Page 220 - Religion, Media, and the Public Sphere

ply sleep during the day and stay awake at night. But Fawazir Ramadan was part
of an ongoing practice of doing just that—staying awake, celebrating, consum-
ing excessively. In religious discourse a “correct” fast is not necessarily the most
austere, but there is no question that excessive consumption during Ramadan,
even during the nonfasting hours, can be interpreted as contrary to the “true
meaning” of the ritual, as delineated in modern instructional literature. As one
Internet site put it (echoing Hasan al-Banna and the cartoon television an-
nouncer “Sonya”):
Excessive intake of food is avoided (this regulates the stomach from being pot-
bellied and distinguishes Muslims from kaa¤r whom Qur#an describes as those
who eat like cattle (47:12); etc. All these good things which Ramadan fast teaches
Muslims are the means to attain piety. This is why the verse on Ramadan fast says:
“O ye who believe, fasting is prescribed for you . . . so that you will (learn how to
attain) piety.” (2:183) 5
The Fawazir Ramadan episode described below is antithetical to such recom-
mendations of moderation and sobriety, and must be understood in relation to
it. Juxtapositions of apparently contradictory Ramadan practices have been ob-
served in other parts of the Muslim world (Bennani-Chraïbi 2000; Adelkhah
2000; Salamandra 2004; Christmann 2000). Such juxtapositions construct piety
through systematic and institutionalized contrast with various kinds of counter-
piety. This process deserves greater attention, as it draws out the wider context
of a perceived intensi¤cation of religiosity in Muslim societies usually seen
through such categories as “political Islam.” Media orchestrate this complex and
promote its commodi¤cation. Hence Ramadan becomes both an occasion for
advocating communal leveling through the production of a discourse of pious
moderation and an occasion for producing social distinction.

Commercial Sponsorship in Ramadan
The alliance of commercialism and state interest and the ritual aspect
of Ramadan come together in households. The television sequence described
below occurs typically in a middle-class home just after the iftar. After eat-
ing, the dishes are cleaned, and everyone is usually sitting in some common
room chatting. Anyone present is stuffed from having consumed an abnormally
large meal on an empty stomach. Most people have not yet left the home for
their customary visits to friends and relatives or, indeed, to resume working
6
lives rearranged by the necessity of observing the fast. Before the main riddle
program comes a “pre–Fawazir Ramadan fazzura” (“pre–‘Ramadan Riddles’
riddle”). This is essentially a warm-up before the main event. After that comes
a commercial interlude, which at least in Egypt is an important and under-
analyzed aspect of television consumption. After the “little fazzura” and the
commercials comes the introduction to the Fawazir Ramadan song-and-dance
routine, followed ultimately by the main event: the evening’s installment of the
main Fawazir Ramadan program.

Synchronizing Watches 209