Ramadan appropriate greeting?

June 6, 2016 12:16 PM

Is there a greeting, or something us non-practicers can say to people observing?
posted by DigDoug to Religion & Philosophy (9 answers total)

Best answer: Ramadan Mubarak (Happy Ramadan).
posted by apartment dweller at 12:17 PM on June 6, 2016 [10 favorites]

Response by poster: I work in downtown Louisville, KY. Muhammad Ali's funeral procession will go by my office building, and there are many more people near the Ali Center than normal. The only exposure I've had to Ramadan to date has been a single Iftar dinner and I didn't think to ask.
posted by DigDoug at 12:20 PM on June 6, 2016 [2 favorites]

May your fast be easy is also a nice pleasantry if you know the person in question is fasting.
posted by yasaman at 12:30 PM on June 6, 2016 [1 favorite]

Apparently Ramadan Kareem is still ok.
posted by oryelle at 12:34 PM on June 6, 2016

Best answer: You can also say "Happy Ramadan" in English, it's fine!

Also have a thought at mealtimes (this will especially mean lunch with observant Muslim colleagues) by saying "see you later" rather than "have a nice lunch" or any other meal-specific leavetaking.
posted by fraula at 1:23 PM on June 6, 2016 [6 favorites]

Caution: As a person with a Muslim name who doesn't fast, please make sure the people you're wishing are actually fasting before you say anything. And please, don't ask them if they are! Many Muslims don't fast for various personal reasons and it's a faux pas to assume they are...and 100x worse to ask them "why not?" I'm not saying this is where you're coming from, but I've been in this situation more times than I care to count.
posted by yawper at 2:03 PM on June 6, 2016 [5 favorites]

Is it still appropriate to say Ramadan Mubarak whether or not they're fasting? I was under the impression it was from a Muslim friend, but I am not Muslim.
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 6:59 PM on June 6, 2016

It is appropriate and welcome as it's always nice when others acknowledge something important to you but socially invisible. Say happy Ramadan (and Happy Eid at the end) but don't quiz them on their fasting.

Signed, a non - fasting Muslim
posted by tavegyl at 7:41 PM on June 6, 2016 [2 favorites]

Happy Ramadan is fine. Ramadan Mubarak and Ramadan Kareem, still to me, as a non-South Asian or Middle Eastern Muslim, strike me as foreign myself and have caught me off-guard, though with more Western Muslims (who are mostly from that background) being in pop culture, a lot of their expressions are filtering back here.
posted by cendawanita at 8:28 PM on June 6, 2016 [1 favorite]