Ramadan Kerim
07 July, 2015
KHARTOUM (SUDANOW)—"Ramadan Kerim", this phrase, which means Ramadan is generous, is part of greeting among the Sudanese people during the fasting month. The generosity is not only confined to the greeting but also extends to offering food and beverages to other people, especially travelers and passers-by, at the time of sunset breakfast.
While she was travelling in a bus from Khartoum to Wad Medani, Mahasin was taken aback when she saw in front of the bus two men holding the ends of a turban, blocking the highway and, with their hands, ordering the cars to park, while other people were rushing out of the village towards the road. She thought a traffic accident had occurred but when the bus carrying her and her family arrived at the turban, she found out that it was a way for compelling the passengers to get down to have Ramadan breakfast as the sun is about set down.
It was the first time of Mahasin to pass by this village in the Gezira State in central Sudan at sunset during Ramadan but it was not a surprise for other passengers who happened to travel along this 185-km highway and were used to experience this habit at the villages beside the road. The villagers hurry to the road carrying food and drinks and, insist on the passengers, unimpeded by their numbers, however large, or by their own meager resources, to share the breakfast because they believe Ramadan is a blessed month during which subsistence is endowed by God. The youths and children hurry back into the village to fetch more food when more passengers arrive while a number of women are hired by a benevolent man from the village to prepare food quickly whenever there is a shortage, in search for God's blessing and following suit of the Prophet (PBUH) who was so generous, especially during Ramadan.
The concern by the villagers with the hospitality they accord to the passengers was reflected in a news report published by some newspapers this month that a lawsuit was lodged with a court in Kamlin town in the Gezira by a citizen complaining that someone he named "steals" guests by taking passengers of buses and mini-buses from the road to his house, leaving no passengers for the plaintiff to play host to them. The judge put aside the case and lectured the court audience on the Sudanese generosity and asked the two men to forgive each other, while mediators from the region intervened and pledged to distribute the guests to all tables.
This Ramadan tradition of playing host to travelers and other people in need is not confined to the Gezira region but it is an original tradition that distinguishes the Sudanese from many Muslim nations. They have inherited it since ancient times and is irreversible and can be found in all regions of the Sudan. People carry their sunset breakfast outdoors on the sides of the main and internal roads, in the public parks and within the residential quarters to share it with the relatives, the neighbors and the passers-by.
By the end of Sha'aban, the month that precedes Ramadan, the boys of the quarter clean the plot of land and prepare it with a layer of sand, spray it with water and put stones or bricks around it take the shape of a traditional prayers mat made by women from palm leaves. The people of the area, take, as of the first day of Ramadan, their food to share it with the neighbors and the passers-by. The trays are placed anywhere before the people, not necessarily in front of the owner and thus a well-off man can eat and drink from the tray of a poor one and vice versa. After having the meal, the people perform sunset prayers and then they chat till the time for the next prayer, Isha'a, and the youths and children continue chatting and joking with each other. All this strengthens the feelings of fraternity, solidarity and cultural closeness among people of various tribes and regions who happened to have come to share the neighborhood.
Taxi driver Mohamed Ahmed said Ramadan is a busy season for them because people usually want to reach their destinations quickly and comfortably and they make shopping late at night, particularly during the last days of Ramadan. "There is a high demand for the taxi trips and we do not hesitate to make trips any time of the day, even just before sunset, as we do not bother about the Ramadan breakfast as I can drop at any place because all people have breakfast outdoors in the streets and the parks and they warmly welcome passing people," the taxi driver said.
Abdul Rahman Jadallah said the inhabitants of anyone of the villages of Kordofan, normally share one grandfather or great grandfather and they seize the opportunity of Ramadan to get together in a yard and share the sunset breakfast. This breakfast is open to passers-by, Jadallah said, adding that all villagers, even the new-comers, are keen to retain this collective breakfast tradition.
Darfur region does not differ from the other parts of the Sudan. The people there call the place where they have collective Ramadan sunset breakfast "Al-Dharah", meaning exclusive to men. In East Darfur, for instance, the people, according to journalist Mohamed Salih Abasher, prepare the food preferable to each tribe and they offer it to the guest after identifying his tribe, either from his accent or asking him about his destination and, to his surprise, they present to him the food of his tribe, inciting a humorous atmosphere of joking and laughter.
Ismail Fadul al-Moula says the people in north Sudan still keep the tradition of presenting the sunset breakfast to passengers and other people who find themselves away from home during the breakfast time, despite the existence of numerous cafeterias. This is motivated by their desire to mitigating the burden on the traveler and to keeping up the original Sudanese tradition of hospitality, Ismail said, narrating an anecdote saying:"A passenger train broke down at an uninhabited area and was seen by villagers on the other bank of the river. The villagers carried food supplies by boats to the stuck passengers for two days before the train was fixed."
The train passengers held a good memory of that village and felt love and gratefulness towards it and the same feeling was experienced by Mahasin towards the Gezira village.
E N D
MAS/ AS
Photo of the Week
Dinder – SUNA – SUDANOW As part of international cooperation programs in wildlife conservation and the implementation of international conventions governing wildlife protection in Sudan, the Federal Dinder National Park authorities received a Nile crocodile on the banks of the Dinder River this morning. The crocodile was transported from Jordan to Sudan as part of jo...
More-
30 August, 2026
Stories from the Heart of the Battlefield From a University of Khartoum Professor to a Vegetable Seller in Cairo
Cairo (Sudanow) In one of Cairo’s neighborhoods, where the stories of passersby intersect with the details of everyday life, the story began with a quiet-faced Sudanese man standing behind a small vegetable stall. He carefully arranged tomatoes and greens, selling them with a smile. Few of those passing by knew that the man they addressed so simply had spent years of his life in lecture halls and scientific research labor...
Contact Us
Address: Sudan News Agency (SUNA) Building, Jamhoria Street, Khartoum - Sudan
Mobile:+249 909220011 / +249 912307547