Ramadan 2022 will be bittersweet – The National

Ramadan 2022 will be bittersweet – The National

This weekend, Muslims around the world welcomed Ramadan, with the holy month commencing in the UAE on Saturday. As the first sunset fell, canons were fired to mark the end of the first day of fasting.

Even more striking than the roar of artillery was the nature of the audiences that surrounded the guns. In Abu Dhabi, outside the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Cody Combs, a social media journalist for The National, delivered a piece to camera without a mask, now possible after the UAE lifted the mandate on outdoor face coverings in February. In Dubai, shoppers by the Burj Khalifa thronged the ceremony in greater numbers than would have been found in the past two years. With Covid-19 travel restrictions now lifted in many countries, the attendees would have been more international than before, too.