The city of St. Paul's conversion, at night. Photo credit: C & More

DAMASCUS, Syria.- As the new moon approaches the skies, the Muslim world, from Kuala Lumpur to Casablanca, gets ready to celebrate the end of the holy month of Ramadan while America and Europe debate their part in the feast.

My watch marks thirty minutes past 7pm and the thermometer still rises over the line of 35 degrees celsius. The air is dry and still and my body temperature does not cede despite the air conditioning circulating in the room and the liter of water I just thirstily drank. I left the house early in the morning and just made my way back home from the office. It has been a tough day; summer days usually are in this city of over four million people. Waking or driving turns strenuous under the regular heat waves and it takes time for the mind to keep a coherent stream of ideas. However, I feel privileged. At least, in spite of the harsh weather, I have been able to eat and, more importantly, drink whatever I pleased throughout the day. Not like most pious Damascene Muslims, who, complying with the strict rules of their beliefs, have been fasting for a great part of the past month.

We are on the 20th day of Ramadan, ten more to go before the ninth month of the Islamic calendar comes to an end. And with it, the season that the followers of the Prophet Mohammad dedicate from dawn until sunset to fast and restrain from other earthly pleasures such as smoking and having sex in order to purify themselves, repent of past sins and get closer to God by exercising piety and compassion for those less fortunate.

Otherwise filled with people, cars and even donkey-carts, at this time of day the streets of Damascus come to a complete standstill. The Syrian capital better known to the world press for its links with the axis of evil (as defined by the Bush administration) than for its glorious historical past — it is here that Saint Paul converted to  Christianity — looks like a ghost town during these bleak hours of the day when everybody, inside their houses, waits keenly for the muezzins to announce the sun has set through theirs chanting on top of the city’s multiple minarets.

According to tradition it is the moment in which at clear sight you can’t differentiate whether you are holding a thread in your fingers when one can break fast. After more than 15 hours of not having ingested anything (nor having drunk a single drop of water) the eating protocol has to be accurately followed — more for physiological reasons than for religious ones. Right after the singing comes a little symbolic prayer before one can eat a date and officially break fast; followed by freshly squeezed juices and a series of sweet delicacies. All in preparation for a lavish buffet including oriental mezzehs and numerous types of minced beef and chicken, rice and salads. Entire families, which in this side of the world can easily reach 20 members each, get together to enjoy this nightly feast, sometimes joined by friends and neighbors.

After the copious meal, conversations run fast and range from the clearly banal to the more current world affairs. A favorite one of this Ramadan season is the debate in Europe and more recently in America, about the presence of Islam in the West. Surprisingly enough most people here oppose the idea of a Mosque and Islamic Cultural Center being built next to Ground Zero in New York. Something they consider disrespectful. Too bad they are not invited to take part in the debate. Certainly their opinion would come as a surprise to many