Several writers commented this week on the extravagance that we see in the holy month of Ramadan and which does not conform to the spirit of the month. Haggag Al-Husseini described the holy month of Ramadan as a yearly event to boost our faith via fasting, praying, reciting the Qur'an and doing charitable deeds. It is the month, Al-Husseini added in the official daily Al-Ahram, which witnessed historic victories, starting with the Battle of Badr in the second year of the lunar calendar and ending with the 10th of Ramadan 1973 victory against Israel and regaining occupied land. Unfortunately, Al-Husseini elaborated, instead of abstaining from food, drink and desire, it has become a month of abstention from work and spending most of the time before the TV or in cafes. "Many state employees consider themselves out of service during that month at a time when they are supposed to work harder and more faithfully,” he wrote. Mohamed Ahmed Tantawi noted that Ramadan is the month of worship and fasting during which one abstains from food, drink and desire. However, Tantawi wrote, Egyptians tend to spend more on food during that month more than in any other month. They earmark, he added, a special budget for the month to be spent on food, sweets and other Ramadan goodies in a show of extravagance that does not conform to the spirit of the holy month. "This month sees extravagant Iftar banquets, in addition to watching TV series and programmes that are expensively produced especially for this month. Besides, social media is teeming with special pages for ridiculously expensive Iftar meals offered by restaurants,” Tantawi wrote in Al-Youm Al-Sabei. In his regular column entitled ‘Post-Ramadan dilemma', Newton preferred to focus on the deal of the century, between the Palestinians and Israel, that is supposed to be disclosed after Ramadan. The architect of the deal, the son-in-law of the US president, Jared Kushner, is keen to keep the details a secret until the last minute, Newton wrote. While the writer questioned Egypt's stand on the deal, he pointed to a few principles that Egypt has stuck to: Cairo will never be part of an eastern or western alliance, it is with keeping every Arab state united and undivided and it never fights outside its border except to regain a usurped right. “Thus, Egypt should be ready to deal with the deal of the century not with direct acceptance or direct rejection, but through the wisest and most discrete response. It should be ready with amendments or options to the deal in order to achieve consensus and at least avoid a civil war among the Arab states that accept it and those who reject it,” Newton wrote in the daily Al-Masry Al-Youm.
