“Ramadan will start soon; let me try to change my sleeping time this week. I will stay up late watching TV and sleep during the day,” said 22-year-old Awadh Safhi, a few days before the start of the holy month. Shopping, sleeping and watching TV programs have become the lifestyle of people during Ramadan these days, especially now that the holy month takes place in the summer. It is hard to find many people in the streets or shopping malls during the morning in Ramadan as many of them are fast asleep. However, by 10:00 A.M., you can find workers climbing into their air-conditioned cars to drive to their places of employment where the hours have been reduced from eight to six for the duration of the holy month. Forty years ago in Jeddah, the lifestyle of people during Ramadan was completely different. Ali Yousef Masrahi, 69, who for 35 years worked as a welder for the Dallah Company in Jeddah, told Saudi Gazette how he spent the days of Ramadan in the past. “I used to wake up early in the morning at Fajr prayer time during Ramadan. After I finished praying, I would ride my bicycle from Al-Nozlah Al-Yemenyah to my place of work in Al-Baghdadiyah which took me from 45 minutes to one hour,” he said. He added that in those days people seemed to have more patience than people have today. “Just imagine that it was summertime, and you had been fasting and working since early morning. It was really hard to work in Ramadan,” he said. “Apart from the hot summer weather, welding machines are always hot,” he added. In the face of the heat and being unable to drink because he was fasting, Masrahi and his colleague invented a way to cool themselves during Ramadan work hours. When they felt thirsty or tired, they filled a large barrel with water and took turns sitting inside it. When he finished working, Masrahi went to the market near his home to buy food for the Iftar meal. “I would pass by the market near my home and buy sobia, milk, bread and sambosa,” he said. In those days, Masrahi did not have home air conditioning. He said that once he arrived home he would spray cold water on his bedsheets and then lie down to have a nap before the Asr prayer. “It was a good way to cool off in the summertime,” he explained. “After the Asr prayer, I returned home to read the Holy Qur'an until Iftar time.” Masrahi said that the radio was the only media they had for entertainment in Ramadan after Iftar. “I would usually sit with my neighbors and relatives after Iftar. We would exchange the latest news and eat a traditional custard. “We used to pray the Taraweeh for the 30 days of the holy month and spend the last ten days at the holy mosque of Makkah for I'tikaf,” he said. “When we finish the Taraweeh prayer, we went home to sleep until Suhoor time,” he said. Masrahi added that the most important lesson that you learn in Ramadan is how to be patient and how to reestablish relationships with those with whom you have had disagreements. “Ramadan is the month for pious works and for increasing and strengthening the relationship with Allah and with people as well,” he said.
