Category Archives: Ramadan

Ramadan in Gaza: ‘We used to adorn our street, now everything around us is bleak’

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Displaced families prepare to spend holy month in Rafah amid food shortages and fear of attack

Seventy days after they were forced to leave their house in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, Hanaa al-Masry, her husband and their six children are preparing for Ramadan in their new home: a dilapidated tent. Here, there will be no decorations, no joyous family meals and no reading of the Qur’an under the lemon and orange trees in the garden.

The Muslim holy month – a time for friends and family as well as religious contemplation, prayer and fasting – starts on Monday and will be like none that anyone in Gaza can remember.

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‘Waiting for the storm’: Israelis and Palestinians fear difficult week as Ramadan starts

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Key site is al-Aqsa mosque on what Jews call the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Peaceful access for Muslims could send a message of calm

Israelis and Palestinians are bracing themselves for a tense and ­potentially violent week, with no sign of a ­ceasefire likely in Gaza and calls from Hamas for protest marches around the Islamic world to mark the start of Ramadan on Monday.

Earlier this month, a halt to hostilities before the Muslim holy month looked possible, but hopes have dimmed since indirect talks in Cairo ended without progress last week.

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Victorian premier cancels iftar dinner after boycott announced by peak Muslim bodies

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Jacinta Allan says event will not go ahead out of respect to those in the community that grieving over the war in Gaza

The Victorian government has cancelled its annual iftar dinner after the state’s peak body for Muslims and other community groups announced they would not attend the event due to Labor’s position on the war in Gaza.

The premier, Jacinta Allan, confirmed next month’s event would not go ahead out of respect to those in the Victorian Muslim community who were grieving.

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Israel says it will launch Rafah assault if hostages not freed by Ramadan

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Minister says fighting will reach southern border city if remaining hostages not released in next few weeks

A member of Israel’s war cabinet has said the country will launch its threatened ground offensive against Rafah, the last place of relative safety in Gaza, if Hamas does not release its remaining Israeli hostages by the beginning of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan in just under three weeks.

“The world must know, and Hamas leaders must know – if by Ramadan our hostages are not home, the fighting will continue everywhere, including the Rafah area,” Benny Gantz, a retired Israel Defense Forces (IDF) chief of staff, told a conference of American Jewish leaders in Jerusalem on Sunday.

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Hit TV drama sparks calls for reform of Egypt’s oppressive guardianship law

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Under Guardianship, broadcast during Ramadan, highlights the issues faced by women and children after the death of a father

Two Egyptian MPs have called for a review of the country’s guardianship law, prompted by the success of a TV drama broadcast during Ramadan.

On thursday, House representatives Amira El Adly and Mohamed Ismail submitted separate requests to the speaker of the house and to the justice minister to examine the impact of a law that critics say unfairly targets women and harms families.

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Tensions run high across Israel after car ramming attack leaves tourist dead

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Further violence feared after Arab-Israeli man drives his vehicle into busy city promenade following a West Bank shooting

On 8 April 2022, a Palestinian gunman entered a crowded bar in Tel Aviv, Israel’s commercial capital, and opened fire, killing three people and wounding 10. This weekend, on the anniversary of that attack, an Arab-Israeli man rammed his car into pedestrians on the city’s seaside promenade, killing an Italian tourist and injuring seven more people.

That attack followed a shooting earlier in the day in the north of the occupied West Bank that killed two British-Israeli sisters, aged 15 and 20, and left their 48-year-old mother in critical condition after their car veered off the road.

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Lebanon split into two time zones in row over daylight saving

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Government’s last-minute decision to delay clocks going forward caused confusion and deepened religious division

The Lebanese government’s last-minute decision to delay the start of daylight savings time by a month until the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan has resulted in mass confusion.

With some institutions implementing the change while others refused, many Lebanese have found themselves in the position of juggling work and school schedules in different time zones – in the same small country.

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Sadiq Khan switches on London’s first Ramadan lights in Piccadilly Circus

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Mayor turns on display made up of 30,000 sustainable lights on eve of Muslim month of fasting

Sadiq Khan has switched on the London’s first ever celebratory Ramadan lights, in Piccadilly Circus.

It is the first time a European city has seen such a grand display for the festival, with the installation featuring 30,000 sustainable lights.

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Blast at Kabul mosque kills more than 50 worshippers

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Explosion in Afghan capital is latest in string of attacks on civilians during Ramadan

A powerful explosion has killed more than 50 worshippers after Friday prayers at a Kabul mosque, the latest of a series of attacks on civilian targets in Afghanistan during Ramadan.

The blast hit the Khalifa Sahib mosque in the west of the capital in the early afternoon, according to Besmullah Habib, the deputy spokesperson for the interior ministry.

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Israeli troops raid town of Palestinian gunman who killed three in Tel Aviv

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Gun battle in occupied West Bank leaves at least one Palestinian militant dead, according to Israeli and Palestinian accounts

Israeli troops on Saturday raided the home town of a Palestinian who carried out a deadly shooting in Tel Aviv, causing a gun battle in the occupied West Bank that left at least one Palestinian militant dead, according to Israeli and Palestinian accounts.

The arrest raid was the latest in a series of events that have escalated tensions during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Clashes and protests in Jerusalem last year helped spark an 11-day war with Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.

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Yemen’s warring sides accept two-month truce starting with Ramadan

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Agreement comes after significant escalation in bloody conflict between Saudi-led coalition and Houthi rebels

Yemen’s warring sides have accepted a two-month truce, starting with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, according to the UN envoy to the country.

Hans Grundberg announced the agreement from Amman, Jordan, after meeting separately with both sides in the country’s brutal civil war. He said he hoped the truce would be renewed after two months.

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Scores injured in second night of Jerusalem clashes

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Palestinian Red Crescent says 80 people were hurt during clashes with Israeli police outside Jerusalem’s Old City

Clashes have erupted for a second night between Palestinians and Israeli police outside the Old City of Jerusalem as tens of thousands of Muslim worshippers prayed at the nearby al-Aqsa Mosque.

At least 80 people were injured, including a one-year-old, and 14 were taken to hospital, the Palestine Red Crescent said. Israeli police said at least one officer was hurt.

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Ramadan night markets: Sydneysiders celebrate at Lakemba after sunset – photo essay

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From chips on a stick to camel burgers and kanafeh, crowds come to Lakemba’s annual street bazaar for the food and the energy

When the Canterbury Bankstown council announced it had cancelled the annual and extremely popular Ramadan night markets in Lakemba, there was disappointment all round.

The markets have grown to become a staple during Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar when Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset.

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‘If we don’t give, people don’t eat’: Yemen focus of UK Ramadan giving

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As Britain cuts aid to war-torn country on brink of famine Muslim charities are directing donations towards feeding population

The Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, which started this week, is the biggest period of giving for UK Muslims.

According to research by the Muslim Charities Forum, in 2018 the UK’s estimated 3.5 million Muslims donated more than £120m to global charitable causes during Ramadan, at a rate of £46 every second.

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Global report: Muslims face curfews ahead of Eid amid Covid-19 crisis

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Pandemic subdues Ramadan festivities as Taliban declares ceasefire; Spain and Greece to welcome tourists

Muslims worldwide prepared to celebrate Eid under lockdown, with the strictest governments bringing in 24-hour curfews for the holiday – but across the world the slow march is continuing out of coronavirus quarantine.

For the first time since the beginning of the outbreak, China said it had recorded no new cases of the virus; Spain joined Greece in saying it would be reopening to foreign tourists from July, and also said its football league would start again next month.

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Ramadan TV dramas signal shift in Arab-Israeli relations

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Two popular Middle Eastern series stir surprise with pro-Israel messages backed by Saudi Arabia

Nightfall during Ramadan in the Middle East is drama time, when Arab soap operas accompany evening feasts with fare of feuds, historical heroes and villains and forbidden love. This year though, programmers have broached new ground using the popular shows to highlight a normalisation with Israel.

Two series broadcast across the region in the first three days of the Muslim holy month have stirred both surprise and contention – one by daring to explore the Jewish history of the Gulf, the other by suggesting that Israel may not be an enemy and that Palestinians have been ungrateful for Saudi Arabia’s support.

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Ramadan begins amid coronavirus restrictions as Trump ‘disinfectant’ theory dismissed

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Countries with Muslim populations wrestle with best way to observe holy month amid outcry over US president’s latest suggestion

The governments of nations with large Muslim populations were divided on coronavirus restrictions as Ramadan began, with with some easing lockdowns while others enacted travel bans.

As the Muslim holy month was set to begin, US health experts rushed to warn against Donald Trump’s suggestion of exploring the use of UV light on people and injecting disinfectant as a way of combatting coronavirus.

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