Mahmoudreza Golshanpazhooh completed his Ph.D. in International Relations at the University of Tehran. He has more than 10 years of experience in human rights, NGOs and Iran’s soft power. He serves as executive editor of the Iran Review, deputy of research at Tehran International Studies & Research Institute, and director of human rights at the Center for Strategic Studies, I.R. Iran.
In Iran, the month of Ramadan has a number of meanings for me: First of all, it creates some sort of social solidarity because the majority of citizens do the same thing throughout the month, fast. Those who cannot or do not want to fast will try to avoid eating and drinking in public. However, Ramadan has other more interesting social and personal meanings as well. For example, when you are in workplace, the time passes by more rapidly, although you are deprived of drinking tea (which is usually served without any limit in most administrative environments in Iran) and this is very difficult! But the good point: Many workplaces usually dismiss their employees about one hour earlier than usual!
There is an almost overarching tradition that state-run and private institutions allocate a package of goods comprising tea, sugar, dates, cooking oil, rice, and meat to their employees during Ramadan. Some workplaces give a cash handout instead. In both cases, this is one of the good moments of Ramadan!
Apart from all these, the general atmosphere in cities is totally different in Ramadan. In Tehran, Ramadan has fallen on summer for the past few years and for this reason, fasting hours are about 16.5 hours long. Therefore, the city awakes somehow later every morning and also sleeps later than usual every night. The morning prayer call comes at 4 a.m. and iftar time comes at about 8:45 p.m.
Therefore, many people attend to their personal issues after Iftar every night. This is why all restaurants and movie theaters start to work after 9 p.m. And this night life and activity has its own beauties. On the other hand, many people believe that inviting other people to an iftar meal brings them spiritual reward and, therefore, the motor traffic is always heavy across the city about one hour before Iftar time because many people are going to party.
At any rate, I love Ramadan in Iran, especially the time just before iftar. The fragrance of special sweets of this month, like Zulbiya and Bamiyeh, and the beautiful hustle and bustle of people purchasing iftar items, creates a feeling, which cannot be repeated at any other time of the year, especially at the same time, hear the sound of prayer that is usually heard before the evening prayers time over loudspeakers of mosques across the city.
But do you know what completes that feeling? That when you are on your way home, you pass by a house whose owner has washed the front of the house just a few moments ago, causing the small of wet earth imbuing the air. And that at the summertime temperature of 40 degrees! As if, all of a sudden, you go toward God!