Ahmed Suleiman took a seat at one of the charitable fast-breaking banquets in the rich neighborhood of Maadi, in southern outskirts of Cairo. Such operations of free meals spread across the Egyptian capital during the holy fasting month of Ramadan.
“My home is not in Cairo, but I work here. I come to the banquet everyday after finishing my work to have a meal,” said the 33-year-old man, who works in a construction site nearby.
Scores of Iftar (fast-breaking meal) charity banquets, are held on streets of the city by wealthy people and charity organizations during the holy month to serve poor people and the passers-by.
Charity banquets are one of the main features of Ramadan, the ninth month of the Muslim lunar calendar during which Muslims abstain from food, water and other bodily pleasure from dawn to dusk. Ramadan also commemorates the revelation of the Quran to Prophet Muhammad of Islam.
“We offer around 500 to 600 free Iftar meals each day in Ramadan for poor people, a larger number than last year. Sometimes, the number can reach 700, depending on the financial resources available,” said Osama Ismail, a supervisor of one of the Iftar banquets organized by Egypt’s reputable Resala Charity Association.
“Most of the meals offered by Resala are delivered to families which the association have conducted sociological research on and known they are in real need of food,” Ismail told Xinhua, “some others come to the society’s headquarters and attend the Iftar banquets.”
“Our goal is to make the people feel they are treated as human beings. They come here and have a seat while volunteers serve them as if they are in a cafe or a five-star hotel,” Ismail said.
The Ramadan fast is considered one of the five Pillars of Islam, and the end of the fast is celebrated as one of the important religious festivals of Islam.
In spite of the soaring food prices in the most populated Arab nation, the charity Iftar banquets are still flourishing this year, more than ever before.
“We used to offer expensive types of food like fruit salad, but now we cannot afford it. So, we offer less expensive food and increased the quantity of meals we offer to poor families because there are so many people in need of it,” Ismail said, pointing out that each meal costs the organization around 12 Egyptian pounds ( about 2.2 U.S. dollars).
The meal they provided that evening was one chicken leg, vegetable salad and a portion of rice for every person. People sat around the table and chatted with one another while enjoying the food.
“I’m really satisfied with the Iftar here. The charity banquets solve my difficulty as my salary did not rise in spite of the sky- rocketing food prices,” Suleiman said.
With a comforted heart, low-income people can enjoy the same happiness as those rich families at the time of sunset during Ramadan.
Charity banquet is a voluntary work that mainly depends on donations. Due to price hikes, donations from ordinary families have dropped since many people are compelled to restrict budget to cover their own family needs. However, rich people have struggled to sustain the banquets.
Most charitable people, including businessmen and public figures, do not want to tell their names, while some others would like to declare themselves in order to encourage other people to do the same.
This year, some businessmen and politicians have arranged such banquets for the purpose of self-promotion.
“Some politicians arrange banquets this year as part of their early electoral campaigns for the upcoming parliamentary elections. In some populated commercial areas, merchants use this kind of banquets to promote their business. We see people shouting through microphones to ask passers-by to attend this or that banquet which the owner of a shop or a company holds. It is some sort of propaganda. For us it is pure charity,” he added.
Iftar banquets are historically related to religious concepts as Muslims believe they are required to offer more charities and behave more benevolently during the holy month to get the blessings from God. However, such kind of banquets stood more like a tradition of Ramadan in Egypt.
“It is not a pure religious rite. This is a kind of tradition that has been historically linked in our mind to Ramadan and we got used doing it in this month specifically. I can say that it is 65 percent tradition rather than worship.” Ismail said.
“Anyway, whether it is a pure charity or a traditional habit, it is a good opportunity for poor people like myself to survive the high food prices which go wild in the holy month,” Suleiman said.