Ramadan Kareem Abdul Jabbar

We're currently trying to get through the holy (to some) month of Ramadan. That means no eating, drinking, smoking or fornicating between the sunrise and sunset. Like, nothing. Like, at all.

Having suffered through it before, I can tell you it's not much of a diet after all. They more than make up for the lost calories through the 14-course meals that follow at sunset. Every day. Oh man. Many things can be said about the Middle East (and most of them not very flattering), but they do know their food. 

But, falafels and köftes aside I'm glad I'm not there now. This also happens to be the hottest time of the year,so the idea of not drinking is even less appealing. And there's nothing quite like the taxi drivers to prove my point. 

Even at their best (outside Ramadan) they're the most useless profession out there. They can't read, drive cars that are held together with elaborately placed duct tape, don't speak your language, won't follow instructions, don't know how to drive to where you're going and cheat you out of every dinar you have.

But during Ramadan, deprived of their dietary staples of cigarettes and coffee... Whoah. The wrath is unbelievable. 

The ever-changing nature of the Islamic calendar poses some serious challenges for Muslims outside Middle East as well. The fast starts at sunrise and ends at sunset. That, combined with the Scandinavian summer with its 20+ hours of sunshine makes for a very arduous fast indeed...

Coincidentally, last Sunday was also Tish b'Av, the other one of the big Jewish fast days commemorating all sorts of tragedies that throughout the history have managed to fall on that ominous date. Which means...that for that one day in a way that has not been seen since the Spanish inquisition the Jews and Muslims actually suffered together!