God's tables موائد الرحمن

I do not like to eat Iftar alone, but what can I do if I live alone and have no one to eat with me.
Yesterday I decided to go and eat with the poor people in one of the Mawaed El Rahman tents.
I wore the dirtiest and simplest clothes I have and a Shibshib , because I did not want to hurt anyone’s feelings…when I looked to the mirror I could not recognize myself…so…I was walking in Mohandessin searching for a big tent when I saw Mostafa Mahmoud’s... I thought: Well…the food may be well cooked there.
I went to the tent and I could not believe my eyes…it was full and people were fighting for a place to sit…I never thought that it will be that full at that moment because it was still 16:10 … there is still more than one hour for the Iftar to start.
I had no idea how I could enter this tent…as I squeezed my head from a small crack to look if I could find a free place ... an old man gave me a sign that he has a free seat.
I ran quickly inside and sat beside him not knowing what will happen next.
In the background there was someone reading the Quran and people were chatting with each other.

Someone on our table started to ask each one of us where we come from. When someone said that he is coming from Asyout another one told him : thank god that you are not from Qenna, the worst men you will ever meet come from Qenna, they are devilish.
Suddenly the man sitting next to me stood in a hectic mood and yelled at him: You son of * pip*, you *pip* *pip* *pip*…I am from Qenna, what the hell you think you are … you *pip*.

Some people tried to heat up the moment, other tried to calm him down saying: we are Moslems, we are fasting, this is not the way we deal with each other, we are all brothers…
I asked one of them: Do you eat everyday in this tent?
No…he told me…there are better tents out there, especially those financially supported by actresses, like the one beside the Shooting Club and the other big one in Masr El Gedida…

I did not see females in the tent; I think they are sitting in separated ones.

At 17:00 they started to give each one of us a white box. I opened the box to see what was inside…well…it was the Iftar food: a ballady bread, rice, a chicken breast, a vegetable soup ,torshy ,a piece of konafa and a cocktail drink. The man sitting left to me took another white box after hiding the food of the first box in a plastic bag and putting it behind his back.
A boy who had really an awful smell with a cockroach moving under his shirt did not take the white box…he then told me: For those people who did not take the white box…they give them the green box with Kentucky chicken, nuggets and good French bread…and he was right…I wished I had his green box. For half an hour I was sitting in front of the ballady bread watching 4 flies jumping above it. I knew I will not eat that bread.

When the Quran reading was over and it was time for Maghreb prayer, everyone attacked everything on the table, I did not know why they were in a hurry, as if they had fasten for more than a week…I started with the cocktail drink, but I could not put the drink-stick ,the young man sitting in front of me helped me.

I ate rice, it tasted good,…then some torshy …it was ok…but I could not eat the vegetable soup or the chicken…the bird flu thing was still in my mind. After 10 minutes most of them left the tent, I went with them out…I then saw families eating the Iftar in the garden in front of Mostafa Mahmoud’s mosque.
The street Gameet El Dewal El Arabia was beautifully empty…Cairo was magically quiet. Fasting the month of Ramadan (not to eat and drink from dawn till sunset) gives us a chance to feel what a hungry person feels when he does not have any food to eat…as well as the importance of giving charity and helping poor people.

This Iftar in particular brought to me a feeling of unity and strength…mmm…I just wish that Rahman’s tables could be made everyday…all the year long…and I just hope I will not get diarrhea today.