As the minarets of Makkah and several Arab and Islamic capitals resonated with the takbir announcing the beginning of the blessed month of Ramadan on Wednesday, other capitals declared the crescent had not been sighted, completing the month of Shaaban, with Thursday marked as the first day of the sacred month.
This year, the month of fasting arrives under exceptional circumstances, casting a heavy shadow over millions of Muslims. War, famine, displacement and the collapse of basic living conditions have reshaped the spiritual season into one marked by endurance. Across afflicted lands, Muslims seek to mend their wounded souls through the blessings of Ramadan, even as the most basic necessities of life remain largely absent.
Tarawih Prayers Over the Rubble
For the third consecutive year since the outbreak of the war of genocide against the Gaza Strip, Palestinians receive Ramadan amid unprecedented devastation. According to the Government Media Office in Gaza, the Israeli occupation has completely destroyed 1,015 mosques. The war has also silenced the voices of dozens of imams, reciters and memorizers of the Holy Quran who once filled Ramadan nights with remembrance and prayer.
On the first nights of the blessed month, Palestinians in Gaza performed Tarawih prayers atop the ruins of destroyed mosques and inside temporary prayer spaces constructed from nylon sheets and timber. Worshippers stood in prayer while Israeli surveillance drones hovered above the Strip.
Data from the Government Media Office indicates that more than 835 mosques have been fully destroyed and 180 partially damaged over the past two years. In response, the Ministry of Endowments has erected substitute tents at the sites of demolished mosques to allow congregational prayer to continue.
Worshippers have also returned to the Great Omari Mosque, one of Gaza’s oldest and most significant mosques and the third largest in Palestine, despite it having sustained near total destruction.
These scenes unfold amid a diminished sense of joy. Approximately 1.9 million displaced Palestinians continue to live in fragile tents lacking the most basic requirements of dignified life after their homes were destroyed. Despite a ceasefire agreement, there has been no meaningful improvement in humanitarian conditions, as Israel has reneged on commitments related to opening crossings and allowing essential aid into the Strip.
An Occupied West Bank and a Besieged Al Aqsa
Alongside Gaza’s wounds, Ramadan descends upon the occupied West Bank under the weight of unprecedented settlement expansion. Observers describe these projects as an attempt to impose a reality of de facto annexation and to displace Palestinian communities from their lands.
For the third consecutive year, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are prevented from entering Al Aqsa Mosque due to intensified security measures. The Israeli occupation continues to bar West Bank residents from entering Jerusalem to pray at Al Aqsa, while Palestinians from Gaza have long been denied access altogether.
The suffering is further compounded by the plight of more than 10,000 Palestinian detainees held in Israeli prisons. Ramadan arrives while they remain forcibly absent from their families, confined behind prison walls.
Sudan: Ramadan Under the Shadow of Famine
Beyond the pain of Palestine, Sudan faces a parallel tragedy of equal severity. Ramadan arrives this year as the Sudanese people continue to endure a war that has torn the country apart and displaced its population.
Since April 2023, fighting between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces has left tens of thousands dead and forced more than 11 million people to flee their homes, both internally and across borders.
Millions of displaced civilians now live under the spectre of famine. Access to even minimal food supplies grows increasingly difficult as battles expand to cities, villages and camps. Supply chains remain disrupted, and the foundations of everyday life have largely collapsed.
Food security experts warn that acute malnutrition rates have reached famine thresholds in several states. Millions of children suffer from severe nutritional deficiencies that threaten their lives and undermine their future.
Figures indicate the breadth of the catastrophe. More than 21 million people across Sudan face food insecurity, one of the highest recorded levels in recent years.
Wounded Yemen
In Yemen, still struggling to recover from years of conflict, Ramadan arrives as the majority of the population grapples with extreme poverty. The sharp depreciation of the local currency and the absence of stable income sources have eroded purchasing power to unprecedented levels.
Families that once prepared modest Ramadan meals now find themselves unable to secure the most basic necessities for fasting, including food, water and cooking gas.
Ramadan thus dawns across multiple lands burdened with hardship, yet for millions it remains a month of steadfastness, prayer and hope for relief from Allah.
