Holy Month Was Defiled, Muslims Say

On the first night of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Mouath Abdul Rahim’s family broke its daylong fast with sweet dates, a salty yogurt drink and more bitter news from Iraq.

The Rahims--Iraqi exiles and members of the opposition Iraqi National Accord--had barely finished the traditional iftar meal at sundown Saturday when CNN drew them away from the table with broadcasts of the latest wave of U.S. and British missile attacks against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s regime in Baghdad.

“We have a saying that a person on fire feels differently from a person who is watching the blaze,” Rahim said. “The Iraqi people are suffering. . . . If this strike results in getting rid of Saddam, we’ll tolerate such an action on Ramadan.”

For Muslims around the world, Ramadan marks God’s revelation of Islam’s holy book, the Koran, to the prophet Muhammad nearly 1,400 years ago. It is a sacred time of mercy, forgiveness and atonement, Muslims say, not a time for war.

Although the Rahims saw the Ramadan military strikes as a necessary evil to fight “the monster Saddam,” many other Muslims viewed them as an affront to their religion.

“God said Ramadan is a special month,” Iyad Rasheed, a fasting Iraqi worker, said after noon prayers at downtown Amman’s Husseini Mosque.

Rasheed, a former Iraqi soldier who operated antiaircraft missiles during Iraq’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait, said the U.S. assault violated the essence of Ramadan.

“There is no mercy in it. Last time, there was an excuse, but not this time. They are hitting our children. These are innocent people,” he said.

At the start of Operation Desert Fox, President Clinton said he did not want to launch military strikes during Ramadan because that would be “profoundly offensive to the Arab world.”

Yet as the operation continued, Defense Secretary William S. Cohen changed the Clinton administration’s tune, saying the duration of the offensive would not be determined by Ramadan. And indeed, many Arabs were stunned when the pummeling continued after Ramadan began.

Average Muslims say that making war during Ramadan is haram, forbidden, in the Koran.

Religious leaders can be found to make the argument either way--that fighting is prohibited, or allowed under certain circumstances. Many Arab conflicts and wars have been fought during Ramadan, including the eight-year Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s.

But learned interpretations and historical precedents aside, most Muslims believed that the Anglo-American attacks violated the spirit of Ramadan, if not Muslim law.

“During Ramadan, you should devote your time to good work and charity, not to killing and hurting people,” said Ziad Yousef, 33, a Jordanian accountant shopping for his evening feast.

“This is the month God sends his mercy. As the prophet says, ‘Ramadan is about giving,’ ” said Deeb Mahmoud abu Saif, 54, a Palestinian immigrant.

Abu Saif stood over an outdoor grill making Ramadan dessert crepes called katayef. Steam and the sweet smell of cooking pancakes wafted around the fasting chef. How did he resist the dessert all day?

“It is God’s will that you are fasting and cooking at the same time. God will reward you for having the will,” Abu Saif said.

In the Koran, God orders Muslims to fast from sunrise to sunset during Ramadan, the ninth month of the Muslim calendar. This is one of the five basic requirements of Islam, along with giving alms, praying, making the pilgrimage to Mecca once in a lifetime and professing that there is one God and Muhammad is his prophet.

Ramadan begins when a spiritual authority sees the new moon. It ends 29 or 30 days later with the sighting of the next moon.

During the fast, Muslims must abstain from food, drink, smoking and sex during daylight hours as an act of sacrifice and purification to bring them closer to God and the poor.

Children of up to about 8 years old, nursing mothers and the ill are not required to fast.

Abstention is not always easy. As throats dry out and the urge for a cigarette increases throughout the day, nerves begin to fray. Restaurants and coffee shops remain closed. Office work and manual labor slow to a snail’s pace by midday as fasters grow hungry and lethargic.

Although no one is eating, daytime markets bustle during Ramadan with men and women shopping for the often elaborate feasts they will serve to their family and invited friends. Sales are brisk for tamarind and apricot juices and for dates, which are used to break the fast.

The traditional meal begins after sundown prayers. It may include soup--soothing for an empty stomach--rice and lamb, meat patties, stuffed grape leaves, salads, pita breads, Arab sweets and coffee or tea.

Homemakers preparing meals on an empty stomach often cook too much food, and hungry fasters may overeat. As a result, many people actually gain weight during the month of fasting.

In Egypt, the period of worshiping God is also one of festive celebration. The streets are decorated with colorful lanterns and paper chains. Wealthy Muslims set out “tables of mercy” so that the poor may also have their iftar.

After dinner, family and friends often gather around the television, which airs its best programs during Ramadan--a month of prime time. Later, they may go out to coffee shops and to festival tents for folkloric music and dance shows.

However, the crisis in Iraq dampened the holiday spirit.

“Ramadan is not nice this year because of what the Americans are doing to Iraq,” said Dalia Abdul Khader, 18, an Egyptian shopping for the feast with her mother in downtown Amman. “Clinton is telling people ‘Happy Ramadan’ in a very rude way. This is a time to think of the people of Iraq.”

Even the Rahim family, which supported the assaults, seemed in no mood to celebrate.

“We have such conflicting feelings,” said Rahim’s daughter, Muna. “Our country is being hit. We would be happy if, after the strikes, Saddam was gone. But the price is so high. . . . Do you think Clinton has a plan to get rid of Saddam? We don’t think so, but we hope.”

Maher Abukhater in The Times’ Jerusalem Bureau and Aline Kazandjian in The Times’ Cairo Bureau contributed to this report.