The atmosphere of Ramadan live

Ramadan, the Muslim fasting month, has begun. This is how it looked on the day these photos were taken, on the first day of Ramadan. I will try to bring that atmosphere closer to you through experiences.

Hasan and I have been greeting each other from afar, we have known each other for twenty-five years, he is like our brother to us at BUBO. He is older now, but I remember how he always fell in love with Slovenes, then wrote letters, made phone calls. He chose the older ones, they didn't have those here in the Sahara. A fat woman is like a blanket, Lubo, she keeps you warm at night. He laughed as I marveled at his taste. Luba, if you want to take revenge on a man, send him a beautiful woman. Beautiful women are a curse. And he danced and drummed until morning.

 

Now cocooned in a jalabiya with a scarf on his head, he has been waiting with four jeeps since morning. Bedouins are used to waiting, an hour, a day, a week, in the desert things are done carefully and calmly. And so Hasan had been waiting since sunrise today. It would beat me personally, but he's cool. We hug each other, throw our luggage from our bus into our cars and leave. The cars don't have air conditioning, it would break anyway in the ubiquitous sand, we put on our glasses, put the scarves we bought on our heads and open the windows. Some, especially our children, jumped on the roof, where the local air conditioning works even better. We arrive at the huge mud house - kasbah already at three in the afternoon. walls, a courtyard with a garden without a single tree, a flat roof where some are going to sleep, because it never rains here.

However, dark black clouds roll in from the Sahara, which is as rare as snow in summer. I look at my watch, we made the trip in record time, we usually arrived after dark, but now we still have time for the program. Hasan, what are we going to do? Do you have the skis and snowboard? Which are your camels? I fire questions at him like an AK 47. But Hasan doesn't answer, then blurts out that the program is no longer there, there's a desert storm, let's fold and wait... Only now I noticed that he's kind of out of energy. As I organized the division in the jeeps for us to switch luggage, I didn't even notice that Hasan was different.

When we greeted each other, we hugged, patted each other on the shoulders. But then he was driving a different jeep than the one I was sitting in. Did he smile at all? But yes, he smiled when we hugged, but not since then. Is he sick? He got old, that's true. It crosses my mind if he wants to sell us to Al-Qaeda, that is now fashionable in the Sahara and the Sahara is a very dangerous place these days. Hasan's cousins, the Tuaregs, want to establish their own state, and terrorism is at its highest level. But again - the Sahara is the safest in Morocco, besides, I am like a brother to Hasan and Bedouin honor is above all else. He would never betray me, never!

I look at him, he didn't even move, that it has no meaning, so I take the people myself and leave Hasan with his friends and the Koran in his hands.

We are riding camels and snowboarding ourselves, just like we started in 1995. Back then we carried our skis all the way from Slovakia in a bus. Morocco was as far away as Kiribati is today.

The Sahara is fascinating just like the mountains. My friends from Germany fell in love with the world's largest desert and traveled here for decades. They photographed and painted the Sahara, which they considered the most beautiful part of our planet. In recent years, however, they abandoned their hobby precisely because of terrorists. I personally risked it a few times and crossed the Sahara from Sudan, through Ennedi in the east to Timbuktu Mauritania in the west. The region is truly fascinating. I spent many months here, experienced all kinds of things, gathered experiences that can only be gained by trying things, doing things. Allah sells knowledge for work, only when you do, you learn things, otherwise it is not possible, say the Bedouins. Often there is nothing to do here for long hours, people think, talk about ancient truths and then share them with friends.

Moroccan Sahara is clearly the most affordable these days, I wouldn't take my children anywhere else, but it's cool here (and especially with Hasan).

Now children frolic on the dunes, ride camels, sandboard, they laugh... until the wind picks up. Then I'll take the people back quickly, because if the sand stirs, you'll get lost and that's the end of you. In the Sahara, a person gets lost in ten square meters, I've already experienced that. Everything is suddenly the same, you turn in the wrong direction, a dune covers the road and after ten steps you are in a completely different place. You get out of the jeep, you go behind the dune to relieve yourself so that people don't see you, the wind blows, you turn to the side, you take two more steps, you have your mobile phone in your bag in the jeep, you look at the sun, you step forward and make a mistake.

This also happens when taking pictures, once I got lost like this north of Fay Largeau in Chad. Then I ran to the highest peak to see where ours were headed The nature is so beautiful that I forgot myself, I took pictures and took pictures, and when I raised my head, I was alone, nobody was anywhere, it was blowing, the rocks (this was not the sand Sahara) were howling, I didn't even have a bottle of water... Man he just teaches. I would never do it again.

When your car breaks down in the Sahara, Ľuba, start it right away. Don't think, just light it. Someone (maybe) will see the fire and smoke and come from afar. If you light it in three days, it may be too late for you. It doesn't matter if it's night or day, start your car. In the jeeps, we waved fifty-liter barrels of water between us. Water, water, water, that's the basis. The Sahara is extremely dangerous for the inexperienced.

They caught up to our castle, we have sand everywhere, we shake off our shoes, clean our heads as best we can. Of course, there is no shower here. Hasan and his friends are sitting in the back of the kazbah, which is built like a fortress, where I said goodbye to him. As if he has malaria, he does not move at all, but there is no malaria here in the Sahara. In cities, Muslims visit mosques in droves, as we do churches during Christmas, but here there is no mosque. So they don't do anything.

And when will dinner be? I ask. The answer is a hostile look. He stabs me with it, purses his lips, says nothing. When it gets dark, in an hour, he says finally. But I can ask, can't I? He didn't do anything all day and he's not doing anything now. Well, I'm starting to smell it Bedouin women are cooking harira in the back. This is my favorite soup. It's really fantastic. Tomatoes, chickpeas and especially the amazing spices. The Bedouins do it with herbs that are not found anywhere else. I like it here the best, but that's also because I'm always terribly hungry here.

Lyuba, your people will get to eat in the dining room, you come here to our yard, come, he says, in an hour. He sent me away.

I'll be back in an hour, I was taking pictures of the sunset, it's late, after the storm, not a word or a sound. The moon has been in the sky for a long time, a thin sickle, now the stars are starting to peek out. They are the most beautiful in the world in the Sahara. They are more beautiful than in the mountains, there are no clouds, smog, the sky is clear. It's been dark for half an hour, the table is set. A wooden table, a beautiful embroidered tablecloth, high-quality white-blue ceramics, which Morocco is famous for. Everyone is sitting down, I'm hungry as a wolf, I ate lunch last time, I'd get down to it right now. However, the Bedouins did not eat from the morning, from sunrise, they did not take anything into their mouths, they did not even drink. The men have now changed their clothes, they have clean blue robes, beautiful scarves on their heads and are preparing to pray. Hasan as the boss starts to pray and he prays for a long time, his head bowed and suddenly I don't feel hungry, but I feel a wonderful atmosphere. Now that I'm writing this, it's like I'm sitting there with them. I look around alone, this desert palace as if from the Middle Ages, men like from the time when Jesus was born, nothing here is modern, only mobile phones laid out on the table, but there is still no signal.

Each of us puts a date in our mouth. Sweet, wonderful, great experience. Then Hasan passes around a bowl of camel milk and everyone, including me, takes a sip. This is the beginning. Then comes the harira, it's hot, fragrant, amazing, if you ever have a chance try that soup, it's famous and I've eaten it all over the world. But here in Morocco it is the best. Everyone eats with great grace, slowly, when I see it, I start to act like them, as if we are not in the Sahara, but in a castle. Lambs and chickens come next, eggs, cheeses, iftar (here they call it ftour), what is the name of this evening gluttony, is an experience.

And then everyone starts laughing, we all laugh, the silence drowns out our conversations, cakes, sellou, chebaki with tons of sesame appear on the table and millions of stars above us.

Ramadan shows a person how to live to the poor, who often see such a view. There are still many of those people in Africa, but also all over the world. Many eat only once a day, many only every other day. They only have meat for a big holiday, maybe once a year, and even the little bit of chicken that seems to have died out of sight has almost no meat on it. Or dried fish, it's not even meat. They add a meat or fish flavor to the dish, but it is not real meat. Never. I experienced Ramadan maybe ten times in the Muslim world, but right here in the Sahara it was Ramadan as it used to be, I felt its strong spirituality.

Remembering the poor is important for us Muslims. If you have a lot, give ten percent of your wealth. If you have little, give your heart. That's what Hasan tells me, he takes the drum in his hands, gets up and we go among the other people. He begins to play, sing and dance. Hasan has suddenly become younger, he is smiling again, he is again the way I know him, full of energy. I can't rule and I go to bed at three, but the Bedouins win until the morning, those who they said that they had never experienced anything like this before.

The first day of Ramadan is the hardest. It takes a while for the body to get used to fasting. Not eating anything and not even drinking anything. Energy must be saved. To be among loved ones, to share experiences. Together we will always get more of them, we will come further. You know, in the desert wise men travel with a caravan, only fools alone. And it's the same in life.

Ramadan: it is the holiest month of Muslims, one of the pillars of Islam.

The Koran was revealed to Prophet Muhammad during Ramadan. Muslims fast, give charity and pray for 30 days the great celebration of Eid Al Fitr. The opening photo was taken during Ramadan in a mosque in the city of Fez.

Article source: https://bubo.sk/blog/zacina-sa-ramadan

Article author: Ľuboš Fellner