Panama City, April 14. In Catholic Panama, while Holy Week was celebrated with religious fervor with massive processions in its streets, its holy month, Ramadan, also began for Muslims with more intimate displays of faith.
The mosque of the Islamic Foundation of Panama, next to the seafront of the Panamanian capital, has on its façade a sign that recalls the festive month: “Ramadan kareem” (“May Ramadan be generous”), while the faithful entered for the prayer.
It’s Friday, a holy day for Muslims. Around noon, the muezzin called for prayer. He did not climb the minaret, nor was singing in Arabic heard outside the mosque through loudspeakers, as in Muslim countries, but stood in front of a microphone in a small room of the temple.
“We have a radio that is connected from the mosque,” and the rest of the faithful listen to it through the radio devices in their homes that are connected to the same frequency, Junaid Moolla, director of the Islamic Foundation of Panama, explained to EFE. .
Moolla, of Indian ancestry, hails from South Africa, and explains that Ramadan corresponds to the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar. During this holy festival, Muslims must fast, without eating or drinking, from sunrise to sunset, something that is not easy in this hot month of April.
In this year of 1444, according to the Islamic calendar, Ramadan began on March 23, and on April 7, in full Catholic Good Friday, the 16th day of Ramadan was celebrated, a month that is scheduled to end next Friday. , if the moon is sighted.
That day of conclusion of Ramadan is a great celebration, where the faithful go to the homes of relatives and friends to share gifts and food. There is no religious tension or discrimination in the country, “we feel very comfortable,” he says.
“Most Panamanians are also believers, so with the similarity we have, there is a lot of respect between the different religions in Panama,” said Moolla, a member of a Muslim minority of some 10,000 followers in the Central American country.
MUSLIM PANAMANIANS
Samed Bhana, a well-known member of the Muslim community in the capital, is full energy, his Panamanian flavor intact. He was born in Panama to Indian parents, and he agrees that he has never had any problems in his country for professing Islam.
“We don’t have any problem with any religion, all religions get along very well, they respect our religion, our customs. Until now, thank God, we haven’t had any problem” in Panama, says Bhana.
He feels “totally Panamanian”, following many of the country’s customs, although without forgetting the Islamic ones as well. Something similar to what happens with his three daughters, two of them already working, another studying law at a Catholic university, the same one where he graduated in accounting.
Completely shaven, he says that he once grew a beard when he made the pilgrimage to Mecca, but when he returned to Panama he shaved clean. “I had to take it off because she couldn’t stand the heat and the itching”, a heat that is now being harsh and complicating the fast.
“This year the fast has been very strong, this year 2023, very hot, it is very hot, well, for the name of God we have to make the sacrifice, we are almost finishing,” said a cheerful Bhana, pure Panamanian. EFE
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