An unusual Ramazan

These are very difficult times across much of the world, but particularly so in the US. The number of confirmed coronavirus cases here are well past 1,100,000 and the death toll is closing in on 70,000.

We have been in near total lockdown since mid-March. The Greater Washington DC area where I live has been hit very hard. While many states in the US are starting to slowly lift their lockdowns, my state is not there yet. In fact, the federal guideline is to wait till there are 14 days of declining cases before relaxing restrictions. According to media reports, none of the 30 or so states that are starting to open up have yet reached this milestone.

There is justified concern about the economic impact of the lockdowns. The hope is that rushing into opening up will not cause a big spike in coronavirus infections. The impact of the virus has been very uneven – large cities are hardest hit while sparsely populated rural areas and small towns are in much better shape. Given this, it makes sense to implement a well-thought-through opening plan which takes into account differences by counties even within each state.

Florida, for example, started to relax its lockdown on May 1, but three counties around the Miami area will not have restrictions lifted yet. These three counties account for 30 percent of Florida’s population but 60 percent of the coronavirus cases.

Just as the whole country is being affected, the Muslim community is affected particularly hard during this month of Ramazan. In the Greater Washington DC area, there is a large Muslim population and therefore Ramazan has been a time of many community gatherings. It is a great opportunity to mingle and meet friends at iftar. Invitations for iftar gatherings had started to arrive several months in advance. Weekend dates particularly tend to get booked well before the start of Ramazan.

This year as we got into March, many of these iftar invitations started to get cancelled, out of necessity of course. Some in the Muslim community are donating the funds that would have been spent on these iftars to help the needy during this month.

In addition, all mosques have been essentially closed – no gatherings for prayers, and no Juma congregations. Many mosques have moved to online webcasts for prayers. The mosque that my family and I go to on Fridays could not arrange a webcast. Wanting very much to be part of a ‘gathering’ even from a distance, we found a mosque in New York City that is conducting Juma prayers on the web, enabling us to attend ‘communal’ prayers from the safety and isolation of our own home.

The Muslim community in America has grown rapidly over the past several decades. As we have settled down here many Muslim religious institutions have come into being, including mosques and community centers. This is particularly true of the larger metropolitan areas. Along with these, grocery stores catering to Muslim communities from the Middle East or South Asia are easy to find.

Looking for halal meat or restaurants serving halal food isn't such a big issue anymore. There are even cellphone apps that can show with one click a listing of restaurants serving halal food within a 15-20 minute drive from wherever one may be.

I am hopeful this health crisis will be behind us in the coming months and we can start to go back to a normal life. Importantly, I look forward to Ramazan next year when I hope gatherings of friends and family will again be possible.

The writer is a freelance contributor based in Washington DC.

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