theguardian:

Ali, a 45-year-old live-in janitor at a commercial building, isn’t fasting for Ramadan, and the reason is evident even before he explains. “Man, I’m ill,” he says. “I have to smoke [opium] several times a day just to stay on my feet and take care of this building. I swear to God, I used to fast. As a little kid in the shah’s time I did fast, but when the mullahs made it obligatory I stopped. I’m not mental, after all.”

Iran has been referred to as a post-Islamist society – one in which conservative religious discourse and practices are losing their hold after decades of state promulgation. Iranians’ perspectives on the holy month of Ramadan, observed in Iran this year from 10 July to 8 August, appear to underline that view.

During Ramadan, in addition to taking special care to avoid certain sins mentioned in the Qur’an, Muslims must abstain from food or drink of any kind during daylight hours, a long stretch in the middle of the summer. The first call to prayer arrives shortly after 4am and the final call just after 8pm. The rules must be abided by throughout, and the summer heat – this year regularly nearing 40C – doesn’t make the job any easier.

Tehran’s Vanak Square bustles with hyperkinetic foot traffic at six in the evening. Maliheh, a 56-year-old employee at an car company who has come to pick up prescription medicine, shares her thoughts on Ramadan. “You know, I just love the atmosphere,” she says.

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