20´000 Muslims celebrate Ramadan in the Balearics

Mzouri said yesterday that the vast majority of the Muslim community is celebrating Ramadan, apart from pregnant women, the chronically ill or those too elderly to follow the month-long ritual which involves no food and drink between sun rise and sun set.

However, Mzouri said that celebrating Ramadan does not clash with daily lives adding that very few Muslims in the Balearics have problems combining their religion with their work. He added that most employers are very understanding.

ROUTINE
Mzouri explained that only those who work late shifts or nights have problems as it breaks up their religious routine and clashes with the time they would normally be eating. Nevertheless, he said that all Muslims are managing to celebrate Ramadan with few difficulties “it's a very spiritual time for us and the main philosophy is to celebrate Ramadan well. “It's a period of self-purification,” he said. “Many give up smoking and drinking for the whole month and of course, it is a time of year when the things we eat at night are very different to our diet for the rest of the year,” he added.

Many of the Muslim shops are full of the traditional sweet pastries eaten during Ramadan “this helps us to celebrate Ramadan much easier and adds to the atmosphere, although there is not the same atmosphere because we have no big mosques.”