France has the largest Muslim population in Europe estimated at five million and made up of both French citizens and foreigners (North Africans, Africans, Turks and Asians). An approximate 75 percent of the Muslim community in France observes the fast during Ramadan.
Although the French-born second and third generation of North African immigrants continue to dissolve into the French mainstream, they consider fasting during Ramadan not only an act of religious faith but also a way of asserting their cultural identity and staying connected with their tradition.
In some Muslim countries, the whole country fasts and daily life is adjusted around Ramadan: Restaurants close and the working days are shorter. In Paris, Ramadan has no effect on daily life. As on any other day of the year, the aroma of coffee welcomes you to the office in the morning, and during the lunch break colleagues eat, drink and smoke.
Ramadan in the Muslim world creates a sense of unity, solidarity and equality. We all experience the same suffering and relief at the same time: Hunger and thirst, eating the first date, or drinking the first coffee after iftar. Fasting in Paris can be a lonely experience. Depending on the time of year, we either break the fast alone at work or in the car or on the subway on the way commuting home. As a result those who fast can sometimes feel socially isolated.
It takes strong faith and will to stay indifferent to the surroundings. Pity the Muslim immigrants who work in factories — mainly car plants — and have to go on with tasks that require physical strength while fasting. It must also be hard for fasting waiters to ignore the temptation when they are constantly serving food and drinks to customers.
What we miss here is the social character of Ramadan. In Muslim countries all the members of the family participate in preparing the meal, and after iftar people visit family and friends. Here we judge ourselves lucky to be able to eat our iftar at home. This explains why many expatriates, instead of taking their yearly vacation during the summer period, prefer going back to their countries to spend Ramadan with their families.
Many who fast do not have time to prepare iftar at home and often eat in restaurants or cafés. As a result, several Lebanese restaurants in Paris serve iftar. Moreover, many Parisian cafés and restaurants are owned by Muslim North Africans and in Ramadan they close during the daytime, opening for iftar until suhoor. Fasting people gather there to break their fast with soup and couscous and linger all night playing cards while drinking mint tea and listening to Arabic music. During Ramadan small amateur orchestras give popular concerts there.
After iftar, some people spend the night watching Middle Eastern and North African satellite channels. Every year, the Egyptian soap operas are broadcast on Moroccan and Tunisian channels.
Throughout the month, Arab cultural centers in Paris have Ramadan programs and musical concerts. The Egyptian cultural center organizes musical concerts and conferences on Islam as well as literary debates. The Algerian cultural center organizes Arab-Andalusian and Rai concerts.
Some Parisian supermarkets dedicate a section to Ramadan products such as Algerian “chorba” soup and Moroccan “harira”, dates, nuts and dried fruit, sweets and pastries.
But those seeking the essence of Ramadan have to go to the Arab immigrant district of Paris, the Barbès neighborhood. Barbès has the highest population density of the city and its disheveled, animated and convivial atmosphere is reminiscent of some Arab capitals. An open food market takes place there every Saturday and Wednesday. During Ramadan the commercial activity of the market doubles or triples, and all the hunger-driven Arabs of Paris go there to buy the necessities of iftar.
But it is not only the culinary drive that attracts people to Barbès but also its Ramadan atmosphere, with its commotion and the quarrels of the fasting people. The Barbès market is a cacophony of many Arabic accents: Algerian, Egyptian, Tunisian and Moroccan. Overcrowded with people of all sizes, colors and ages, it is reminiscent of Cairo, where there is hardly any sidewalk space. It is a colorful market: The palette of a vegetable stall ranges from pale yellow via green and orange to a deep red. The stand next to it is purely green with its heaps of aromatic herbs. Close by, an Egyptian stallholder is offering different brands of dates and calls all passers-by to come and buy dates from the Tigris.
On both sides of the market, there are run-down buildings and shops. The Muslim halal butchery is very picturesque. The interior is reserved to men buying and selling meat amid the animals hanging on hooks over their heads. Outside the butchery and on the sidewalk, long tables hold homemade bread and a variety of Ramadan pastries. On the same block, an amazing shop sells wedding dresses and satellite dishes. Next to this shop, a small store sells Arabic music and videos. In front of it, and to remind us of the holy month of Ramadan and with the intention of setting people on the right path, a vendor is offering different editions of the Qur’an, prayer books and guidebooks for Haj and Umrah.
In recent years, and thanks to the continuing commitment of the Muslim community and the French Muslim associations, considerable progress has been made, and Ramadan has become less of an individual experience. Today, in France, there are more than 1,500 mosques and small prayer rooms and Friday prayers draw huge crowds. Now several high schools exempt fasting Muslim students from P.E. classes. Recently a couple of university canteens have agreed to serve iftar for their Muslim students. In adddition, Muslim associations are asking that halal meat be served in university canteens. Whether feasible or not, lately the Muslim leaders have been asking that paid off-days be given on the occasion of Eid.
