Ramadan, as we know it

I hear everybody lately saying that Ramadan used to have more spirit in their hearts before than these days. When we were young we couldn't wait until we see the "hilal" that announces the arrival of Ramadan, when all families gathered for Iftar and Taraweeh prayers.

I still get those images in my head of how Ramadan used to feel, races I used to make with family and friends of whom would read more of the Holy Quran, me and my friends from high school participating in organized Iftar for orphans, "Qatayef" making; the official dessert of the month, it is basically the only eastern dessert that I eat, even making them was fun!

Maybe because I was a teenager, I used to get excited about the whole package of Ramadan, in anticipation of the Eid, we used to fulfill our religious duties with joy.

However, lately Ramadan seems to have lost its touch on me and the people I know. Maybe because life is getting more and more complicated each day, or maybe because we are growing older each day!

Here in Dubai it's not so different, as much as I have to admit that I can see more "Ramadanish" spirits, lanterns and decorations in all the malls, main roads, and restaurants, and not to forget the Iftar for workers that is held at mosques, even sometimes when you reach a red traffic signal around Adhan time, somebody approaches you with a mini box of dates and a mini bottle of water, regardless of your religion, you are welcomed in the home of a Muslim community.

I believe people who don't fast enjoy Ramadan the most, less working hours, more sleep, empty streets in the morning and the evening, yeah you know what I mean, although people who are fasting are the angriest people.

All Muslims know that the demons are helpless in Ramadan, so basically no evil is being enforced on anybody, only the demons who live inside us, the demons that are made from our own ideas, growing stronger in our brains until they become a big part of our lives, something I refer to as: the inner devils.

We unleash them by fasting, in this hot weather and lack of the daily doses of caffeine, nicotine, water, or what ever, the world becomes a crazier place with angrier, sensitive, lazy, crazy driving, crappy tempered, and most importantly, stubborn people.

If people learn to stop blaming everything around them and start enjoying the benefits of this month, if fasting Muslims understand that we need to use this months to train our inner devils to obey us and not the other way around, then Ramadan would definitely have its spirit back, and we will definitely feel about it like we did when we were younger.