Ramadan’s Here! Yeah…So What’s on TV?

So Ramadan is over, and so is Eid Al Fitr and people are back to their normal lives. From ones who are back home feeling refreshed after having spent their vacation with their families abroad, to students who feel excited preparing themselves for a new school year, to employees who drag themselves back to their offices, starting whole new working weeks with whole new targets.

For readers who don’t know what Ramadan is, it is the ninth month of the Islamic Calender and is considered to Muslims all around the world as one of the holiest months of the year. Lasting for 29 to 30 days, in this month, Muslims abstain from food and drink from dawn to sunset. By fasting, Muslims believe and hope they can learn the discipline and self-restraint that Prophet Mohamed (PBUH) preached. Hence fasting is taken as a form of worship and a time of self empowerment.

This doesn’t at all mean that food is entirely out of the picture of course. Two main meals are taken each day during Ramadan. The “suhoor”, which begins each day before dawn, and the “iftar”, which breaks the fast after sunset, and of course…the many nibblings and snick snacks we have right after iftar up till suhoor :)

In spite of the many beautiful deeds that are performed during this month, and in spite of the vast number of Muslims who still remain to hold on to everything good in this month, Ramadan has unfortunately grown to be more commercial year after year.

Instead of airing programs of spiritual remembrances during this month (not to mention all year long), television channels become bombarded with excessive, almost revolting, amounts of meaningless Arabic TV series and advertisements. From ads that advertise cooking oils that feature a husband appreciating and loving his wife more after using oil “X” in her cooking, to a new - almost unknown - brand of crisps being viewed as a vital almost inseparable component of every family’s daily iftar, to mobile service providers fiercely competing over the lowest (closest to ‘zero’) per minute rate with a marketing message communicating an increased need to connect with your loved ones during Ramadan (because you obviously don’t love them as much during any other time during the year).

But as I said, this phenomenon has in fact been a part of a rising trend in recent years, and hence has not come to surprise me only this year. What did grab my attention however and made me suddenly stop and think is a new experience I had this Ramadan.

As part of a community service organization that I am a member of, I was lucky enough to take part this year in iftar gatherings that were set to cover different segments of people in need in Egypt. Among the many visits that this organization hosted, the most special visit to me and the one which touched me the most was a visit we made to an elderly home for elders of very limited financial capabilities.

Being the first time for me to visit an elderly home, I always hoped that the day I would visit such a place I would most importantly focus on spending time with the elders than do anything else. So I did, and that was by far one of the most beautiful experiences I’ve ever had. The smiles that spread on their wrinkled faces as they looked back at their lives and told a million’s worth stories of how they used to live in their earlier homes and how they brought up their kids. The smiles that continued to spread on their faces as they told stories that you know deep inside of you are almost heartbreaking to them of how some of their kids had left them in these elderly homes years back and almost rarely visited them throughout the years. And how amidst telling us these stories, one of them would so desperately reach for an old dusted photo frame she has of her son standing next to his bride on his wedding night, and points at him and so proudly says “that’s my son, standing right there!”, even though you know that this son has probably not visited in such a long a long time…yet she continues to smile. The tears they try to hold back in their wrinkled – almost closed – eyes as we hug them, walk to the door and say good bye until we see them the next time we visit.

But how is this experience related in any way to how commercial Ramadan has become, you may ask?

As much as this experience was uplifting and enriching to me, as much as it was deeply heartbreaking and disappointing at the same time. It was heartbreaking to know that besides the people who visit such elderly homes, most Egyptians would not imagine how badly conditioned these homes are. Such lack of awareness on how desperately in need these homes are to financial donations is mainly a result of poorly directed media. It’s true that orphanages and children hospitals are in need of financial contributions, but they’re only one segment of people in need among many. Ramadan advertisements cannot direct potential donators only towards certain segments like orphanages and totally ignore other segments, such as elderly homes, which on the other hand may actually be in much more need to such financial aid than orphanages.

Financial aid is only one form of support that can be given to such places. What’s more important is the emotional support that should be given to such elders, not just during Ramadan but all year long. It’s important that among the many ads designed to promote donations to orphanages, some would also be targeted to help support elderly homes.

Finally, it’s true that some people may sometimes view such visits as painful and agonizing to see certain segments in society live in such need; be it an elderly home, an orphanage or a school for disabled children. Although I know it may be hard, I would encourage everyone to try to take the extra step and visit these places. This is because however much you feel blessed with the many gifts that Allah has granted you, whether it was health, family, education or money (to name a few), you will never feel as blessed nor grateful until you see how other people may have not been granted the same chances that you’ve been given. With such visits, I promise you to enjoy a kind of spiritual uplift and inspiration that you may have never felt before and which you will from now on love to have as a vital part of your life.