{"id":29134,"date":"2013-07-09T13:45:12","date_gmt":"2013-07-09T09:45:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/?p=29134"},"modified":"2013-07-09T13:45:13","modified_gmt":"2013-07-09T09:45:13","slug":"a-lost-ramadan-tradition-where-have-the-drummers-gone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/middle-east-society\/a-lost-ramadan-tradition-where-have-the-drummers-gone\/","title":{"rendered":"A Lost Ramadan Tradition: Where Have the Drummers Gone?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"drummer11\"<\/a><\/p>\n

With Ramadan starting in a couple of days, you can feel the excitement mounting in preparation for the Holy Month of fasting.
\nIn the UAE, the faithful are expected to start the dawn to dusk fast on Wednesday depending on the visual sighting of the crescent moon.<\/p>\n

It is a month of spiritual reflection, improvement and increased devotion and worship.Ramadan also inculcates such virtues as self-discipline, self-control,\u00a0sacrifice and empathy for those who are less fortunate. It encourages acts of generosity and compulsory charity or zakat.Daytime life slows down considerably during Ramadan and most expats leave the Emirates, especially as the Holy Month has been in the summer for the past few years.But after iftar — or breaking of the fast \u2013 at sunset and the special Taraweeh prayers at the mosque, everyone is out and about until suhoor, the meal just before dawn.
\nI find the Taraweeh magical and usually rush home after work at 9 pm to sit in the garden and follow them from the mosque next door. (See Ramadan Taraweeh: A 14-century legacy).<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Taraweeh are special prayers featuring recitations of the Quran after\u00a0‘Isha\u00a0(the last evening prayer). They are performed at the mosque, where the congregation prays and listens to passages from the Quran.About a thirtieth of the Qur’an is recited each evening so that by the end of the blessed month, the entire Holy Book would have been completed.Attending\u00a0Taraweeh\u00a0in congregation at the mosque after\u00a0‘Isha\u00a0is recommended but non-compulsory. They are a very popular and anticipated feature of the day.<\/p>\n

Although I don\u2019t observe Ramadan, it is still a month that holds great memories accumulated over the years.Ramadan is all about the spirit of giving and communal gatherings, whether with friends or participating with family.Every year I look forward to writing these Ramadan posts and you can read some past ones from the links below.\u00a0This year I was looking back on my time in Sidi Bou Said (Tunisia) and Beirut, when we used to wake up to the M\u2019tabbel or M\u2019sahhir \u2013 the Ramadan drummer that is.
\nJust before dawn, Muslims observe suhoor — the pre-fast meal \u2013 followed by the fajr prayer, the first of the day.<\/p>\n

In times gone by, the Ramadan drummers would walk the streets, beating their drums to wake people up in time for suhoor. It is a tradition that dates back to the Ottoman Empire and is dying away with the onset of technology.Urban living and high-rise buildings make it more difficult for the drummer to be heard. In some places it is considered noise pollution. It is also thought that with mobile phones and alarm clocks, there is no danger of sleeping through suhoor.\u00a0But we used to look forward to the M\u2019tabbel passing through the neighborhood.\u00a0He was known to most residents and often survived through the tips he was given at the end of the Holy Month for Eid.<\/p>\n

The M\u2019tabbel would walk the streets, often joined by children and would beat his drum three times every couple of houses while chanting. He was invariably invited to share people\u2019s suhoor, a cup of tea or juice at one home or another because he wouldn\u2019t get back to his own in time.\u00a0Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar and its annual observance is one of the five pillars of Islam considered obligatory by believers and the foundation of Muslim life: belief, worship, charitable giving, fasting during the month of Ramadan and the pilgrimage to Mecca for Hajj at least once in a lifetime.\u00a0The pillars are mentioned in the Quran and summarized in the famous hadith of the Angel Gabriel. The hadith attributed to Abu Hurairah (Sahih al-Bukhari, 1:2:48) goes like this:
\nOne day while the Prophet (PBUH) was sitting in the company of some people, (The Angel) Gabriel came and asked, “What is faith?” Allah’s Apostle replied, \u201cFaith is to belief in Allah, His angels, (the) meeting with Him, His Apostles, and to believe in Resurrection.”<\/p>\n

Then he further asked, “What is Islam?” Allah’s Apostle replied, “To worship Allah Alone and none else, to offer prayers perfectly, to pay the compulsory charity (zakat) and to observe fasts during the month of Ramadan.”\u00a0Then he further asked, “What is Ihsan (perfection)?” Allah’s Apostle replied, “To worship Allah as if you see Him, and if you cannot achieve this state of devotion then you must consider that He is looking at you.”\u00a0Then he further asked, “When will the Hour be established?” Allah’s Apostle replied, “The answerer has no better knowledge than the questioner. But I will inform you about its portents.<\/p>\n

\u2022 \u201cWhen a slave (lady) gives birth to her master.
\n\u2022 \u201cWhen the shepherds of black camels start boasting and competing with others in the construction of tall buildings. And the Hour is one of five things which nobody knows except Allah.\u201d
\nThe Prophet then recited: “Verily, with Allah (Alone) is the knowledge of the Hour.” (31.34)\u00a0Then that angel (Gabriel) left and the Prophet asked his companions to call him back, but they could not see him. Then the Prophet said, “That was Gabriel who came to teach the people their religion.”<\/p>\n

Abu Abdullah said: He (the Prophet) considered all that as a part of faith.\u00a0Are there still, I wonder, Ramadan drummers waking the faithful for suhoor?\u00a0Are there any in Dubai that we could join on their route?
\nI wish my readers who will be fasting a Ramadan Kareem and syam ma2boul.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MICH CAFE: It’s a feature of Ramadan that I grew up with – the M’tabeel passing through the neighbourhood beating their drums. Not any more however. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":29141,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[154,173,482,73,5,187],"tags":[17584,17579,17589,711,91,17586,707,18290,16496,17585,17578,17587,17588],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29134"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29134"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29144,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29134\/revisions\/29144"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}