DISKUS 4:2 (1996) An Invented Piety: Ramadan on Syrian TV Andreas Christmann St Antony's College University of Oxford, UK =================================== ABSTRACT The article examines how Ramadan television reflects Islamic principles and social reality in Syria. It analyses the scheduling, content etc. of television programmes and religious aspects in four television genres; historical dramas, cartoons, evening shows and religious broadcasts. The televisual language of Ramadan programmes is conceptually formative. It manipulates and invents 'new' religious expressions by changing traditional aspects of Ramadan and Islam within the political and social life of Syria. =================================== Introduction For many Muslims I have met, and probably for most Muslims in the Islamic world, Ramadan is the most important ritual of the year. Muslims call the month of Ramadan a blessed one (ramadan al-mubarak), a generous one (ramadan al-karim) or a virtuous one (ramadan al-fadil); one which is different from all other months of the year. One of the most influential Islamic scholars, Mahmud Shaltut, says that Ramadan belongs to 'the sacred sphere or consecrated core of a divine religion, a taboo that no adherent or advocate of this religion can touch or change'.<1> For an entire month (29 or 30 days), Muslims abstain from food, drink and sexual intercourse between dawn and dusk.<2> Theologically, the aspect of penitence for all sins committed in the previous year plays an important role in Ramadan as well as God's forgiveness and the purification of all sins and crimes, and as a result of that, the preparation of the relieved human being for the year to come.<3> As for religious practice, Ramadan is a period of ritual intensification. It is a time when people who do not regularly perform their prayers during other months make sure they do. Reading of the Qur'an increases and there is a doubling and trebling of mosque-goers who attend the five daily obligatory prayers. Multiplied Qur'an-recitations, prayers, seclusions and meditation circles are complemented by an intensification of the work of the 'Ulama, the religious experts, and a wider public manifestation of their influence. They hold special lessons (dars), lectures (muhadara) and admonishing sermons (wa'z) in addition to the weekly Friday sermons and lessons. There is clearly an ascetic aspect to the religious and ritual dimensions of the Ramadan fast: to remember the poverty and hunger of the poor; to experience hunger and thirst with them; to become aware of one's dependence on God; to counteract Satan at every turn; to expiate one's own sins and to forgive others theirs. On the other hand, despite the official rhetoric of ascetism there is an intensification in the offering and display of foods and drinks. Food and drinks in Ramadan are on the whole of greater variety and quantity and of higher quality than during the rest of the year. It is indeed paradoxical that the month of such a rich rhetoric of renunciation is also a time of the highest financial expenditure, enormous consumption and sensual entertainment. Western travellers and scholars are puzzled by this "melange d'ascetisme et de bombance".<4> When it comes to the mass media in Ramadan, and especially to television broadcasts, the confusion about the character of Ramadan becomes even greater. Ramadan television is often regarded as the 'other side' of the Ramadan fast, when Muslims are "inclined to make up during the night for the deprivations of the day".<5> There is a tendency among Western orientalists to ignore the importance of audio-visual texts as a medium of religious expression and as a channel for the production of identities.<6> For many Muslims, talking about Ramadan means talking about TV programmes, which have a special kind of attraction for them. Watching television during Ramadan has reached such a high degree of popularity that even the most religiously introvert Islamic scholars have to recognize its existence. "In fact, in many families, the television is turned on from the moment it starts broadcasting in the afternoon or early evening until midnight when the broadcasts have ended."<7> The aim of this article is to examine how Ramadan television reflects Islamic principles and social reality in Syria. The article will first look at the time scheduling, division and content structures of television programmes. Second, it analyses religious aspects in four television genres; historical dramas, cartoons, evening shows and religious broadcasts, by asking how television both reflects basic Islamic morals and values and popularizes religious matters and ritual aspects of the Ramadan month. It is argued that the televisual language of Ramadan programmes is conceptually formative, rather than a neutral phenomenon. It is shown how television broadcasting manipulates and invents 'new' religious expressions by changing traditional aspects of Ramadan and Islam in general. This process will be discussed against the background of political and social life in Syria. TV-programmes in Ramadan: a survey [See APPENDIX for a listing of TV Programmes in Ramadan] At the beginning of this year's Ramadan (1996), the leading Syrian newspaper Al-Ba'th proclaimed that "television will be without any doubt the star of the Ramadan month" and announced a "multiplication and diversification of television programmes and an increase in television serials'.<8> In fact, a first look at 'What's on' shows a remarkable quantity and variety of different programmes; drama, science fiction, interviews, documentaries, comedies, news, educational broadcasts, nostalgia, and films. Compared to the television programming during the rest of the year there are two significant changes. Firstly, a lot of time during Ramadan is devoted to Islamic broadcasts including Hadith commentaries, Qur'an readings and instruction, religious historical series, seminars and meditations. Secondly, there is more television entertainment broadcast than is normally the case. Quiz and game shows, comedy-drama series, dance and music performances play an important role. Again, this synthesis of piety and amusement, asceticism and entertainment, religious and secular activities is very striking. Another characteristic feature of Ramadan television is the time schedule of the programmes. The daily programme starts at noon with the national anthem, Syrian folk music (an-nashid al-arabi as-suri) and recitation of the Qur'an (tilawat al-qur'an). In the following children's magazine programme the basics of the Islamic faith are taught to a group of children in almost artificial Islamic costumes. About one hour before the breaking of the fast and the following iftar-meal, chefs from different Arab countries, mostly from North Africa, introduce recipes of either newly invented and exotic or very traditional Ramadan food from outside Syria. At the time when almost the whole Islamic world is waiting impatiently and excitedly for the end of the fasting day, when male Muslims are resting or waking up from their afternoon nap and women are about to get the food ready, the preachers, recitators and commentators begin their religious teachings and Qur'anic recitation on television, creating with their recitations a sense of stirring, affecting, and delighting of the emotions. This ends abruptly with the announcement of the time of the sunset-prayer (al-maghrib). Suddenly, television pictures and sound change into a completely different mood. Slow pictures with long shots and constant panning movements of the camera are accompanied by a meditative sound and whispering voices beseeching Allah. So, curiously enough, the most meditative and spiritually impressive pictures occur on television when the whole country, fasting and non-fasting Muslims (even Non-Muslims) are eating their most opulent meal of the day. Then, with the end of that religious programme, new rhythms, styles and topics are presented. It is time for the evening entertainment, which will last until well after midnight. It is evident that the television programming follows almost exactly the patterns and the structure of Ramadan rituals. The afternoon features religious lessons and sermons, the efforts of women to prepare a huge number of delicious meals, Qur'an recitation, individual prayers and/or the obligatory sunset-prayer before the iftar-meal. Then follows the transformation of an ascetic ritual into an easier, relaxed and sometimes boisterous celebration. It is not only this vertical structure of ritual which can be observed, however, but also the horizontal structure; that is, the duration of Ramadan over a period of thirty days. The horizontal structure is reflected in the number of episodes of series which are shown within one month. Usually, throughout the year, series are composed of only 15 daily (or less) broadcast episodes. During Ramadan, there is one episode for each Ramadan day. Here, television has taken over the old Damascene Ramadan tradition of story-telling when a story teller (hakawati) would come every day into the cafes and restaurants of Damascus and tell one of thirty episodes about the city's history or about quarrels he had heard in the neighbourhood.<9> National histories and the exclusion of religion If television is the 'star in the month of Ramadan', then the drama series are the 'megastars' of Ramadan. To walk through the streets of Damascus when one of the four evening series is on TV is to hear from every household you are passing the same dialogue and music of the current Ramadan series (musalsal).<10> All relevant newspapers, journals and magazines give full coverage to the timing, content and casts of the dramas showing. Advertisements for Ramadan drama series are stuck all over the town. Film magazines and even political newspapers print lengthy critical reviews of the series. The expectations of the viewers are so high that in Ramadan "as an actor you either become a famous star in the Arab world or you fail totally".<11> You will not find a single Syrian uninformed about the Ramadan episodes when you ask them the following morning. Thus, the serials produce a national community that includes not only Syrian Sunni and Shi'i Muslims but also Christians, Jews, humanists, socialists, nationalists and others. The serials also bring the different generations, age-groups, classes and genders together and create a collective knowledge, which is perhaps unique to such Third World countries as Syria or Egypt.<12> For the Ramadan of 1996, three of the four evening series were produced by Syrian companies, whereas the fourth one ('The Gate of Someone from Heluan') was bought from Egypt. The Egyptian series, a king's court soap about the royal family of King Farouk (who reigned until 1953) was shown very late in the evening. After only three episodes it was criticised as being boring, superficial and 'far from the real life of the people'.<13> Two of the three Syrian series were historical dramas; 'Brothers of Dust' (ikhwat at-turab) and 'Silk Bazaar' (khan al-harir). Both were produced by leading Syrian television directors, the first one by Najdat Isma'il Anzur, who directed several other famous Ramadan series, such as 'The End of a Bold Man', 'The Predators', 'The Wealth of the Universe' or 'Historical Phantasies' (for Ramadan 1997), and the second by Haitam Hakki who works for a private film company. Educated in Europe and secular-orientated, both are determined to provide high quality television fare. Unlike most other Arabic Ramadan series, these two historical films were political rather than family dramas, looking back to very decisive and sensitive periods of Syrian nationhood; the struggle for national independance and the establishment of the nation state. 'Brothers of the Dust' shows the long struggle of Syrian nationalists to get independence, first from the Ottoman Islamic empire and then from the French mandate hegemony. The first episodes are set at the end of World War I and show the effect of the brutal Ottoman rule in Syria, the disastrous destruction of the Syrian economy and the brutality of the Ottoman supreme commander in Syria, Djamal Basha, against the Syrian population. The episodes focus on Syrian resistance and the upheavals and rebellions of Syrian nationalists against the policies of Ottoman rulers to unite Turks and Syrians as Muslims against a common enemy, the European 'infidels'. The hero of the drama is a bold, clever and handsome Syrian officer trained in a military camp near Istanbul, who on his return to Syria joins the resistance movement against Ottoman troops. Having found shelter in a cave secluded in a forest he fights independent actions against Ottoman troops. He and other fighters for the Arab cause are finally killed by Djamal Basha. The resistance continues and leads to the proclamation of Syria's independence in 1920 and to forceful revolts against the French troops, especially during the serious upheaval of 1925-1927, and to their evacuation. All these events have since become important elements of national history and are annually commemorated in secular celebrations, such as the 'Day of the Martyrs' (6th May) or the 'Evacuation Day' (17th April). The second drama 'Silk Bazaar' is a story about the urban milieu of bazaar merchants, shopkeepers and traders in an Allepian neighbourhood (Khan al-Harir) on the eve of the unification of Syria and Egypt into the 'United Arab Republic' (1958-1961). Reflecting the political and military struggle between the forces of the 'Baghdad Treaty' (England and France) and their opponents (Egypt, Syria and the Soviet Union), the film shows the clear political polarisation of the protagonists. The rich traders and prosperous entrepreneurs support the European powers, whereas the little shopkeepers and Suq merchants back the Egyptian-Syrian alliance. Against this highly politicized background information (which is rather incidentally slipped in through radio news, chats, whispers and rumours spread by Khan al-Harir's people), the actual series is more about the ups and downs of daily life in 'Khan al Harir', about family plots, romances, weddings, funerals and economic enterprises. Unlike the first-mentioned historical series, which is full of patriotic feeling and is meant to inspire national pride, this drama allows the people to polarize according to their economic interests. Focusing on the people's daily financial and merchantile exchange, cooperation and competition, the script reveals the basic assumption that economic wealth or poverty are the main motives of political orientation, and that it is exactly these socio-economic positions which make people corrupt or remain honest. The first case is displayed in the story of Kamal, a clever upstart whose marriage to the plain-looking daughter of a rich merchant, Saqiya, is predetermined for financial purposes. With the help of the wealthy family, corrupt officials, dishonest lawyers and greedy, cheating businessmen, he gains increasing power over the market and over the trade affairs of small entrepreneurs. The other side of morality is represented in the true love story of Muhsin and Fadda. They fall in love with each other for purely romantic reasons - far away from any political and economic advantages. Unlike Kamal, Muhsin is a simple, good and honest character from a rather poor social background, who resists all temptations to become cruel and corrupt in market competition. In other words, this series personifies morality and immorality by the conflict between two social classes. It narrates the struggle of good, decent people and families striving to remain so, in contrast to families of the national bourgeoisie who thoughtlessly took advantage of economic liberalization and trade links to the West. To sum up, the 'Brothers of Dust' and 'Khan al-Harir'-series continue the Ramadan tradition of Syrian film-makers confronting television viewers with powerful events of their national history, as in the previous year's drama 'The Qaishani Bath' (hamam al-qaishani), in 1994 'Abu Kamal, part II' (by the screenwriter Fu'ad Sharbaji), 'The End of a Brave Man' (nihayat rajul shuja), shortly before Ramadan 1994 'Smile of Sadness' (basmat al-huzn) or in 1993 'Damascene Days' (ayyam shamiyah). The time setting of all these series was again either the last days of Ottoman reign or of the French occupation, where either the fight of resistance against the foreign rulers or collaboration with them were depicted. Again focusing on urban neighbourhoods, mainly on old Damascene quarters like 'Hamam al-Qaishani' or 'Hamam al-Hanah' as local settings of the plot, these dramas offer a simplified picture of the past, where conflicting interests and complex historical interrelationships and interdependences are distilled into a handful of prototypical characters.<14> Let us now look more closely at the way in which religion is reflected in these TV dramas. What is striking is that Muslim piety and identity are by no means central in any of the four Ramadan series. They avoid showing a religious background of their main protagonists. Although everyday forms of piety and religious activities are occasionally shown, they merely fulfil complementary, marginal functions within the web of actions and relations, as for examplewhen the blind old Schaikh 'Ali in 'Khan al-Harir' constantly exclaims phrases like "Ya Latif", "Ya Karim" or "Ya Rabb" (invocations to Allah), or when an important meeting of a resistance group is launched with a collective recitation of Qur'anic verses, as in "Brothers of Dust". The drama does not focus on "the value of religious faith and piety but the place where Muslim discourse is relevant" - as Lila Abu Lughod put it<15>; that is, to satisfy the personal needs of people, to share their daily anxieties, sorrows and fears (mainly of women!). This is clearly illustrated in the drama 'Silk Bazaar', when female protagonists frequently visit old Shaikhat (women of healing and saintly reputation) who are consulted for amulets or embroideries to protect people against illness, accidents, misfortunes or financial losses, and, on the positive side, for success in love, in childbirth, in travels, in dealings with persons of power, and other undertakings.<16> On the other hand, Islam functions as an ethical model of being calm, tolerant, lenient and honourable - just as the character of Shaikh Qudri in 'Silk Bazaar' embodies it. The Shaikh appears when quarrels are at their climax, getting almost violent. Asking questions about the cause of the hot dispute, he functions rather as an arbitrator than a competent judge,trying only to keep down the heat of the quarrel by saying "Please, calm down!" or "You can always resolve these problems, but think about them calmly!"; "Allah may give it to you!" and "If you are right, then you will get your right!". With its focus on the production of secular national identities,<17> the segregation of religious and secular activities in the historical drama series "produces a sense of the separation of spheres, declaring the irrelevance of religion in the public domain of political development, economic progress and social responsibility".<18> Self-reflectivity and social criticism The fourth of the late night productions, "The Dreams of Abu Al-Hana" (ahlam Abu al-Hana) by the director Hisham Sharbataji, is a comedy. The eponymous hero is played by Doreid Lahham who is very popular in Syria not only because of his talent as a comedian, but far more because of his harsh criticism of social defects in Syrian society. Whereas the 1995 production "Ghawar", starring Doreid Lahham as Abu Al-Hana was a huge success, "The Dreams of Abu Al-Hana" was a complete flop. After only three episodes, the artist was unambigiously criticized by all his admirers as having failed completely, and the serial was attacked as being plain, trivial slapstick and without social fervour. The film magazine Al-Funun wrote: "Through his acting, Doreid Lahham used to reflect real life in a society of crises. In the new series, he is rather a caricature or a parodic who cannot gain the subtleties of his former social criticism. It is incomprehensible, for example, why he did not become furious when he was faced with unacceptably high prices for bananas on his way through the bazaar!".<17> The artist was said to be so depressed by the adverse public opinion that he did not dare to leave his house for the whole month of Ramadan. Nevertheless the series was not taken off the schedule, as it is Ramadan tradition to listen to all thirty parts of a narrative. The story of this Ramadan 'scandal' reveals one decisive aspect of comedy dramas in Syria and the whole Arab-Muslim world; they function as a medium of collective and public self-reflection, criticism, irony and sarcasm - within a society of severe censorship and all-embracing security services, where political expos‚ magazines and investigative journalism are almost unthinkable. Social criticism coupled with religious rhetoric is employed also at another time of the Ramadan night. During the Ramadan-evening show "Good Evening" (masa' al-khair), leading cartoonists of major newspapers like Al-Ba'th, Tishrin and Ath-Thaura are introduced and watched while drawing their next Ramadan cartoons. Featuring all stages of their drawing process, the cartoon is fully displayed to the television viewer and eventually published in leading newspapers on the following day. Many cartoons illustrate the omnipresence of food dreaming and fantasies by fasting people. One cartoon shows a man sitting at a table with the caption 'The fasting man' in front of an almost empty plate and a glass of water, while an image balloon above his head depicts a rain of fruits, vegetables, kebab and chicken meat, fish dishes and lots of drinks. The thoughts of fasting people are exclusively shown as obsessed with anticipations of the coming Iftar-meal. Other cartoons simply condense the social, cultural and religious message of Ramadan into short images containing fruits, soup, a bottle of juice and a television set, or a TV set whose screen functions as a hinged lid to reveal a roast chicken captioned 'A Ramadan dish'. The crescent, the most significant symbol of Ramadan, is depicted as a basket fully laden with all the desired food, drinks and sweets of fasting Muslims.<20> Their attention is fully occupied with killing time, as one cartoon with the text 'a month when you are interested in time' depicts by showing a man with his head as an alarm clock. The big and little hands forming his moustache display the time shortly before Iftar. Other cartoons draw upon the same topic; the preoccupation with food and the experience of daytime as a time of suffering and slow pace.<21> Condensing complex relationships within a single frame, a cartoon can recontextualize religious phrases and evoke new reference points. Take for example, the phrase "by God, I am fasting", which is one of the Prophet's responses to temptations or to seek sympathy for the changed attitudes during the fast. This phrase is put into a speech balloon and applied to a governmental inspector in charge of controlling fair market prices. Saying "by God, I am fasting" he turns his head deliberately away from a fruit stand with price-tags displaying price increases of up to a hundred per cent.<22> The cartoon in Al-Ba'th of 30 January 1996, plays with the literal meaning of the verb ramada, that is 'heating up', in the context of rapidly increasing food prices during Ramadan. It shows a poor man passing a shop with the inscription 'Ramadan-prices', from whose door dart tongues of flame. The speech balloon over the man changes the vowels from 'ramadaniya' (the joy and festivity of Ramadan) to 'ramda'iya', that is the heating up (of the Ramadan prices). The image of a poor thin man dressed in ragged trousers and a tattered jacket embodies, in many cartoons, the social outcasts of Syrian society as well as those people who cannot afford to participate in the festive and commercialized atmosphere of the month of Ramadan. In one of these cartoons this type of emaciated man is pictured in front of a stand which sells medicinal herbs, telling the salesmen that he would like to have a prescription for the treatment of poverty. Conversely, Ramadan is also represented as a month where poor people experience a temporary alleviation of their bad situation. Due to the Ramadan tradition of giving alms to homeless people and those in need, the degree of poverty especially at the end of Ramadan is made slightly less crass. One cartoon shows a big rally of uniformly badly dressed and similarly depressed-looking needy men. One is carrying a banner with the slogan: "Extend the month of Ramadan for us!" This cartoon is perhaps the harshest in terms of criticism of social inequality in Syria. It reveals that poverty is a mass phenomenon in a society that is trying to reform its former socialist centralised economy into a capitalist market system (second infitah).<23> It also questions the Islamic vision of a just social system, where social differences between the poor and the rich are eased through these alms-contributions of the rich to the poor. Like many articles in secular newspapers this cartoon claims the contrary, saying that the Ramadan ritual of paying zakat al-fitr is only a cosmetic act, hiding, under the mask of religion, actual class conflicts and antagonisms in a Muslim society. In some cartoons the sharp discrepancy between those in need and those who benefit immensely from the economic reforms is illustrated much more clearly. Cartoons showing two different social classes are numerous. In one, the poor man is thinking of Ramadan in small, thin and plain letters, whereas the wealthy man is dreaming of Ramadan in big, thick, decorative and arabesque letters. This man is dressed in the manner of the old national westernised bourgeoisie; black suit, waistcoat, pocket watch, white shirt, tie and the red Fez on his head. To sum up, the rhetoric which these cartoons and caricatures employ is clearly religious and is borrowed from modernist Islam, which links Ramadan with a strong social and ethical appeal. The Islamic norm that is addressed and questioned is the readiness to make sacrifices or to give alms. During Ramadan, every single Muslim is obliged to pay the 'alms of the breaking of the fast' (sadaqat al-fitr or zakat al-fitr).<24> In the view of many Muslims, one's fasting is not valid until one has paid an amount of money or wheat, which is newly fixed every year, otherwise the fasting 'would remain hanging between paradise and earth'.<25> Persons who are entitled to receive the zakat al-fitr are in the following order of priority; poor member of the extended family (ahl), poor member of the nuclear family ('a'ila), poor families in the neighbourhood (hay), the men who play the drums or oboe in charge of the morning reveille (musahhir or musahharati), men and women who work in the public baths, the dustmen, the watchmen and other people from lower social strata who normally do their services for almost nothing. From an economic point of view, then, the effect of these social duties of Ramadan is to soften economic inequality to some small degree.<26> In the Syrian context, the strong Islamic appeal of social justice and equality is used on television to criticize the disastrous effects of economic liberation and orientations towards the West which result in a stronger dependence of the Syrian economy. At the same time television reflects and manipulates a more ethically and pragmatically orientated Islam in Syria. Social Cohesion and Popular Culture Television programmes in general not only reflect but also transmit morals and values needed to cope with everyday life and the problems of modern society. This is especially essential during Ramadan. For example, one of the leading Syrian scholars, Shaikh Muhammad Sa'id Al-Buti, who gives weekly television lessons throughout the year in 'Qur'anic studies' (dirasat qur'aniya) about Islam in a Muslim society, spoke from a religiously orthodox point of view during the 1996 Ramadan about the family system in Islam and the role of women in the Qur'an and in contemporary Syrian society. In his speech at the beginning of Ramadan<27> he paints a portrait of a society in danger of an ethical collapse. Pointing to the already immoral Western world, he warns against following the same path; the destruction of the extended family, the breaking up of the nuclear family, the elimination of a common parenthood of both the father and the mother and finally, even worse, the replacement of a marriage contract by a friendly partnership. Using powerful elements of apologetic, Al-Buti emphasisesthat the family is only as good as its society and vice versa, and that the family is like a protective wall (siyaj) of a society. For him, society has an organic structure consisting of mutually dependent elements. He uses the metaphor of a building consisting of stones which are all laid on top of each other. The stones represent the different family generations which are the foundation of the house, that is society. All that people have to do in order to maintain stable and united families is to apply three Islamic principles or duties. These are, first, the duty of moral education and material care based on Islamic principles; second, the duty to transmit honesty and uprightness from generation to generation; third, to regulate all relations within and outside the family on the basis of Islamic virtues and morality. To conclude, Al-Buti's television sermon is not only a splendid opportunity to popularize Islamic models of family and moral education, it is also an illustration of the campaign to preserve a conservative model of a society, where the integrity of the family is crucial for the smooth functioning of the whole country. Let me now discuss how Islam and Ramadan traditions are received and transformed by 'lay' Muslims. In shows, documentaries, interviews and Ramadan features such as 'Good Evening' (masa' al-khair), 'Ramadan in the World' (ramadan fi l-'alam), 'Ramadan Days' (ayyam ramadaniya), 'From the Past's State of Euphoria' (min nashwat al-madi) and others, people are asked about their 'customs and traditions' during Ramadan, and what Ramadan means for them. The values and thoughts people express in their statements are not only interesting because of their subjectivity and intimacy, but also because they reveal individual perceptions of what Ramadan is meant to be. First of all, what their statements boil down to is the simple message that Ramadan is essentially a feast to bring the whole family together. One woman said; "The month of Ramadan is for me a month of goods and of blessing, I perceive it as the nicest month of the year. Because it brings together all members of the family and their beloved ones, who are sometimes very far from each other".<28> People understand Ramadan as a time of social gatherings, joint meals, shared culinary experiences and the feeling of cohesion within the nuclear, but also within the extended, family. Secondly, they regard this month as a time when the social order within a family is fully manifested and received as normative, for example, one of the women interviewed says: "I prepare all the dishes by myself and I go into the kitchen like every woman in our country. Women do all the kitchen work; they serve atthe table and do the washing up after the meals. Men determine the course of the meal as the head of our household or as hosts if we have invited guests".<29> A man said: 'It is a nice feeling; the brother savours the soup, the mother prepares the meat and my sister the Tabula - all help each other. Although I never enter the kitchen, I just decide about the dishes, and I master the meal".<30> Thirdly, they emphazise the social and emotional dimensions more strongly than the ritual and religious dimensions of the month of Ramadan. There is a lack of references to explicit ritual activities such as reading the Qur'an, visiting mosques, performing prayers and attending religious instruction or lessons. Their personal prayer does not include the conventional request for Allah's acceptance of one's fasting, but hopes or wishes for peace, social justice and more awareness of individual responsibility. "In this month I wish that Ramadan will be an opportunity to return to the responsibility for ourselves, to purify ourselves from all dirt, then go back to our work with a pure spirit and steadfastness, so we can produce something nice and useful".<31> Fourthly, they integrate the religious language of official Islam about Ramadan into their view of the more popular aspects of Ramadan. The rather metaphysical or even mystical process of purifying and healing the soul and of its spiritual enrichment is, for example, seen from the perspective of having a lengthy time period of less work and more recreation. One woman said: "I spend the whole time, or at least most of the time, with my family at home and I try to do as little as possible at this time as I feel that this month will be a month of recreation for me. It purifies my personality, nourishes my spirit, and I feel that my soul is much healthier during Ramadan".<32> They do not see any contradiction between the more ascetic elements of fasting and the emphasis on culinary and entertaining compensation. These broadcast opinions about Ramadan are in a sharp contrast to what the religious authorities of Islam would answer to these questions. For example, one of the 'Ulama I asked in Damascus said: "My life during Ramadan is not very different from other days of the year. I start the day with the morning prayer at a mosque near my house. Then I give a lesson of about ten minutes to the praying people at the mosque. I return to my house and rest there for a while. At nine I go to the Shari'a-Institute where I teach and do administrative work. There, I also prepare my Islamic lessons and missionary work which I will do during Ramadan. At two in the afternoon I go to one of the main mosques in order to deliver the afternoon lesson, dars al-'asr. Then I return to my house and have the fast-breaking meal with my family. Our meal is simple, cheap and without any wastefulness. We only add to it some of the Ramadan sweets. I don't like to pay much attention to food, as the stomach is a stronghold of illness, especially during Ramadan, when you are stuffed and unable to spend the night with religious activities. After the iftar-meal I attend an Islamic session consisting of reciting the Qur'an, a socio-religious lecture, the night- and tarawih- prayers. At midnight I come back to my family, and we all together, my sons, my daughter, my beloved wife and I, read some parts of the Qur'an, but not less than five parts of it each day. We read the Qur'an until the morning meal, as-Sahur, and Allah may agree with us. I only watch television on Friday, when religious sermons or lectures are broadcast. Watching television is by no means forbidden, but it shouldn't distract you from fulfilling your religious duties."<33> Ramadan Tradition and Popular Religiosity Let me finish by analysing the religious broadcasting of Ramadan programmes. The most impressive religious feature is the meditation programme after the sunset-prayer and during the following fast-breaking meal. This year's 'O Ramadan' as well as last year's 'O Lord' series were composed with an extensive set of religious signs and Islamic symbols which seems to contradict the rather sparse and iconoclastic visual language of orthodox Islam. Hymns, beseeching prayers to God and other verbal messages are reinforced by shots of prayer halls, minarets, calligraphy, meditating Muslims and romanticised pictures of the Syrian landscape, as well as pages from the Qur'an which are slotted in as graphic cards. The verse "kaffi, hiya mamdutatun illaik" (about the stretching out of my hand to Allah) is for example visualised with a shot in worm's eye view of the prayer niche (mihrab) or the vault of the mosque. The hymn "Ya Allah, laka ar-ridda wa alf 'alaq 'an Ramadan" (O God, yours is all pleasure, and a thousand rays over Ramadan) finds its visual expression in romanticised shots of a cloudy sky with a fully gleaming sun behind them, or a fast zoom away from the sky with the inscription "Allah" back to earth where nice little waterfalls, the glittering sun on a pond or a flowery field are illuminated. A zoom movement of the camera drawing back from a mosque minaret illustrates the direction of the Mu'ezzin's call for the sunset prayer. This is followed by a fast zoom towards the main entrance of the mosque, when the Mu'ezzin calls "Hayya 'ala s-salat" (Rise up for the prayer!). During the opening credits of 'O Ramadan' and the opening hymn "O Ramadan, you are full of the Qur'an's fear of God // O Ramadan, you are full of great repentance, full of my good deeds and my charity, O Ramadan".<34> there are pictures of the main entrance of a mosque, its main chandelier, its prayer niche, its stained glass windows and its Qur'an-reading believers, who sit in front of a small lectern bearing a big deluxe edition of the Qur'an. Finally, a fully illuminated mosque in the middle of a pitch dark town is shown effectively from an aerial perspective. Here, Syrian television presents ritual activities of popular religion and uses innovative visual and auditive language in its meditation programme to illustrate the system of religious belief. But however intense and extensive the television coverage of spiritual life in Ramadan may be, it is evident that modernist Islamic ideas have proved astoundingly influential in the public domain of television production. Quite obviously, they have succeeded in suppressing Syrian and especially Damascene Islam's predilection for mysticism and the cults of local saints, magic cures, divinations and metaphysical speculations. Reform-minded Muslims regarded all these activities as polytheistic deviations from Islam and used campaigns, movements and Muslim political parties to advance the cause of religious reform. Muslim modernists also bitterly attacked magicians, healers, herbalists and other forms of popular religiousness. Thus, as far as Ramadan activities on the level of popular religion are concerned, the media portray a popular spirituality channeled away from mystical pantheism into more tauhidic (monotheistic) devotional forms. If previously all sorts of Islamic prophets, Sufi-Shaikhs and dead saints were invoked - or are still invoked in local mosques, takiyyas and zawiyyas - it is now only the name of Allah (and occasionally that of the Prophet Muhammad) which can be heard on television. In one of these Iftar-programmes, a Shaikh in his long Abaya with his scarf around his head invocates with "Ya rahim" and "Ya rabb" only the one God;<35> another Shaikh recites the message of a prophet's expression "The best of you is the one who has learnt the Qur'an and made it known publicly".<36> There is no reference to guardian spirits or to the spiritual efficacy of amulets or talismans, omens and signs when pious Muslims are shown as they visit tombs, shrines, mystical orders, dervishes and old Shaikhs. Allah has become the only transcendental reference of all ritual practices. During the commentary on the following mystical ibtihalat-songs it is explained in off-sound that all the songs are meant solely for the purification of the soul from all sins to meet Allah in a purified state. All the other songs that used to accompany ritual celebrations in Ramadan are not considered as functional, but "only as symbolic expressions of respect and admiration towards these events as such".<37> Thus, by conceiving God as non-manipulative and more abstract, television has brought popular religion into closer conformity with Islam's official monotheistic ideals. Furthermore, the producers of the religious broadcasts are at pains to present a rational, down-to-earth, less exaggerated or overacted piety. Vocalists (munshidun) are shown motionless and unemotional with glassy eyes and fixed positions. Dancing Sufi muridun perform their whirling movements in rather artificial surroundings, degrading the otherwise spiritual atmosphere into a rather folkloristic stage-performance. Dances which in mosques are performed rousingly, such as the "raqs as-samah" (dance of magnanimity), appear rather static on TV. Nothing on television suggests any possibility of the excess, exaggeration or trance which are not unusual during these performances. Conclusion Ramadan in Syria is the month of the year in which people reflect intensively upon their religious, social and political identities. It is the time par excellence in which the line is more sharply drawn between those who are and those who are not members of specific religious and ethnic groups: Sunnis, Shi'is, Alawis, Christians, modernists, traditionalists, secularists, Damascenes and Non-Damascenes, etc. Ramadan is also a time of hightened class divisiveness; people from the lowest social stratum, lower middle class, upper middle class and the new national bourgeoisie experience and perform the month of Ramadan very differently. Concerning the role of television during Ramadan, it becomes clear that Ramadan programmes attempt to reinforce the notion of belonging to one nation regardless of denomination, ethnicity, class and gender. With a strong appeal to the unification of the national community, the main appeal of the televisual message is to harmonize divergent interests and orientations. First, historical Ramadan dramas introduce and reinforce national identities that smooth denominational, social, ethnic and class differences. They exclude religion as a political factor to produce this consciousness, since religion in politics, and in particular political Islam, is seen as the cause of sectarian and ethnic frictions. Second, cartoons and television sermons criticize economic and social disparities which could result in disharmony and non-solidarity among members of the national community. Third, evening shows and Ramadan features reflect and reinforce the Islamicization of public culture. That is, Islam has come to be an ever more pervasive feature of secular public life, as evidenced in the proliferation of Islamic greetings, phrases, dress styles, learning circles and cuisines on screen. Being part of public culture, television Islamicizes its programmes by blending together secular life styles with Islamic models, morals and values, thus harmonizing orthodox Islamic aspects of Ramadan with modes of Ramadan's popular culture. Fourth, religious broadcasts integrate styles of popular religiousness and modernist reformism. Presenting on the level of popular religion ritual activities which are cleansed of exaggeration, excess and superstition, television programmes seek to please the growing number of Sunni modernists who basically regard the 'Alawi religion of the ruling class as a deviation from true Islam. Furthermore, religious performances on TV show no specific reference to individual schools and denominations within Islam. Distinctive characteristics of Sunni or Shi'i ritual modes and styles have disappeared. I have shown that Ramadan plays a crucial role in supporting the pragmatic aims and ideologies of the people in power, but this very involvement has brought a radical redefinition of the Islamic religion in the interests of specific socio-economic and political requirements. In doing so, a new code of expressing Islamic faith is introduced in television programmes, which I call 'an invented piety'. Further research should explore how television viewers think and feel about Ramadan programming. It might be interesting to find out how successful or not are the religious and secular Ramadan programmes at 'inventing a new piety' or at creating an 'imagined community' of most different groups and interests. And as for the confusion about the ambivalent role of television during the month of Ramadan, it becomes clear that Ramadan television is much more than a medium of sheer entertainment for pleasure-craving Muslims. Instead, it bears complex messages about social and religious changes in modern Syrian society and gives us a clue to competing identities which influence the functioning of Ramadan rituals in reality. -------------------------------------------------------------- REFERENCES Abu-Lughod, Lila (1993), 'Finding a Place for Islam: Egyptian Television Serials and the National Interest', Public Culture 5 (3): 493-513. --- (1995), 'The Objects of Soap Opera: Egyptian Television and the Cultural Politics of Modernity', in Daniel Miller ed, Worlds Apart: Modernity through the Prism of the Local (London: Routledge). Antoun, Richard T. (1968), 'The Social Significance of Ramadan in an Arab Village', The Muslim World, vol 58: 36-42 and 95-104. Armbrust, Walter Tice (1993), Mass Culture and Modernity in Egypt, Unpublished dissertation, University of Michigan. Bousquet, Georges-Henri (1949), 'Le grand Pratiques rituelles de l'Islam', Mythes et religion 24, Paris. Buitelaar, Maria (1993), Fasting and Feasting in Morocco. Women's Participation in Ramadan, (Oxford/Providence: Berg). Gerlitz, Peter (1983), Article 'Fasten', in Theologische Realenzyklop„die, vol XI (Berlin, New York) pp.: 42-45. Gibb, H.A.R. and J.H. Kramer eds (1953), Shorter Encyclopaedia of Islam, (Leiden: Brill). Goitein, D. (1966), 'Ramadan: The Muslim Month of Fasting' in D. Goitein, Studies in Islamic History and Institutions, Leiden), pp.: 90-110. Graham, William (1987), Beyond the Written Word: Oral Aspects of Scripture in the History of Religion, (Cambridge: CUP). Ibn Rassoul, Abu Al-Rida Muhammad (1993): Ar-Rayyan und das Fasten im Ramadan, (K"ln). Kayal Munir (1987), Hikayat dimashqiya fi l-adab ash-sha'bi (Damascus: Ibn Khaldun). ---- (1992), Ramadan fi Sham: Ayyam wa zaman (Damascus: Mu'assasa an-Nuri). Kienle, Eberhard (1994) Contemporary Syria, (London: Routledge). Lech, Klaus (1979), Geschichte des islamischen Kultus: Rechtshistorische und hadith-kritische Untersuchungen zur Entwicklung und Systematik der 'ibadat', vol 1: Das Ramadan-Fasten. Erster Teil (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz). Miles, Margaret (1985), Image as Insight: Visual Understanding in Western Christianity and Secular Culture, (Boston: Beacon Press). Nabhan, Laila (1991), Das Fest des Fastenbrechens ('id al-fitr) in Žgypten: Untersuchungen zu theologischen Grundlagen und praktischer Gestaltung, Islamkundliche Untersuchungen 17 (Berlin: Klaus Schwarz Verlag). Shaltut, Mahmud (1975): Al-Fatawa: dirasa li mushkilat al-muslim al-mu'asir fi hayatihi al-yaumiya al-'amma, (Cairo; 16th edn.1991). Stolz, Fritz (1988), 'Hierarchien der Darstellungsebenen der religi"sen Botschaft', in Hartmut Zinser, ed, Religionswissenschaft: Eine Einfhrung (Berlin) pp.: 55-72. Wagtendonk, Kees (1968), Fasting in the Koran, (Leiden: Brill). END OF REFERENCES -------------------------------------------------------------- NOTES <1> Shaltut 1975:141. <2> In Islam, there is no all-day fasting. On the contrary, fasting after sunset is legally forbidden (an-nahy 'ala sawm ad-dahr), see Ibn Rassoul [1993]. <3> Wagtendonk 1968:144. <4> Bousquet 1949:60. Phenomenologically, Western scholars of religious studies find it difficult to classify Ramadan; it does not fit into established categories. It is not a preparatory act (see Goitein 1966:91; Lech 1979:42; Nabhan 1991:42) because there is no culminative event to prepare for, as the following feast has no religious connotation and is not regarded by Muslims as a sacred time. It is not exclusively an act of repentance and purification (see Wagtendonk 1968:135ff) since the month of fasting means only partial and temporary refrain, for the other part of the month means quite the contrary. As for the motives, fasting is not always an expression of invocation of Allah's blessing. Ramadan is a highly social event, where fasting is performed publicly and collectively. This puts pressure on individuals and gives them social motives for fasting. Even the apotropaic-cathartic function of Ramadan, which according to phenomenologists is one of the basic essentials of fasting (see Gerlitz 1983:42ff) cannot serve as an explanatory tool to understand Ramadan, as food and drink in Islam are not regarded as something special or sacred and thus cannot be infected by demons, evil or magic powers from which a fasting person can be protected. <5> Shorter Encyclopaedia of Islam 1953:469. <6> Margaret Miles [1985] argues that for millions of people images rather than words form and sustain their sense of identity and purpose. William Graham [1987] draws attention to the 'sensual' aspects of religiousness and to the important oral dimension of scripture. Fritz Stolz [1988] emphasizes the non-verbal aspects within a symbolic religious system which encodes its religious messages according to a hierarchy of written and non-written (visual, auditive, haptic, kinetic, olfactory etc.) signs. <7> Buitelaar 1993:66, note 14. <8> Al-Ba'th: January 26, 1996, pp. 8. <9> See Kayal 1987:39ff and 1992:188ff. <10> I have rendered the term musalsal (plural musalsalat), which means literally 'chained' or 'continuous', as 'series' in terms of 'minidramas', see Abu Lughod [1995] and Armbrust [1993] who discuss musalsalat as 'soap operas'. <11> The actress Rarda in Sayyidati, February 3, 1995:44. <12> See Lila Abu-Lughod 1993:25. <13> Al-Funun: February 10, 1996:10. <14> For a detailled discussion of the television representation of Syria's past and its divergent perception among Damascene intellectuals, see Christa Salamandra, D.Phil. thesis in progress, Oxford University (Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology). <15> Abu Lughod 1993:28. <16> Having confessed that she is still not pregnant, the plain wife of Kamal is advised to go with her mother to an old women/shaikha of saintly/healing reputation dressed in an Islamic suit of a long white gown and a white 'hijab'. Counting the pearls of her "misbah" (to chant the ninety-nine names of Allah), the shaikha makes an embroidery with the inscription of Allah's name and the names of Saqiya, her mother and her father. Exclaiming the formula "I seek protection with you" (dakhilak), the mother pays for the amulet and says together with her daughter a prayer on the Prophet Muhammad. After having been told by the Shaikha to recite the formula "Everything is in your hand, you are the almighty" (innahu 'ala kull shai' qadir) a thousand times every day and under any circumstances, Saqiya and her mother depart in good hope of a forthcoming pregnancy. <17> If Syrian Muslims want to watch series with a central Islamic point of view, they have to switch to non-Syrian programmes via Satellite television, e.g. Ahmad Tantawi's series "Muhammad, the Messenger of God to the World" (Egyptian TV: 1994/1995/1996) or the historical drama "The legal judgement in Islam" (Saudi-Arabian TV; director: Fa'iq Isma'il) Based on the script by Muhammad Abu Al-Khair it is an idealized illustration of how just and incorruptible Muslim judges have been defending for centuries the just and supreme Islamic legislation (shari'a). Nevertheless, it touches very sensitive Islamist topics, such as the unsolved problem of the relation between Islam and the state, the search for a place for the Shari'a in a Muslim society, and the problem of corruptibility among Muslim rulers. <18> Abu-Lughod 1993: ibid. <19> Al-Funun: February 8, 1996:3; The dramatic rise of prices during Ramadan is one of the most pressing problems for large parts of the Syrian population. Although the current state policy encourages the free market system with its principle of supply and demand, there is nevertheless every year a media campaign against intolerably high prices especially for fruits (bananas!), vegetables, clothes and shoes. Al-Ba'th asks, for example, on 21/1/96:p.5: "Shouldn't we put pressure on the city bazaars during Ramadan?!" or "Who is able to stabilize the markets with a reasonable balance of goods and prices?!" (21/2/95,p.6); Ath-Thaura spreads the following message: "The wave of price increase goes on and affects all sorts of food!" (27/1/96,p.7); Al-Ba'th asks: "Why price increases in Ramadan?!" (6/2/95,p.5) or outraged, claims: "Inspections of food markets totally absent!"(26/2/95,p.5) or: "Ramadan and the fever heat of prices" (26/1/96,p.4); while Tishrin states sarcastically: "Noble Ramadan and even nobler prices!!" (5/2/95,p.6). <20> The visibility, position and size of the moon has been functioning for all premodern and modern time as the time marker of the Ramadan month. The still naked-eye sighting of the new moon - after the end of the decreasing old moon Sha'ban - marks the beginning of the fasting month. This ritual is scrupulously observed and is said to influence the success of Ramadan. To reduce the symbol of Ramadan to an image of food and drink means to evoke exclusively materialistic references (the subtitle of the cartoon is "the crescent of Ramadan"). <21> Variations of this satirical theme can be found in cartoons from other Arab countries, e.g. the problem of falling asleep during daytime at offices (Saudi Arabia), where all the work which comes up is labelled as 'postponed until the end of Ramadan', or stereotyping women as being only concerned about balancing their body weight in the light of excessive Ramadan meals (Saudi Arabia). <22> This criticism corresponds with the campaign of several newsletters (see note 19) against an uncoordinated and uncontrolled price increase. Al-Ba'th comments for example: "All this happens in reality, in all cities and villages, it is not part of a theatre performance. But, what has the Ministry of Supply done or what is it doing now? Up to now nobody has suggested any measure to stop the greed of those who make fun of the people's food. We found a sneering comment by some jokers that gives a response to that: 'If the Ministry of Supply do their fasting in Ramadan by giving up all measures, then all the best to them - so God will!!!'" (February 1, 1995, p.12) <23> See: Eberhard Kienle [1994]. <24> According to the Prophet's Hadith after Ibn 'Umar (in Al-Bukhari), it consists of one litre (sa') of dates and one litre of wheat (aproximately two pounds). <25> "The fast of Ramadan is hung up between heaven and earth, there being nothing to raise it up but the zakat al fitr." (Al-Bukhari) <26> See Antoun 1968:39ff and his examples of money and gift exchange during Ramadan in Kufr al-Ma, Jordan. <27> On Wednesday, January 24, 1996, Channel 1 (recorded by the author). <28> January 28, 1996, Channel 1 (recorded by the author). <29> February 5, 1996, Channel 1 (recorded by the author). <30> Ibid. <31> February 2, 1996, Channel 1 (recorded by the author). <32> January 28, 1996, Channel 1 (recorded by the author). <33> Shaikh Husam ad-Din Farfur, Imam and Khatib of the Al-Badr-Mosque, and professor at one of the leading Shari'a-schools in Damascus, Ma'had al-Fath al-Islami. (interviewed by the author). <34> "Ya ramadan, ya ramadan, jaww l-taqwa al-qur'an // Ya ramadan, ya ramadan, jaww l-tauba al-kubra; jaww birri wa l-ihsan, ya ramadan, ya ramadan" February 6, 1996, Channel 1 (recorded by the author). <35> February 6, 1996, Channel 1 (recorded by the author). <36> "Khairukum man ta'allama al-qur'an wa a'alanahu" (according to 'Uthman Ibn 'Afan in Al-Bukhari and Muslim), ibid. <37> February 6, 1996, Channel 1 (recorded by the author). END OF NOTES -------------------------------------------------------------- APPENDIX SYRIAN TV PROGRAMMES IN RAMADAN ****************************************************** [Note for DISKUS readers: To view the following table correctly use a non-proportionally spaced font such as Courier] ****************************************************** CHANNEL ONE Time Fixed Programme (same Mon-Thurs, Sat & Sunday except for 7.10pm and 1.40am time-slots) 12.00pm Start/National Anthem 12.02 Syrian-Arabic Songs (Anashid) 12.20 Historical Series 1.20 Children's MagazineMonday 2.10 Series: Tales for Children 3.00 Comedy Series 4.00 First News 4.20 Ramadan Coooking 4.40 TV Preview 4.55 Anashid Songs 5.00 Hadith Commentary 5.10 Qur'an Reading 5.15 Call to Prayer 5.20 Ibtihalat - Meditation 5.30 The Good-Evening Show 6.00pm Historical Series 7.10 (Fixed Programme) Laugh with Us (Monday) Syrian TV-memories (Tuesday) The service of the Police (Wednesday) Qur'anic Studies (Thursday) Reflections of the Day (Saturday) Places of the World (Sunday) The Health Programme 7.40 Comedy series 8.30 Second News 9.10 Historical Series 10.45 The Journey of the Venerable Qur'an 11.00 Third News 11.15 Historical Series 1.40am (Fixed Programme) The Creation by Allah (Monday) Talk show with artists (Tuesday) Art Seminar (Wednesday) Aleppo Programme (Thursday) The Arabian Night (film) (Saturday) Tonight's Theatreplay (Sunday) Contests of Knowledge 2.05am Syrian-Arabic Songs (Anashid) 2.10am The End / Anthem FRIDAY PROGRAMME (Channel One) 10.00am Anthem / Syrian-Arabic songs 10.20 Friday Hadith Commentary 10.30 Curious Things in the World of Animals 11.30 Syrian Mosques 12.00pm The Morning Newspapers 12.20 Historical Series 2.00 Soccer 4.20 Religious Seminar 7.00 TV Stations of the World 7.20 Programme 'The Comedians' 12.15am Contests of Knowledge ====================================== CHANNEL TWO Time Fixed Programme 6.00pm Anthem / Syrian-Arabic Songs 6.06 Chidren's Programme 7.15 Science Fiction: The Time Machine 7.45 Ramadan in the World 8.00 News in French 8.20 Series: The Days of Orleander 10.00 News in English 10.20 Films / Shows / Performances 11.00 Educational Programme 12.30am The Last Errand 12.45 Syrian-Arabic Songs /Anthem * TV Listings Sources: Al-Ba'th, At-Tishrin and Ath-Thaura January -February 1995/1996. Most Syrian homes receive only two television channels, but before the beginning of Ramadan 1996 more and more middle class households were gaining access to satellite dishes. It is difficult to ascertain whether Syrians watch more Syrian programmes or satellite programmes, but during Ramadan, local television productions are much more preferred. END OF APPENDIX ----------------------------------------------------------- Andreas Christmann: "An Invented Piety: Ramadan on Syrian TV". END