A leader of the Muslim community in Jersey has praised the work of volunteers for helping people observe Ramadan in the island.

Organisers said they had seen seen rising numbers of islanders come together at the Jersey Islamic Centre to break fast during the holy month.

Ramadan is the most important time in the Islamic calendar where Muslims fast and refrain from eating or drinking between dawn and sunset.

Muslims also believe it is a time for self-reflection and renewing their faith to Allah.

Manik Ahmed Memon, the Iftar co-ordinator at Jersey Islamic Centre, said “a lot of work goes on in the background” to make sure people were able to break fast together.

“It’s great to see different people from different backgrounds coming together,” he said

“We have got great volunteers here who do the heavy lifting and families come together to cook the food which we serve at the centre.”

The centre is able to serve food to between 50 to 75 people coming to break fast every evening.

Amna Salim and Mohammed Attari were both observing Ramadan in Jersey for the first time.

Ms Salim said: “It’s been great.

“I didn’t know everyone would get together like this when I first came to the island.

“Jersey is very different to Pakistan, where I’m from originally, but it makes the move much easier being around people who celebrate your religion and your culture.”

Mr Attari said: “It’s really important for the community to have something like this because we’re a small community so it’s good to be connected.”

Dr Sarfaraz Jamali, the head of Jersey’s Muslim Community, said more than 75 people had gathered on one night for Iftar.

“We started with very few people maybe four or five,” he said.

“It gives a thought about how we’re going to deal with the increasing numbers of people coming here with the space we’ve got.”

By Chris Craddock – BBC News

L’article Ramadan event helping bring community together est apparu en premier sur زوايا ميادين | Mayadin Columns.

Cultural awareness of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan is growing in coastal communities, Muslim families have said.

Ramadan, the Islamic holy month, which this year began on Wednesday 22 March involves fasting during daylight hours.

The fast-breaking evening meals of Iftar in Haverfordwest mosque see Muslims and non-Muslims eat together.

Schools in Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire have been holding assemblies on Ramadan, with advice on how pupils can help their friends who are fasting.

During the month, Muslims fast – which involves abstaining from eating and drinking during daylight hours – as well as focus on self-improvement, self-reflection and giving to the less fortunate.

Sajida Madni, 43, from Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, said cultural awareness of Ramadan had increased in her local community over the last year following the opening of the first mosque in the town last Ramadan.

Mrs Madni said: “In this area there is generally less exposure to other cultures, so there were concerns when we first started up about what we would be doing at the mosque.

“So we invited all of the neighbours for Iftar to show them that we are regular people sharing food and coming together.

“We are part of a wider community, part and parcel of British society, and we should celebrate that.”

The mosque runs a youth club with a range of activities for the community which is attended by Muslim and non-Muslim people alike, and many people bring their friends to share in the evening Iftar meals during the month.

Mustafa Yunis, a trustee at Haverfordwest Central Mosque, said: “A mosque is meant to be a hub, a community centre where everyone is there and it’s brilliant to have representatives from our local community coming to eat together with us.

“We want people to feel that they are part of our community as well.”

Overcoming barriers

Mrs Madni also highlighted the level of support offered by her children’s school.

Mrs Madni’s daughter, Aayah Yunis, and two children who she is a guardian for – Aziza and Mariam Akhtar – are the only Muslims at their secondary school, but she says the school has been incredibly supportive with helping them celebrate the holy month.

Castle School in Pembrokeshire has held an assembly on Ramadan, giving tips to students about how they can help their school friends who are fasting, as well as provided the three children with a prayer room.

The assembly also helped break down barriers and open up conversations about the Muslim faith.

“So many of her friends were able to ask her questions after that assembly that they felt they couldn’t ask beforehand,” Mrs Madni said.

Describing the impact on her, Aayah said: ‘It’s really nice to teach people about it because it helps people learn new things and helps me express my Islamic identity.”

Castle School said that programmes that allowed pupils to interact with different cultures was “further enriching their learning experiences and broadening their horizons”.

‘A positive shift’

Sara Ahmed, 40, from Ceredigion said she had noticed a “positive shift” in her children’s school’s approach to Ramadan, which also proactively held an assembly on the tradition.

“Prior to this year I’ve usually had to call into school and explain that the kids will be fasting, and that they will not be having food or water during the day and that they may need breaks during PE. The school has always been fine and positive about this.

“It wasn’t anything that parents spurred on either – this was the first time in my experience that that has happened and I really appreciated that,” she said.

She said one of her son’s friends even contacted him and said she wanted to try and fast a day with him.

“In the kids’ school, there’s probably less than 10 Muslim pupils. But compared to other schools in the area that’s quite a high number,” she said.

“There aren’t that many Muslims in the community here and you can sometimes feel you stick out a bit. So it’s really great to see people taking an interest and embrace our culture.”

By Sanjana Idnani – BBC News

L’article Ramadan: Coastal communities help Muslims celebrate est apparu en premier sur زوايا ميادين | Mayadin Columns.

Dans une nouvelle analyse, le Baromètre arabe revient sur la religiosité dans la région, notant que les jeunes sont désormais «moins susceptibles de se déclarer “non religieux”». Elle souligne également une hausse de l’engagement dans des pratiques religieuses touchant notamment le Maroc.

Dans la région MENA, les gens sont désormais «moins susceptibles» de se présenter en tant que personnes «non religieuses», en particulier les jeunes, a indiqué cette semaine le Baromètre arabe. Dans une analyse basée sur la septième vague d’enquêtes (2021-2022) de ce réseau de recherche indépendant et non partisan qui mène des sondages d’opinion dans la région depuis 2006, ce résultat contraste avec les «baisses légères mais significatives de la religiosité dans cette région entre la troisième vague du Baromètre arabe (2012-2014) et sa cinquième vague (2018-2019)».

«Dans tous les pays étudiés au cours des vagues du Baromètre arabe, la grande majorité des citoyens se sont décrits comme “religieux” ou “plutôt” religieux.  Toutefois, certaines personnes s’identifient comme “non religieuses”. Dans la plupart des pays, ce niveau a atteint un pic lors de la vague d’enquête achevée en 2018-2019», explique-t-on. L’analyse explique que dans la plupart des pays, les jeunes âgés de 18 à 29 ans étaient «plus susceptibles que ceux âgés de 30 ans ou plus de déclarer qu’ils n’étaient “pas religieux”». Leur pourcentage a atteint 22% au Maroc, 18% en Egypte, 24% en Algérie et 46% en Tunisie.

Elle rappelle que les jeunes sont devenus beaucoup plus susceptibles de se déclarer «non religieux» depuis 2012-2014, notamment en Tunisie (+24 points), en Libye (+18 points), au Maroc (+18 points). Un résultat qui avait conduit certains à se demander si la région MENA «allait devenir moins religieuse dans les années à venir». Finalement, la réponse serait non, ou du moins pas à court terme, explique Michael Robbins, Directeur et co-chercheur principal du Baromètre arabe.

Une hausse de l’engagement dans des pratiques religieuses

En effet, dans la dernière vague d’enquêtes (2021-2022), les citoyens de la région MENA deviennent «moins susceptibles de se déclarer “non religieux”», explique l’analyse ajoutant que par rapport à la vague d’enquêtes 2018-2019, les niveaux représentent une baisse significative, notamment de sept points au Maroc, de six points en Egypte, de cinq points en Algérie et de quatre points en Tunisie». Le retour de religiosité touche particulièrement les jeunes. En Tunisie, les personnes âgées de 18 à 29 ans ont désormais 15 points de moins de chances de se déclarer «non religieuses» que trois ans auparavant, contre 12 points pour le Maroc et l’Egypte, de 7 points pour l’Algérie et de 5 points en Palestine.

L’analyse note que ces résultats se reflètent aussi dans l’engagement dans des pratiques religieuses. Sur la question de lire ou écouter le Coran au moins une fois par jour, le nombre de ceux qui déclarent le faire toujours ou la plupart du temps entre 2018-2019 et 2021-2022 augmente dans plusieurs pays. Pour les répondants marocains, le pourcentage passe de 34% en 2018-2019 à 53% en 2021-2022. La hausse est ainsi de 19 points pour le royaume, 13 pour la Tunisie et 4 points pour l’Algérie, pour l’ensemble des citoyens adultes.

L’engagement à l’égard des textes religieux a eu tendance à augmenter de façon encore plus importante chez les jeunes de la région entre 2018-2019 et 2021-2022. De ce fait, «l’augmentation correspondante est de 22 points en Tunisie, 18 points au Maroc, 13 points en Algérie, six points au Soudan, cinq points en Jordanie et quatre points au Liban», explique-t-on.

La même source rappelle que «l’identité et la pratique religieuses ne sont pas constantes, mais augmentent et diminuent au fil du temps». Pour son rédacteur, la hausse de la religiosité personnelle pourrait être due à de nombreux facteurs, «tels que les effets du Covid-19, la détérioration des conditions économiques ou d’autres défis qui incitent les gens à se tourner vers la religion». «Quelle que soit la raison exacte, les données du Baromètre arabe montrent clairement que la religion continue de jouer un rôle clé dans la vie de la plupart des habitants de la région MENA», conclut-on.

World Opinions – yabiladi.com

L’article Un «retour de la religiosité» chez les jeunes du Maroc et de la région MENA est apparu en premier sur زوايا ميادين | Mayadin Columns.

During the holy month, legions of cooks gather at restaurants, warehouses, and street stalls to spend hours mashing the savory porridge of mutton, wheat, and spices, a beloved fixture of night markets and family iftar feasts.

ForFor much of the year, dawn breaks over sleepy lanes in Hyderabad, India, as chai and newspaper vendors rush to deliver piping hot tea alongside the news. But during Ramadan, mornings in the Old City, Secunderabad, Mallepally, Tolichowki, and other neighborhoods bring a different kind of activity. Dozens of eateries and warehouses fill with workers starting the long process of making massive amounts of haleem, an iconic savory porridge-like dish enjoyed across the Muslim world but especially beloved in Hyderabad during Ramadan, when it becomes a staple of the nightly iftar meal.

Across its many locations, the legendary Pista House, a name nearly synonymous with haleem, prepares around two tons of the dish every day during the holy month. The operation at the restaurant, and at many others, is a communal effort. Legions of cooks (including many temp workers hired just for the month) set up firewood, chop mutton, grind wheat, prep lentils, clean herbs and chiles, strain rose petals, crush cardamom, chop cinnamon bark, and ready other spices and ingredients before piling everything into bhattis, mud or brick kilns fitted with huge cauldrons. Then it’s all hands on deck, as crews of Muslims as well as non-Muslims work like well-oiled machines, using wooden mallets to rhythmically pound the mixture as it cooks for up to 12 hours. (If you thought tricep dips were hard, try pounding tons of meat into a paste, every day for a month, while fasting.)

As the sun sets, the streets transform again with a new flurry of activity. The usually traffic-packed road around the iconic Charminar monument and mosque is blocked off to allow pedestrians to explore freely. Almost simultaneously, thousands of stalls spring up, selling all things festive: shimmery bangles, little jars of attar (perfume), colorful sarees, embroidered anarkalis. Here and across the city, restaurants shift their attention to serving the food they spent all day preparing. Workers distribute Styrofoam bowls filled with haleem, topped with caramelized onions, coriander, shorba (meat consomme), slices of lemon, and other fixings.

Mohammed Sibghatullah Khan of Deccan Archive, a digital publication preserving Hyderabad’s heritage, recalls relatives across Hyderabad coming together during his childhood to prepare the feast that follows the fast. “Back then, this was the only time I got to eat haleem,” he says. The more family members who showed up to help, the more the work could be shared, with everyone taking turns to lend a hand in preparing the dish (at home, many families cook the elements of haleem separately before combining and mashing them to make the work a bit easier). Today, his family heads to Shah Ghouse, a popular choice, to fetch “buckets of haleem,” he says. “Cooking this dish has become a rare sight” in his house, Khan adds with a chuckle.

After he offers his prayers, Khan breaks the fast with his community over dates, fresh and dried fruits, and a handful of pakoras, before everyone disperses to hit the stalls, alongside diners of all backgrounds eating, shopping, and searching for the best bowl of haleem.

How did haleem come to Hyderabad?

The dish can be traced back to Arabian cookbooks from the 10th century. A predecessor called harees (also spelled jareesh) also consists of mashed meat and wheat; it came to India with Arab mercenaries, likely from Yemen, during Muslim rule in Hyderabad under the Nizams. These soldiers enjoyed harees for breakfast, when its high calories were especially useful. The barracks that housed these mercenaries eventually gave their name to the Barkas neighborhood, today home to hundreds of thousands of Arab descendants. You’ll still find harees year-round in Barkas, like at the long-standing Madina Hotel and Hadrami Harees, two restaurants that inspire long lines of customers as early as 5 a.m. and often scrape the bottom of their pots for the last harees by 10 a.m. (A sweeter version of harees is also on the menu at some eateries, though it’s not as popular.)

Unlike mild harees, which usually calls for equal parts wheat and meat, haleem calls for double the meat. Over time, locals augmented the ratio and added more seasoning. Though Hyderabad is equally famous and protective of its biryani, during Ramadan, the rice dish is quite literally on the back burner — which alone speaks volumes about the passion for haleem.

Versions of haleem and related dishes are hugely popular in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iran, West Asian countries, and Turkey. Across India, haleem can be found in Iranian restaurants in Mumbai; eateries in Bangalore’s Fraser Town, Old Delhi, Lucknow, Chennai, Ludhiana, and Goa; in traces in relative dishes like aleesa in Kerala, harissa in Kashmir, and khichra in Gujarat; and at many family gatherings and weddings.

Over the last decade especially, meat consumption, especially beef, has been a flash point for violence by right-wing Hindus on Muslim communities (as well as on Indigenous Adivasis and Dalits) as nationalists have pressed for the widespread adoption of vegetarianism. Given the context, the scene in Hyderabad during Ramadan, with crowds of Muslims, Hindus, and other non-Muslims all enjoying haleem, is striking.

What makes Hyderabadi haleem so popular?

At its best, haleem is an amalgamation of sensations and flavors — gamey mutton, subtly aromatic rose petals, punchy spices, slick ghee, generous fixings — all delivered in a caloric, easily digestible bowl. Anas Murtuza, the food critic behind BeingHydFoodie, claims he could fast for days after one bowl of haleem — though that doesn’t stop him from constantly visiting his go-to shop, City Diamond, a favorite of residents in Mehdipatnam..

World Opinions – Eater.com

L’article During Ramadan in Hyderabad, All Roads Lead to Haleem est apparu en premier sur زوايا ميادين | Mayadin Columns.