Ramadhan in Cairo

(Read My Previous Visits to Cairo Here)I was happy that I did not need to travel in Ramadhan (month of fasting) this year (2011). It is difficult to go to a foreign land and arrange for suhar (fast starting meal before sun rise) & iftaar (fast breaking meal after sunset) and keep fast. But what has to happen has to happen. Just a week before Eid I was asked to travel to Egypt. Partly I was happy because I was going to a Muslim country. It would be nice to see & feel Ramadhan spirit there. I have celebrated Ramadhan in Iran (Read Iran Visit), Germany & Sweden in past.

Long Long Fast

Soon I was on a flight to Cairo. I arranged my flights in such a way that I could eat iftaar food on the plane. The fast duration shortens when you travel towards east. Going to Cairo was easier, my fast shortened by 1 & half hour, I was happy. The captain announced at the time of sunset and we were served with dates and water by Egypt Air crew, followed by yummy hot meal.

It was tough on the way back though. My fast expanded by hours. We were flying with the sun and it was not setting down! So much so that we were circling over London city waiting for our turn to land and people below had broken fast but we couldn’t because sun was visible from above. (Heathrow airport is so busy that planes have to queue to land and wait for long time up to 20 mins). I kept asking one crew member again and again, is it time? He was also fasting and serving passengers with visibly dry lips. He kept comforting me, don’t worry I will tell you. But time only came when we were literally going down for landing. He gave me (& others fasting) a bag of food and then sat down on his seat for landing. As I understand, while travelling fast is started & ended based on the local timings wherever you happen to be at the time.

Wrong Iftaar,  KGB & Girl

This reminds me of an Uzbekistan Airways flight I took from Karachi to London via Tashket in 1996. It was Ramadhan and I was fasting. We were flying above Europe somewhere. When the iftaar time came according to Pakistan where I had started my fast, I declared that I have to break fast and that hostess must serve me the food, which she did indeed. Though sun was shining loud & clear outside. I persuaded or rather commanded the girl sitting next to me to break the fast also. May Allah forgive me for that.

Talking about that girl, she was studying in Birmingham. We stopped in Tashkent for a stopover. It was an old rusty airport. There were many old planes laying on ground, rotting away. Suddenly police took that girl away for some kind of investigation. I was a bit scared; Russian KGB’s reputation is not that good. She was released just before we boarded our flight for London. I enquired her as she sat next to me. There was something about my passport they were not sure, she replied.

Egyptian Celebrations & Decorations

OK, coming to the subject, Ramadhan in Cairo. Sign of Ramadhan were evident in the city. Mosques were decorated with lights and the streets were also prettified with colourful flags and buntings (jhudiyan) similar to what is done on Eid Milad ul Nabi SAW in Pakistan. This was nice. Shopping was also on the rise, especially after iftaar. All buildings including offices & hotels were decorated inside also. All displaying colourful Lanterns and other beautiful ornaments. Fanoos or Lantern is a must for children. Kids used to make these during Ramadhan traditionally which were lit with candles. Tradition goes on; though China makes lanterns now and these are lit with Bulb and Batteries.

Foods

There are some foods which are only made during Ramadhan. These include special Baqlawa (Arabic sweets) and some bakery items which include Qatayef, Feteer and Kunafah. Feteer is a layered pastry like bread. It was present at the suhar so I ate it. Then there is Konafah; my favourite. It is a sweet made with layers of vermicelli (savaiaan) with cheese or cream in the middle; so yummy, the best I tried was in Jordan.

The end of fast was traditionally announced with cannon from top of Citadel at Moqattam hills but not anymore; the voice of azaan does the job.

The hotel was offering sahri breakfast from 3 am. I went down to the hall and filled myself with all sorts of foods especially Foul Medemes, a traditional breakfast Egyptian dish made with red beans, (similar to cholay – chickpeas). It was excellent in keeping hunger away for hours. There were not many people on suhar.

Famous Egyptian Museum

I was staying very next to Ahraam (Pyramids). I wanted to visit these but weather was too hot to go. Instead I visited the mummies in famous Egyptian Museum.  This is an excellent museum filled with 1000s of historical items. There are many mummies in it including Ramesses 2 which is commonly believed to be the Farrow (Firaon) that involved with Moses (Musa AS) but this is probably not true. He is kept in a separate room and requires $15 fees in addition to normal fees. I didn’t bother going in, no charm for me, keep waiting Ramesses 2Ramesses II Ramesses II Ramesses II Ramesses II Ramesses II Ramesses II Ramesses II. No doubt he is the most famous Firaon who lived a rather long life of 90 years and witnessed many his children die before passing away. He ruled for nearly 66 years. Egyptians usually removed their kings after 30 years, Mubarak went after 30, is it a coincidence or….

An interesting fact is that there is no hard metal (such as iron) object present in the museum; mostly these are gold or silver. It is surprising how they carved stones and built huge pyramids without any hard tools. Looking at the objects makes it clear that they were quire advanced in many aspects like designing, building, furniture, fabrics, stitching etc etc. I saw King Tutankhamun’s underwear (didn’t touch it!). Its stitching is so unimaginably fine that it looks like machine made though it is only 3300 years old. And this King had a folding bed which accompanies him on travels. It is a shame that taking pictures is not allowed. I smuggled the camera inside but didn’t use it.

Read my next Visit (Sept 2011) Here