Ramadan Hours and the Last Week of the Holy Month

Ramadan Hours
Ramadan is different from other months. Most companies and Colleges advertise ‘Ramadan Hours’ which are certainly not uniform in Fujairah and the UAE.

Some Colleges start early and finish early. Some clubs open and close later. Some businesses open only after iftar (the evening meal) and their employees work into the early hours of the morning.

Many shops are open until 1.00am or later. Restaurants and cafes that are closed during the fasting hours open their doors later, promising tantalizing Ramadan treats to boost their income.

Most licensed restaurants, bars and clubs are prohibited from selling alcoholic drinks and the ones that normally depend largely on the revenue from customers who like to have a drink, do it hard financially in the holy month.

Nocturnal Creatures
Many Emiratis in Fujairah during Ramadan are like owls, bats and kiwis—they mainly come out at night. Most expats were astonished to learn the hours of the Maktoum Championships Ramadan Tournament, firstly to discover that sport was played in a month of fasting, secondly to hear that the sport was played between the hours of 9pm and midnight and finally to learn that most Emiratis would stay up until the Morning Prayer time!

The Last Ten Days
In the last ten days of Ramadan, there is a special night, Laylat al Qadr (The Night of Power), when believers are rewarded for being engaged in prayer, eager to seek and remember Allah and to read the Koran. This night that is “better than a thousand months” no one but God knows when this time is, so believers are encouraged to be active in worship in order to help prosper their destiny in the next year.

In this last week of Ramadan when faithful believers ‘gird up their loins’ in persistent prayer and disengagement, it is harder for those not observing Ramadan to contact businesses and get things done.

Related
I Know I’m Back in Fujairah during at Ramadan when…FIF.
Ramadan a time for Giving in Fujairah, FIF.
What if the Ramadan Fast is broken by eating food or having sex? ETE.
The UAE offers 10,000 dirhams to quit smoking during Ramadan, ETE.
Ramadan up in the air, ETE.
Can a Christian learn from Ramadan? ETE.
Ramadan in Recession, ETE.
Paying and Cancelling Debts this Ramadan, ETE.
Ramadan Increasingly captive to Commercialism, ETE.
What to wear in the UAE—especially in Ramadan, ETE.
Smoking and Dietary Patches Ease the Pain of Ramadan Fasting, ETE.

Ramadan Kareem!

Geoff Pound

This article is also posted on the Fujairah in Focus Facebook Page upon which many more articles and links are posted than on this blog.