Blogs for Culture Vultures

Ramadan 2020 has arrived!

Although Muslims the world over are celebrating its arrival, the fact that it has arrived against a backdrop of COVID-19 makes it rather unique.

Many expatriates relocating to Saudi Arabia are usually surprised to find that the date in Saudi Arabia is over 500 years behind that of dates in the West.

As we leave 2020 behind it’s only 1442 in Saudi Arabia.

For those of us working in multicultural environments, it’s fair to say that our colleagues may ocassionally observe traditions which we aren’t familiar with. Ramadan is one such occasion.

In the same way that non Muslims may avoid asking questions for fear of intrusion, Muslims may equally avoid going into too much detail about Ramadan for fear of their colleagues not being interested.

Do you work with or travel to Muslim majority countries? Do you know Ramadan is a matter of weeks away?

For 30 days’ life gets flipped upside down for most Muslims – this impacts business.

Did you know Ramadan changes every year? It is not always on the same date like Christmas or New Year. That is because the Islamic calendar is lunar. Whenever Ramadan starts millions of working men and women from Morocco to Saudi Arabia to Indonesia will be fasting from dawn till dusk as of next week. Life changes for 30 days inevitably having an impact on business.

Gary Lineker is facing criticism for his live comments on Al Jazeera that were seen to be offensive to Muslims.