On Ramadan and Beggars

Ramadan is the month in which Muhammad received his initial revelation and made his migration from Mecca to Medina. During this month, “able-bodied” Muslims fast during the day. Everyday from dawn to dusk they are prohibited to eat, drink, or smoke. Some musings on why the Koran requires this fasting: “fasting makes one think…it teaches self-discipline; one who can endure its demands will have less difficulty controlling the demands of appetites at other times. Fasting underscores the creature’s dependence on God. Human beings are as frail as rose petals; nevertheless the assume airs and pretensions. Fasting calls one back to one’s frailty and dependence. Finally, fasting sensitizes compassion. Only those who have been hungry can know what hunger means. People who have fasted for twenty nine days within the year will be apt to listen more carefully when next approached by someone who is hungry” (The World’s Religions, Huston Smith).
We decided that traditional fasting wasn’t a good option for us (although Sonya did begin the month with a 10 day fast of her own). That said, we have wanted to open ourselves to experience some part of the this yearly ritual. The Koran stipulates that those who are unable to fast during Ramadan may instead provide a month’s worth of food for a hungry person. Hopefully, when Ramadan is over, we will be able to make such an arrangement. Until then, we have been trying internalize more empathy for the hordes of hungry in Dhaka. But nothing is simple. Handing out little foods to beggars, we have been turned down more often than not. They want money, not food. The dynamics of the begging industry are a bit startling. Most beggars belong to some sort of organized gang. Most kids have beggar pimps that collect high percentages. Women can rent babies by the hour to induce greater empathy. It’s difficult to know how to respond, and a dilemma we face tens of times daily. There are moments when you can’t help but feel the gravity of these peoples’ situations. Other times, like when a woman tried to sell us her baby for 100 taka (US $1.50), you have to laugh at the absurdity of it all. For example, there was an article in the newspaper the other day about a man who sold his child for 100 taka without telling his wife. When his wife got home and freaked out about her missing child, a neighbor informed her of her husband’s actions. She raced to the station just as her child was about to board a train with another woman. The mother ended up buying her child back for 10 times the price her husband had received, having to borrow the money from friends and neighbors.