During the month of August Muslims gather to fast, pray, connect with family friends and generally, re-evaluate their lives in observance of Ramadan. As our guide, Hisham explained it: it is a time to abstain from all negative behaviors (included in this list "sexual relations", of course this sent me into a giggle fit). During this holy month Muslims are expected to follow Sharia Law, which requires, (among other things) fasting from sun-up till sun down, in practice the fast lasted till 7:30pm. Megs and I soon discovered this was the best time to hit the souks, as everyone was too consumed with eating to bother us. The fast is intended to instill patience, sacrifice, spiritual cleansing and submissiveness to God. Now before all y'all fall asleep whilst reading this post, know I just wanted to give some background information, as I had no clue what Ramadan entailed. My favorite part of experiencing Ramadan and Muslim traditions in general, has been the Call to Prayer. The first call is at 4:30am and is announced from the Mosque, then occurs 5 more times throughout the day. I can say, it is one of the most beautiful, ethereal, un-earthly things I have ever heard or seen and if I could bottle it as a memory I would. We were staying in the Old Medina and for some reason, hearing it there was what I imagined it would have been like a thousand years before. I surely can not do it justice, but above are pictures of it.
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