Cait Charles
You may have heard of Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting celebrated in Islamic societies worldwide. During this month, Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset, refraining from both food and drink during daylight hours. This practice brings them closer to Allah, or God. It also comes with a lot of vibrant nightlife. Think festive atmosphere, street food galore, all-night gatherings, and long mornings in bed.
Yesterday, I sat down with a friend from Egypt and a friend from Pakistan and discovered all kinds of little-known, fascinating, and downright mind-blowing Ramadan practices, folklore, and customs.
What’s Ramadan Really About?!
But first, a bit more context: Ramadan is the Muslim holy month. It can only begin when the crescent moon can be seen in the sky; that can vary by country, so in some countries, the fast is starting on the 1st of March this year, and others on the 2nd of March. Aside from fasting from just food and drink, Muslims also fast from “all the bad things”, in the words of a guest on Youtuber Daud Kim’s channel.
That includes sexual desire (no masturbation – that’s breaking the fast, too!), cursing, gossiping, lying/deception, anger, arguing, and more. Whatever the bad things are, you can’t do them while you fast! Some schools of modern Islam also emphasize fasting from negative thoughts and attitudes about others as well as holding grudges and resentment.
Ramadan is a time to slow down, contemplate, and connect with the divine – and of course, also a time to get swept up in some wild celebrations with friends and family every evening after breaking the fast.
Dates for breaking fast in Dahab, Egypt. Photo taken by Alise Pabērza and used with permission. Instagram: @Alisa.pa
Supernatural Beings and Ramadan
Remember the genie from Aladdin? By far the most intriguing bits of folklore my friends shared in connection to Ramadan were all about jinn, the spirits prominent in Middle Eastern and Islamic folklore and whose tales inspired the concept of the ‘genie’ as we know it today.
Jinn, the legends go, are magical creatures who inhabit the earth alongside humans – and sometimes interact with us. There are good jinns and bad jinns.
The good ones pray and have families. The bad ones are all around us, and they live in dirty places like bathrooms. They are known to try to tempt, bring bad luck to, and mess with people in a variety of fun ways – such as by possessing them, throwing stones at them, moving items around in front of them, as well as just engaging in general fuckery and shenanigans.
In Islamic societies, mental illnesses are often thought to be caused by Jinns taking control of human minds. The remedy is to call an exorcist, who then reads the Quran to the victim and touches them in order to heal their ailment and banish the jinn from their mind.
In these cultures, you can also make deals with jinns; this is where the concept of the ‘genie’ that grants three wishes has come from – but I digress.
In Islam, there are both devils (demonic supernatural beings) and Jinn, and devils are believed to be locked up during Ramadan – but Jinn are not, which means that they’re free to roam the earth causing mischief to those who are fasting.
Bad jinns are thought to try to manipulate people during Ramadan by tempting them away from their faith, practice, and prayers, so that they eat or drink or otherwise break the fast or their adherence to tradition and scripture.
As the stories go, they are even more apt to whisper in your ear during Ramadan than they are during other times of the year, and they try to persuade you to sin – but their tomfoolery is not without recourse, so fear not. There is a unique pre-dawn ritual just for Ramadan that involves special prayers asking Allah to keep the jinns away from you.
Little-Known Ramadan Practices and Superstitions
Here’s an interesting one: Some people believe that if you die while fasting during Ramadan, you go straight to heaven, regardless of the sins you’ve committed in your life. Talk about skipping to the good part!
For those adherents who stay alive throughout Ramadan, however, there’s a special nighttime prayer that some participate in in addition to the regular five daily prayers.
This nighttime prayer is called the Tahajjud. While reciting this prayer, there are little timeframes in which you can wish for things, and during these times, it is believed that there’s a higher probability of having one’s prayers answered. The odds of having all one’s sins forgiven are also thought to be higher while saying this prayer. All this sounded to me like a pretty good incentive for Muslims to add an extra prayer to their repertoire for the month!
Ramadan prayer. Photo by Annas Arfnahri. Taken from Unsplash free stock images.
Even better, want to know a cool hack for getting whatever you wish for during Ramadan? Legend has it that during the last ten nights of Ramadan, angels descend from the sky. During one particular hour within these ten days, Allah himself comes down to earth and answers the prayers of whomever is praying fervently at that time–with a 100% guarantee.
Yep, that’s right. Be caught praying at the right time and your prayers will absolutely 100% be answered.
However, the catch is that no one knows exactly when this hour will be, and it’s not the same every year.
If someone prays for the whole ten days and doesn’t get their prayers answered, it could allegedly be because they were sleeping during the hour Allah came down, because they weren’t praying strongly enough, or because they were daydreaming during that hour.
For many adherents, however, it’s still worth a try! And that leads me to the next thing I want to share with you, which stuck with me on a deep level.
My friend from Pakistan shared a practice I had no idea existed in Islam. It’s basically Islam’s answer to the ten-day Vipassana meditation retreats so popular among travelers today.
During the last ten days of Ramadan, some people perform a sacred ritual called ‘Iʿtikāf’. They stay in the mosque for the whole ten days and spend their time praying.
During this period, they’re not allowed to talk to anyone. They’re not allowed to shower. They’re not allowed to do anything other than recite prayers.
They erect a tent of white fabric sheets inside the mosque; there, they reside for the entire ten days, and they’re only allowed to exit the tent for absolute necessities, such as to briefly eat or go to the bathroom.
This practice struck me as something really profound. Over here in Thailand, everyone and their Mom talks about their experiences with meditation retreats, of the difficulty of maintaining silence for ten days and meditating for ten hours per day, and of the deep spiritual experiences they have during retreat – yet, my Pakistani friend has done this intensely meditative Islamic practice that involves way more than ten hours per day. It’s constant prayer the whole time unless you’re eating, sleeping or shitting. He has done this multiple times, and only revealed it when I specifically asked about little-known Islamic rituals during Ramadan.
I couldn’t help but notice that in my world, spiritual experiences are often something to talk about and showcase, whereas for him, this profound practice was something private and unspoken. It left me asking myself how much of my and my peers’ spirituality is truly practiced, and how much is merely performed.
On a lighter note, jinn are known to get involved in Iʿtikāf, too. My Pakistani friend spoke of many reports of supernatural happenings during Iʿtikāf, and even reports of someone going to the mosque during this period and simply vanishing. It seems jinn really can’t stand seeing spiritual progress!
Join the Party
Islamic cultures worldwide are famous for their hospitality, so if you’re visiting a Muslim country during Ramadan, you’ll be able to get involved in the festivities even if you’re not Muslim.
For starters, you can wander the streets after dark and see festive decorations, sample delicious Ramadan-specific delicacies, and observe groups of people celebrating outside together. Make eye contact with someone in one of these groups and you just might be invited to join.
What I really recommend is joining an iftar meal. Iftar is the meal eaten when breaking the fast for the night. Make some local friends and you’re almost guaranteed to be invited to iftar.
Or, join the local/international Facebook and Whatsapp groups and make a post asking where there’s an iftar meal you could join as a non-Muslim. Chances are, you’ll have people eagerly jumping to be the first to host you.
Ask them more about their traditions in between mouthfuls of dates, then let us know what else you find out in the comments section below. Ramadan Kareem!
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