Rabat, during Ramadan night

By Al-Amin Andalusi, IOL Correspondent

RABAT , October 25 (IslamOnline.net) – As usual, scores of fasting Muslims sat in the famous Al-Shabab restaurant in the Moroccan capital Rabat , waiting for the call of Maghreb prayers, to break their fast.

A waiter started pouring Al-Harira (hot soap) in the dishes, but suddenly a foreign voice echoed in the restaurant in a Moroccan dialect saying, “Brother… Hey, brother!” People turned around to find Yon, a Japanese young woman joining them in the wait for the call of prayers, though she is not a Muslim.

Yon was calling on the waiter who forgot -- or may be ignored -- to pour the delicious soap in her plate.

Despite the fact that she and her friend Howang looked hungry, they kept the warm, spicy soap untouched and joined the crowd in waiting for call for the Maghreb call.

Once the call for prayers echoed through the street, the two Japanese young women joined the rest in what looked like both of them, too, were having their iftar meal.

Moroccans usually have one or two bowls of soap, but Yon had three dishes, while her friend only had two.

Every evening, Al-Shabab and other restaurants in the Moroccan capital teem with Moroccans and non-Muslim visitors of different nationalities, who venture to get a first-hand experience on Ramadan rituals they usually hear about back home.

Amazement

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Foreign tourists prefer to share Moroccans their iftar in Rabat restaurants. Most of them look amazed; some enjoy looking at Mohammed V Street before dusk where the number of passersby gradually decreases till they vanish at the sound of prayer call.

Yon told IslamOnline.net that “she heard about Ramadan in Japan before visiting any Arab state and wished one day she would experience its rituals.”

“I visited Egypt once but not during Ramadan. Then, my friend and I decided to take our vacation and visit a Muslim state in Ramadan in order to better understand the Islamic rituals,” Yon added.

Howang weighed in saying she knew of the advent of Ramadan through a friend of her who works in the Japanese Embassy in Malaysia .

When she thought of the name of the state they would visit, they decided to head for Morocco , as they think, it is the farthest Muslim state from Japan and the closest to Spain that they would also visit.

“I can not really understand how Muslims tolerate a month of fasting. I can't tolerate this for one day,” Howang smilingly said, adding, “It seems that faith can provide people with this ability to be patient and tolerable.”

Several Nationalities

In another corner of the restaurant, two English young women sat with a Moroccan man and wife while having iftar.

Both English ladies kept posing questions on Ramadan, keep the Moroccan man busy providing answers and eating his iftar.

Another Spanish woman sat nearby contemplating the surrounding environment after having her hot soap.

An American sat with his Ethiopian wife, whose children started drinking the soap minutes before the call of prayers.

Fasting As Well

Not all foreigners who visit Moroccan restaurants at iftar time would like to experience the mass iftar banquet. Some of them even fast for one or two days in order to better understand the ritual of fasting and get a deeper sense of one of Islam’s pillars.

To some, the experience proved so fulfilling that they embraced Islam.

An Al-Shabab restaurant waiter told IslamOnline.net, “I got used to foreigners, including some US youths, who come to break their fast, though they are not Muslims.”

Rabat restaurants are also visited by staff members of Islamic embassies who can not have their iftar at home.

Sometimes, more than 10 employees from one embassy come to have collective iftar. They are mostly Indonesians, Malaysians and Singaporeans.

Rabat Streets

Streets of the Moroccan capital witness various types of visitors and activities during the holy month of Ramadan.

In the morning, roads teem with public transportations, buses of employees of companies, beggars and other aspects of crowdedness.

Tourists and members of foreign communities, on the other hand, prefer to wander in the streets right before iftar time.

Others sit in famous cafes like Balima Café that faces the Moroccan Parliament.

It is worth noting that the phenomenon of tourists having iftar with Muslims in Ramadan is widespread in several other Islamic states, including Egypt .