"Extreme heat is a test for many in Ramadan fast" by Ben Hubbard, Associated Press | August 12, 2010
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Hundreds of millions of Muslims across the Middle East sweated their way through the start of Ramadan yesterday, beginning a month of daylight fasting in sweltering heat.
With temperatures over 110 degrees Fahrenheit in some countries, governments and religious authorities sought to lighten the holy month’s burden by shortening work days, granting exemptions from the fast, and setting the clock back an hour.
Frequent power outages in places like Egypt, Iraq, and the Gaza Strip compound the struggle to give up food, drink, and cigarettes during the searing 15-hour day.
But most — even those working amid the heat — said faith would get them through....
Words can not express how much respect I have for Muslims for being able to do this. I could push the daily meal back until after sunset; however, I'm sure I would be light-headed and weak. Foregoing the morning coffee would sure add to the feeling of hunger, and not a drop of water to drink all day?
Electricity outages are common in Iraq, Jordan, and Egypt, where the government blamed the power shortages on too many people using air conditioning and staying up all night.
Notice those are OUR ALLIES, Americans?
In Gaza, an impoverished region ruled by Hamas, power is often off for 12 hours, on for four, then off again for 12. The causes are an overburdened grid, damage from Israeli military offensives, and an internal Palestinian dispute about who should pay for power plant fuel.
And the war-criminal siege, of course.
Related: The Night the Lights Went Out in Gaza
Tharwa Suboh, 38, a Gaza housewife, said her family cannot afford a gas-powered generator. This means they cannot run a fan, often eat by candlelight, and must shop every day since they cannot refrigerate food....
But they are a threat to Israel's security, so....
Palestinian men read the Koran at the al-Omri mosque in Gaza City yesterday, as Muslims marked the first day of Ramadan. (Mohammed Abed/AFP/Getty Images)
I'm sure the Gazans are used to hunger so it shouldn't bother them too much.
Elsewhere in the Muslim world, it wasn’t only the heat that added to the hardship of fasting: Flooding in Pakistan has killed 1,500 people and affected nearly 14 million.
“Ramadan or no Ramadan, we are already dying of hunger. We are fasting forcibly and mourning our losses,’’ said Mai Hakeema, 50, living in a tent with her husband in the southern Pakistani city of Sukkur.Yes, the scale of the disaster there is nearly unimaginable to me.
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