From ‘salam’ shower gel to ‘ethnic’ bedding, firms want to celebrate Ramadan. But some can’t even spell ‘iftar’ | Nadeine Asbali

SUrmarkkets carried out 20 kg of rice. The stores in the streets have emerged on the veil. Cosmetics companies dismantle scented products with pomegranate, cardamom, saffron and “sticky history” – in Lush You can buy Peace shower gel, lip butter, light and a massage that emanates from it. All this can only mean one thing in our modern and consumer: Ramadan.

Ramadan, the holiest month in the Islamic calendar, begins at the end of this week. Like many Muslims, I find It is my favorite time of the year (not because I can buy rice for the whole year in local Tesco). It is a time for spiritual growth and thinking, avoiding our desires and arrogance to focus on God, and to give up the decorations of the earthly world – including food and drink in the daytime hours.

During the past few yearsand Perhaps thanks to social media, Ramadan has increased commercially with the waking up of major companies over the profit of the so-called Muslim pound-it is worth it More than 20.5 billion pounds. But things this year feel more consumed than ever. Over the weeks so far, my social media extracts were immersed with the influencers (under the auspices of the major companies-one of them until I managed to dictate breakfast, a quick evening meal, on its website) tells us that preparing for Tamrama means a new topic for decoration in every room, a new personal prayer mat for the entire family or a new entire guard for marriage to the lover.

Of course, there was always a concept Preparing forward For Ramadan. Muslim mothers and grandmothers spent the days before the production of collective Samosa from a long time. Traditionally, this was related to tasks, such as cooking to increase the time you spend worship during the holy month. In the past, the willingness to Ramadan never did not mean changing all the bed to something more mysterious than ethnicity or Our lipstick set In desert shapes. We can thank capitalism for this.

Well, you can say that this is not new. We are used to what capitalism did to anything with the meaning in our surface world. Look at what has become Christmas. But it seems as if things are getting worse: as if the spirituality itself – the cornerstone of the holy month – became a commodity.

Not only the batch to be a better consumer detracting from the spiritual meaning of Ramadan for me; I feel as if I turned into a product for sale. It has turned the rapid world that moves the goals in which we live in the ultimate goal. We constantly follow everything in our lives – our steps, our calories, and our professional victory – so that we can share our progress on social media until the world consumes. We have been bombed by the idea that we must constantly strive, and always improve. This also leaked to Ramadan. Instead of approaching the month with a focus on meditation and our personal relationship with our faith, the culture of productivity tells us that we must follow the goals of our prayers, and to be subjected to fictional progress and be in constant competition (with ourselves, but with each other).

The concept of the quiet month that has eliminated the escape of our modern world decorations is lost when we are attacked from all angles with the idea that we can produce a link to God. For Muslims like me, who cannot be Ramadan about breaking the goals (this will be the first for me as a mother of two children, with a young, living child and a newborn child in clouds), he can feel fear and isolation. I felt as if I had failed before it started, I had to remember myself that the holy month is not related to buying new things or praying more than one person on Instagram – but it is difficult when the algorithms tell me otherwise.

It can be said that vision is a form of progress. But all these clear celebrations of Islam come against the background of the escalation of Islamophobia, with attacks It rises by 73 % In 2024, since the riots last summer, being a Muslim in Britain feels more dangerous than ever. Although Ramadan domains in stores may seem to be advanced, they do nothing in the end to challenge the phobia of Islam Integrated into the systems that govern our lives.

There was once when it seemed a refreshing to see ourselves represented in supermarkets and street brands. The vision of a model in Primark was once stopped me in my paths, and the signs of “Ramadan Mubarak” to use Sainsbury to make me smile. But now it looks free of meaning – and if anything, is deceitful and even evil. Even when I finally see myself represented in the prevailing culture, should you worry about how racists are angry and certain sections of the media?

There is a difference between the diversity of the tick fund on the shelf and the real and comprehensive diversity in a country. Quiet change is recognition of the methods that British Muslims remain unwanted and afraid, rather than calming us with reasonable goods and oil basins at low prices.