RAMADAN KICKS OFF IN MIDDLE EAST

Soaring food prices from war in Ukraine casts pall over Muslim holy month festivities

The Muslim holy month of Ramadan — when the faithful fast from dawn to dusk — began at sunrise Saturday in much of the Middle East, where Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has sent energy and food prices soaring.

The conflict cast a pall over Ramadan, when large gatherings over meals and family celebrations are a tradition. Many in the Southeast Asian nation of Indonesia planned to start observing today, and some Shiites in Lebanon, Iran and Iraq were also marking the start of Ramadan a day later.

Muslims follow a lunar calendar and a moon-sighting methodology can lead to different countries declaring the start of Ramadan a day or two apart.

Muslim-majority nations including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates had declared the month would begin Saturday morning.

Jordan, a predominantly Sunni country, also said the first day of Ramadan would be today, in a break from following Saudi Arabia. The kingdom said the Islamic religious authority was unable to spot the crescent moon indicating the beginning of the month.

Many had hoped for a more cheerful Ramadan after the coronavirus pandemic blocked the world’s 2 billion Muslims from many rituals the past two years.

With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, however, millions of people in the Middle East are now wondering where their next meals will come from.

Ukraine and Russia account for a third of global wheat and barley exports, which Middle East countries rely on to feed millions of people who subsist on subsidized bread and bargain noodles. They are also top exporters of other grains and sunflower seed oil used for cooking.

Shoppers in Egypt’s capital, Cairo, turned out this past week to stock up on groceries and festive decorations, but many had to buy less than last year because of the soaring prices.

Ramadan tradition calls for colorful lanterns and lights strung throughout the city’s narrow alleys and around mosques. Some people with the means to do so set up tables on the streets to dish up free post-fast Iftar meals for the poor. The practice is known in the Islamic world as “Tables of the Compassionate.”

“This could help in this situation,” said Rabei Hassan, the muezzin of a mosque in Giza, as he bought vegetables and other food from a nearby market. “People are tired of the prices.”

Worshippers attended mosque for hours of evening prayers, or “tarawih.” On Friday evening, thousands of people packed the al-azhar mosque after attendance was banned for the past two years to stem the pandemic.

“They were difficult (times). Ramadan without tarawih at the mosque is not Ramadan,” said Saeed Abdel-rahman, a 64-yearold retired teacher.

TATAN SYUFLANA AP Children bathe in the Cisadane River on the first evening of the holy fasting month of Ramadan in Tangerang, Indonesia, on Saturday, as they follow local tradition to symbolically cleanse their soul.