It is much hotter this fasting month

Dubai: The young Bangladeshi worker sits in the makeshift open-air dining hall at a construction site and waits patiently for the rest period to end while some of his colleagues quickly eat lunch.

"It's much hotter this Ramadan," says Mohammad Abdul Moumen, who has been working on a project in Jebel Ali for the past three years. "It wasn't so bad last year," he says about the heat, as he perspires profusely even under the shade of an asbestos roof.

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August is one of the hottest months of the year in the UAE with the mercury touching 40 degrees. The humidity level is not so high; it is yet to reach its peak as it does every September, but it still feels suffocating in the covered dining hall.

Permissible

Asked how he copes with the heat while fasting, Abdul Moumen, shrugs and says, "I can't describe it. It's very difficult." His work hours are from 7am to 3pm, with a rest period of one hour between noon and 1 pm. He said he does not know how much water he drinks during suhour, the pre-dawn meal, but says it could be about two litres. Despite that, he says, he feels very thirsty during the day.

According to him he has not missed fasting for even a day.

"It would be difficult to make-up the missed fast later," he explains.

A fatwa by the religious authority in the UAE had said recently that it was permissible for workers in certain professions to break their fast because of severe hardship.

UAE has banned construction work during the peak hours of 12:30pm to 3pm from June 15 to September 15 after a number of workers suffered from heat stroke.

Abdul Moumen and three of his Bangladeshi friends sometimes cook for their iftar meal. The company provides them food, but he says the cuisine is the same every day and sometimes they would like a change. "We cook beef and vegetables," he said. He said he learned to cook while living and working in Dubai.

Prayer hall

On the walls of the open-air dining hall hang plastic grocery bags on hooks. These are the lunch meals of his non-Muslim colleagues, some of who are eating.

A section of the dining hall has been turned into a prayer area with mats spread out and facing Makkah.

Abdul Moumen and his friend Masoud Rana, an electrician on the project, say they have been fasting during Ramadan since they were 12 years old in their home country.