Kenya's Muslim population is unevenly distributed and numerous sections of Muslims reside in Mombasa and along the Indian Ocean Coast so Ramadan in Kenya is mostly seen in these parts. Nairobi constitute about 10% of the population, most of them are concentrated in Eastleigh, while others live in Pangani and the rest are distributed throughout the country. Ramadan is very popular and one of the important Muslim festival. Ramadan is the holy month in which the Muslims fast religiously for the whole month and subsequently the days of fasting ends with the sightseeing of the crescent moon by the Imams.
During the period of Ramadan the Muslims fast from dawn to dusk and nothing can be eaten in between and the excess of saliva is even not swollen, but the sick people, pregnant ladies and breast feeding women and babies are the exceptions. Sinful activities like fighting, drinking and sex are prohibited in the month of Ramadan. Muslims follow this holy month very truthfully as they take it as a month of seeking forgiveness. Ramadan in Kenya is quiet similar to its counterparts and this month is totally different from the rest of the months. The time of the start of fasting is known as “Suhur” and the time of its end in the evening is called as “Iftar”.
The time generally varies as it again depends on the sunrise and the sunset of the areas concerned. Within Kenya even each locations has its own timetable for Ramadan. During the day hours Muslims keep the fast as the atmosphere is quiet and serene and towards the start of evening they engage themselves in special preparations to break the fast. In Some orthodox areas during Ramadan food is not served in restaurants even.
During Ramadan the markets are superbly decorated as it sets the festive mood and they are flooded with various special foodstuffs mainly required to break the fast. Prices of foodstuffs even soar high due to increase of Muslim customers. Muslims tend to visit the mosque more often than the normal to offer timely prayers and the mosque timings even changes particularly for the period of Ramadan.
The period of Ramadan ends followed by the festival of Idd-ul-fitrr and it’s just after the last day of fasting. The appearance of new moon on the horizon ends the month of Ramadan and the Imams (Muslim leaders) announce the end of fasting and this festival is public Kenya holiday and world wide countries that have Muslim population.
