Germany’s Muslim Children Break Their Fast On Chocolate And Love Goha
by Amna al-Zayyat
MARBURG, Germany (IslamOnline) - German Islamic websites have intensified activities just a few days before Ramadan. They have been busy providing children’s pages for second generation Arab and Turkish Muslims living in those countries informing them about the Holy month of Ramadan and its benefits.
Using the German language, the language familiar to the children, the sites are informing the younger generation how to behave during Ramadan.
These sites also provide children who visit them with an imsakia (an Islamic calendar for Ramadan) informing them of prayer times, suhur (the light meal a Muslim has before dawn) and imsak (the time when one must stop eating suhur just before the dawn prayer is announced), helping them to organize their worship and other religious functions during the month of fasting.
They also facilitate contacts for web visitors who desire to buy Ramadan publications in print.
One of the most peculiar print publications is an offer made by the Kandil website (see Related Link) that offers mailing a Ramadan imsakia to each child customer containing thirty pieces of chocolate, so that the child may break his or her fast on chocolate every day during the holy month.
Most Turkish imsakias printed in Islamic centers or placed on websites are ornamented with pictures of Goha and his donkey.
Turks know Goha, a very famous comic character in Arabic literature, as “Hujat Nasretin.” With his white beard, Goha looks much like Santa Claus, the only difference being that he is dressed in classic Ottoman attire.
Commentators believe that perhaps one of the reasons for using the Goha character is to present a traditional cartoon replacing Santa Claus, providing second generation young Muslims, on their religious occasions, a substitute for the famous character that dominates the minds of Western children on Christmas.
