It's Ramadan

Editorial note: This post was written before the Orlando shooting. The timing of this post about Islam and Muslim traditions in the wake of the Orlando event, is purely coincidental, and has nothing to do with anything.

Indonesia is the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation, meaning there are more Muslims in Indonesia than anywhere else on the planet. By the official stats, if Indonesia was 100 people, 86 of them would be Muslim. In Bogor, where we live, that number is almost certainly more like 95. There is the odd “Christian” around (if you are not a Muslim, you are a Christian, that’s the rule), but they are a rare and isolated breed. In my office of 50 Indonesians, there are 4 Christians (and 46 Muslims obviously).

OK, so if you are a student of religion and know your world religions (or a Muslim J), you are acutely aware that we are in the middle of Ramadan – the fasting month. But if you are like me, and clueless about things Muslim, you are thinking….hmmm, I have heard that word, but….what exactly is Ramadan? Excellent question. Technically, Ramadan is one of the five pillars of Islam, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, and is a commemoration of the first revelation of the Quran to Muhammad. Whoa! OK. Got it.

Joking aside, Ramadan is a vitally important part of being a devote Muslim and basically represents a month of reaffirming their devotion, among many other things that I do not profess to know anything about. On the ground, the biggest things us bules notice are: (1) it is a month of daily fasting, and (2) the daily rituals like the call-to-prayer and praying are ramped way up.

The fasting part of the equation is incredible. By incredible, I mean you have to see it to believe it. The rule is: no ingestion of anything from sunrise to sunset. By “nothing”, we mean nothing, nada, zilchola. No food of any kind, and, get this, no liquid of any kind, not even water. Basically the only thing allowed to pass by your lips is air into your lungs. There are exceptions made for illness, pregnancy, mental issues, and things like that, but pretty much everyone is on the program.

My go-to lunch spot with the blinders on

As you can imagine, that tends to change the daily equation. Imagine not drinking a drop of water (or coffee!!) from about 6 am to 6 pm, every day, for 30 days….while maintaining your life, job, house, kids, etc. Gotta hand it to them on the devotion thing. Makes for a lonely coffee room these days though! Just me and the Christians. Although anyone who is not Muslim, and not fasting, is encouraged to keep a low profile while enjoying the sinful pleasures of food and drink. OK, I’ll grind my beans at home instead of at the office J

Of course the biggest tragedy for us bules, oh yes, and the Christians, is the complete lack of street food, a mere smattering of open restaurants, and a serious reduction in the already scarce supply of drinking establishments. Basically all things infidel are reeled in. Finding lunch, and an after-work beer has become rather challenging. However, I was warned in advance, and therefore made a special trip to one of the two places one can buy beer in this city of 1.5 million people, and filled my beer fridge (yes, dedicated beer fridge! Loving it).

Oh, and the curtains. Forgot about the curtains. You see, one does not want to temp the fasters with the sights and sounds of food and drink. So, in an ever-so-clever ruse, eating establishments that choose to stay open during the day hide their infidel customers from the outside world via curtains. I’m not making this up, it’s true.

OK, then there’s the “call to prayer”. The call to prayer, is the Muslim equivalent of church bells calling you to the church (the mosque in this case) – except for a few very significant, and very noticeable items. First thing we notice is that it’s every day, 5 times a day. Yep, by every day, we mean every day. No days off. Ever. Every day is Sunday. By 5 times a day every day, we're talking about starting at 4:15 am (ish) until the last one around 7 pm (ish). You may have caught the 4:15 am kick-off. Yep, not sunrise (which is more around 6 am), like in the Lawrence of Arabia movies. This is pretty much middle of the night. Pitch dark. Moon out.

Now, what happens you ask? Well, imagine an air raid siren going off outside your house at 4:15 am, every day. I know, you think I’m exaggerating. It can’t be that loud. I would think that too. Cuz you’re thinking: that’s impossible. That just wouldn’t happen. Welcome to Indonesia. J

You see, Indonesians are very fond of technology. And what has technology brought to the call to prayer? Electronic amplification of sound! Typically 4 speakers mounted at the top of the mosque tower (called the minaret) facing the 4 cardinal directions. The louder the better. I know what you’re thinking. Why not just live outside of earshot of the mosque. Well, we would all love there to be 50 square centimeters of Bogor where that would be true. That 50 square centimeters just doesn’t exist. In fact, it’s more like Mosque wars than anything else. Whoever is the loudest wins. However, I am told by the Christians that you learn to sleep through it. We’ll see.

Interestingly, and somehow more incredulous than ever, now that it’s Ramadan, the 4:15 am kick-off has been shifted ever so slightly earlier to 2 am. Yep, screaming microphones at 2 am in the dead of night. First time it happened I launched out of bed thinking I was having a heart attack. You see, everyone has to get up earlier so they can make food, feed the family, do the usual morning routine, and then get to the mosque, all before sunrise. By the time people get to work, they have been up and moving for 6 hours or so. So when do Muslims sleep?, you ask. Good question.

Ramadan Mubarak