“I See Dead People”

Y’know the Christmas episode of  WKRP where Dr. Johnny Fever asks Jennifer (Loni Anderson) what she’s doing for Christmas and, embarrassed, she reveals that one of her businessmen boyfriends is flying the two of them to Bethlehem?

Johnny’s impressed response is: "Now that’s a down home Christmas."

Ever wonder what a down home Ramadan is like?–a Ramadan celebrated in Saudi Arabia? An American living over there tells us:

Watching [Night of the Living Dead], I remembered
something Mohammed had said on the advent of Ramadan, when we were
discussing the effects of the holy month of fasting on the Magic
Kingdom’s inhabitants.

"In four weeks," Mohammed said, with a wave of his arm, "You will see dead people. Everywhere you look, dead people."

He had a point. By the end of Ramadan most Saudis did seem more like reanimated corpses than living humans.

Saudis have their own peculiar way of observing Ramadan. During
Ramadan the Saudis flip their lifestyles from day to night. True, they
do abstain from food, water, and sexual intercourse, during the day.
What they deny themselves in the sunlight they more than make up for in
the dark. Most Saudis gain weight during Ramadan. Like camels storing
nourishment and water in the form of fat in their humps for long treks
across the desert, the Saudis gorge on food and drink during the night
for the perilous journey from dawn to dusk the following day.

Nightlife
in the heart of the Magic Kingdom during Ramadan is frenzied. Shops and
restaurants stay open until late in the morning. Some don’t bother
closing until just before sunrise. Stores are congested. Restaurants
are full. Traffic is bumper to bumper. There are Ramadan Special Offers
and Ramadan Sells and Ramadan Drawings and Ramadan Discounts everywhere
as stores vie for customers.

Aside from an occasional catnap before iftar (the first evening meal at sundown, when you break fast) and after suhoor
(the pre-dawn meal) no one bothers to sleep. Sleep can be postponed
until the weekend, when you can snooze all day long to your heart’s
content, which is exactly what the Saudis do. On Thursdays and Fridays
(weekend in this part of the world) during Ramadan the heart of the
Magic Kingdom becomes one massive necropolis. Streets are completely
empty. Shops are closed. Aside from police at checkpoints on the
lookout for terrorists it’s as though the entire city has been
abandoned.

One discernible impact of the lack of sleep during Ramadan is a
tremendous rise in traffic accidents. Driving in Arabia is dangerous
anytime of the year, but during Ramadan it is like playing Russian
roulette, only with cars instead of bullets.

Some of these accidents are caused by sleepy Saudis racing home to eat iftar.

This week the Arab News reported that road accidents were up
20 percent during Ramadan. Brigadier Saad Al-Ghamdi of the Jeddah
Traffic Department told the Arab News the accidents peak just before iftar.
He said, "I have no idea why people are behaving so differently in
Ramadan even though they are supposed to respect the spirit of the holy
month by being patient and tolerant. This happens every Ramadan despite
our continued warning. Motorists tend to speed more than usual and lose
their concentration while driving."

The article when on to
say that,  "the increased number of accidents has led the Traffic
Department in cooperation with charity organizations to provide a very
light iftar meal to motorists by traffic lights to calm them down."

READ MORE.

You’ll be seeing dead people.

Author: Jimmy Akin

Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live."

5 thoughts on ““I See Dead People””

  1. The article quotes a Muslim: “During Ramadan, each night, Allah releases many souls from Hell.”
    Does Islam have a concept of post-mortem purification like Purgatory? Do Muslims believe the penances of Ramadan help the souls of the departed escape Hell?

  2. This puts me in mind of those Catholics who go to Red Lobster on Fridays during Lent and nearly eat themselves into a coma. I had wondered about this kind of abuse during Ramadan because the idea of a daylight fast just seemed to invite that sort of thing. Anyone who has ever tried to lose weight can tell you that if you don’t eat all day your body will scream for attention in the evening… or at least whine alot.

  3. WOW what a great truth mixed with beautiful lies and hatrd !! i can not do any thing but congratulate you ! YOU MUST KNOW THAT YOU ARE GOING TO BE ASKED AT THE DOME DAY OF YOUR HONESTY AND SINCERITY, WHICH YOU LACK HERE, OF YOUR WORDS AND DOINGS !
    If any one likes to know more about Real islam please go to any islamic center near your place better than scrolling down sites against islam !

  4. Actually, Dina, Jimmy did not (not as I can tell) say anything against Islam. (Even though Catholics believe that it does not contain the fullness of the truth…but nothing but the catholic church does.) He, to quote him, said that “I have no idea why people are behaving so differently in Ramadan even though they are supposed to respect the spirit of the holy month by being patient and tolerant.”
    So……..I guess he thinks (or the one he’s quoting thinks) that people are mistreating Ramadan. Which, by reading it, is true. But we Catholics do as well. (Let’s see…I’m gonna give up [insert really bad sin here] during Lent, but afterwards, I’m reverting right back to it.)
    So…This just shows the increasing need for moral reform regardless of culture or belief. This goes for Catholics as well, I think.
    ~Kosh

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