• People purchasing various iftar itmes from Chawkbazar in Old Dhaka
  Photo- Focus Bangla

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar and is considered the holiest out of the twelve months by the 1.6bn Muslims in the world.

This spiritual month is observed by fasting from dawn to dusk for the entire month, and participating in special prayers known as the taraweeh after the fast is broken every evening.

During this month, Muslims are seen to pray more and ask for forgiveness and blessings from the Almighty. The zakaat, an obligatory annual payment for well-off Muslims (meeting certain criteria), also has to be disbursed during this month, which is then used for charitable or religious purposes.

The holy month is observed in Bangladesh, which has a population of 150m, among which 89% are Muslim. It seems that we, in Bangladesh, have forgotten that this is meant to be a month of charity, and of spiritual and personal growth. Sadly enough, life in Bangladesh, during the month of Ramadan, does not become any easier for the vast majority of its people.

This Ramadan too, the price of essential food items in the country has sky-rocketed, in spite of the continuous decline of prices in the global market of many essentials.

 

The prices of edible oil, sugar and pulses have gone down significantly in the global market, and the value of our currency against the US dollar has risen, thus lowering the import cost of such items.

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