ramadhan.1428-2007.amman.10

the “official” night of power was pretty intense,
Allah knows best if it was THE night
or not.

the folks at the zawiya had an all-night program
reminiscent of the local DC-area masajid
starting with the iftar.

early the next morning
i saw abu tawbala — as in arabic for “drum” — again,
doing his (i guess) self-appointed duty
of waking folks up in time to eat the sahoor meal
before beginning another day of fasting.
this time he was surrounded by a bunch of young boys
whistling and yelling
like they’d just won a football / soccer tournament
– except it was 4.30 in the morning.
at the corner where my kitchen window overlooks
he finally told them “kalas!”
and they scattered off into the darkness.

just before making the fajr prayer
venus was still brilliant
and the moon was just a sliver of a smile.

later that morning
on the way to an 8 o’clock arabic grammar class at qasid
the streets were notably less bustling.
there were no lanky, high school boys with shiny, gel-ed hair
trudging to school with their hands in their pockets against the morning chill.
there were less taxis, school buses and cars.
it felt like most of amman was recuperating from an active laylat-ul-qadr, alHamdullilah.