The Ramadan Gestapo

I actually wrote this during Ramadan and put it on my myspace page. nobody reads myspace blogs. So I stick it here for your reading pleasure, or not.

Sunday, September 30, 2007

Ramadan and The Saudi Religious Gestapo Category: Religion and Philosophy It is now the month of Ramadan in the Muslim world. Ramadan is something people hear about outside of this area, but unless you've actually been here duing this time you can't quite understand what it's about. Ramadan requires all Muslims to fast from sun up until sundown. It is supposedly a time of experiencing God's mercy. I guess you take the food, sex and pleasure away during the daylight hours (even though there was not much of it here to begin with) and you appreciate it more at night. You begin to appreciate the little things I suppose, and where they supposedly come from. But here is how this stuff works on the ground for non-Muslims living in Saudi during Ramadan. We are not allowed to be seen eating or indulging during daylight hours. Some Filipinos were arrested and jailed last year for this I heared. A fellow teacher at the college I work at was in Khobar last weekend and was pulled over by the police being "suspected of eating." The police told him that someone had tipped them off. It is true that he had been eating. The police let him go after he showed them his passport. Luckily, he did not get the treatment those with a different skin color get here. There is in Saudi Arabia an institution known as the Mutawwa, "religious police." They are far more prevelant and difficult to deal with in large cities such as Riyadh. I have not heard of them being a problem here. But some teachers believe there are Mutawwa students in some of our classes. I am not sure if the guys who pulled my friend over were Mutawwa or not; but even if they weren't, there is a fine line here between morality police and police qua police, which is expected in a police state.