituals were not performed at mosques.
“This brings in a different atmosphere, and not being able to do that would be sorely missed. Ramadaan includes some community activities, such as the special evening communal prayers, and these are most likely to be suspended. But what has to be done, has to be done, because preserving life comes before all else,” said Londt.
Community activist Ebrahim Mohamed said gathering and sharing were the mainstays of Ramadaan, and people would have to find new ways to do this.
“In Cape Town, there is the ‘barakat’ plate that neighbours send over to one another, I don’t foresee much of this. Culturally, people stayed together during this time in the past, and look forward to Ramadaan so they can meet to talk and catch up, whereas now most families stay further apart,” said Mohamed.