About two-thirds in, and so far I cant help but feel sadly disappointed. I had high expectations given the prevalent ‘Muslim’ culture and rich Islamic history that surrounds you here and I felt that I would instantly feel the ‘Ramadan vibe’ so to speak. But it turns out, its not that simple. Yes, there are more camis (mosques) here than tube stops in London, and the adhan is heard loudly and openly almost anywhere that you are. But there is also a very strong secular side to this country, especially where we happen to be living – European side in Besiktas. Here not everyone is a practicing Muslim, participating in fasting and observing the month in a ‘religious’ kind of way. And so restaurants and cafes are not only open, but at times brimming with people enjoying a Summer lunch or family dinner. It has admittedly been a bit of a strange sight for me – and disappointing. But it is the way things are here, and it takes adjusting to and a level of understanding.
In addition, the language barrier has meant that we cannot actively participate in the community events or strike up a conversation easily in the store with anyone about how their Ramadan was going. It can be a bit isolating and also whilst I’m sure many Turks are going about with the fasts and ramadan in their own homes and lives, we haven’t been able to tap into that as much.
So I have been in search of activities that would help me to feel the ‘Ramadan spirit’. As my husband has made two Ramadans here, he suggested we visit the more ‘traditional’ , even touristy areas such as Sultanahmet, Fatih etc to capture the fasting buzz and atmosphere.
So last weekend we visited Ortokoy – a suburb in Istanbul near the Bosphorus where we hung out near the water for a bit and saw the mass iftaar being set up. So a really nice initiative by the local council here is to set up these mass iftaars at certain mosques all over Istanbul to provide food for people, especially those who are commuting and may not make it home in time to open their fast. Some events have entertainment afterwards such as traditional Turkish music for the whole family to enjoy.
This time however, we opted to have our iftaar at Destan – a restaurant in Ortokoy overlooking the Bosphorus. It was one of the many places that offer an “Iftaar menu”- a set meal compromising of dates and nuts to start, soup and a main dish of maybe grilled kofte or chicken. Although we ordered off the menu instead, we were still presented with the date plate to open our fast with, which I was thrilled with!
We opened our fast with the sounding of the booming adhan from the Ortokoy camii right next door and my husband went off to pray Maghrib, while I sat with our baby at the restaurant, and I prayed right there when he returned (just practically made sense). He found the Maghrib prayers to be a bit strange in that there was no jamaah (prayer in congregation), as most people were eating iftaar outside so unless he missed it – or it was coming later, he wasn’t sure what to make of it!
Anyway, we then ate our meal and afterwards took a leisurely walk through the streets browsing at the shops and little market stalls. Our discovery of the week happened to be a new ‘Karak chai’ cafe that sold our favourite Middle Eastern warm drink – milky hot tea with spices!
It was lovely to be surrounded by others observing the fasting month, and opening our fast in an alternative setting. Stay tuned for my next initiative to create an awesome Ramadan vibe in these parts!
Injecting the Ramadan spirit, one instance at a time.
MuslimahbyDesign
Truly Taskeen 