From suhoor drums to online apps: Ramadan through lens of three generations of a Pakistani family

The screengrab taken on March 21, 2025, shows Mahmood Ahmed Hashmi (second right) and his family break fast during Ramadan in Islamabad, Pakistan. (Screengrab/AN)
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Updated 22 March 2025
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From suhoor drums to online apps: Ramadan through lens of three generations of a Pakistani family

  • Digital age has significantly altered how Ramadan is observed, offering spiritual engagement through apps, social media and online platforms
  • Mobile apps have become indispensable tools for Muslims worldwide during Ramadan, whether to check prayers timings or order food

ISLAMABAD: The clatter of plates, spoons and forks filled the air as Mahmood Ahmed Hashmi, 67, broke his fast earlier this week at his home in Islamabad, seated with his three sons, daughters-in-law and grandchildren around a large, colorful tablecloth spread on the floor.

Ramadan traditions and practices evolve across generations, influenced by changing demographics, media, lifestyles and digital apps, while retaining the core spiritual elements of fasting, prayer, and charity. As in other parts of the world, the digital age has also significantly altered how Ramadan is observed by Pakistani families, offering new avenues for spiritual engagement, community connection, and resource access through apps, social media, and online platforms.

Hashmi, a retired civil servant, detailed how Ramadan had changed through the generations of his family, beginning with the tradition of Ramadan drummers walking through the streets, beating drums to wake people for the pre-dawn meal (suhoor) before fasting began for the day. Once a typical feature of the holy month, today the tradition’s usefulness had been eclipsed by TV, mobile phones and alarm clocks.

“In those days, the elders used to come out in the neighborhood to wake up people for suhoor,” Hashmi told Arab News at iftar. “They used to do some drumming and other things so that people could get up, but now you have everything in your cell phone.”

Mobile apps have become indispensable tools for Muslims around the world during Ramadan, offering features like prayer time reminders, Qur’anic recitations, and fasting trackers, ensuring accurate timing and accessibility.

While many people used to visit neighborhood or community religious gatherings earlier, now platforms like YouTube and TikTok host Islamic scholars and influencers who share daily Ramadan reflections, Qur’anic tafseer (exegesis), and tips for spiritual growth, making Islamic education more accessible, especially for younger Muslims.

Social media platforms have also become main avenues for sharing Ramadan greetings, exchanging recipes, and discussing spiritual reflections.

Handwritten Eid cards — once widely exchanged among friends and relatives ahead of the post-Ramadan Eid Al-Fitr festival — were now a rarity in the age of digital greeting cards shared on Whatsapp and other messaging platforms, Hashmi lamented. 

“How good the feeling used to be to get Eid cards from your loved ones,” he said. “Your near and loved ones used to wait for them. People used to display them in their drawing rooms or bedrooms. Now a picture [card] will come [on mobile phone].”

Iftar and suhoor meals would also be made entirely at home, or with snacks and food bought from neighborhood eateries, and would be consumed as a family, while food was now increasingly ordered from online apps as per individual choices, Hashmi added. 

While the retired official lamented the decline in many of the Ramadan customs of his youth, his son Miraj Mustafa Hashmi, a professor at the National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), said digital innovations such as mobile apps had streamlined everyday rituals while still nurturing cherished Ramadan traditions. 

“Apps like FoodPanda have replaced traditional market trips for iftar [items],” Miraj said, explaining that this was beneficial for people who did not have the luxury of time due to jobs and other responsibilities. 

“It is a digital era, things are going on like that and people are comfortable in it. I think it is a very positive change … because people like us have to stay in the office all day and work … Obviously, we want to go to the market but the pressure of work and the load is there.”

Digital platforms and apps have also made it easier for people to donate to charity and support those in need during Ramadan, a core aspect of the holy month, Miraj said. 

For his 10-year-old son Ibrahim, a student of grade five who began fasting at the age of seven, Ramadan was about being able to order his favorite dishes online and checking the Internet for iftar and suhoor timings. 

“I love having noodles, pizza, macaroni, samosas, pakoras, and jalebis for iftar,” Ibrahim said as he had a piece of pizza for iftar. 

But was there anything Miraj missed about the way Ramadan used to be observed?

Relatives and friends used to meet each other more often at Ramadan events when they did not have the luxury to connect through video calls, he said. 

“When I think of my childhood, we used to go to social events, we used to go shopping with our grandparents, we used to do all these activities,” the professor said. 

“If we see, our parents spent a very tough life due to limited facilities, but they made it a little easier [for us] and our children are living a much easier life and technology is helpful.”


Pakistan PM directs task force to propose budget plan for low-cost housing

Updated 21 May 2025
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Pakistan PM directs task force to propose budget plan for low-cost housing

  • Pakistan faces a housing crisis, with the shortage particularly acute in urban areas
  • PM says ahead of the budget low-cost housing is his administration’s top priority

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Wednesday his administration is prioritizing the development of low-cost housing while directing a task force to present financing recommendations to include the facility in the upcoming budget.

Pakistan has been facing a housing crisis, with the World Bank suggesting two years ago it was short of an estimated 10 million housing units. The shortage is particularly acute in urban areas due to rapid population growth, unregulated expansion and high land and construction prices.

The federal budget, which will be presented to the National Assembly next month, is expected to outline measures to tackle the crisis as the new fiscal year begins in July.

“The government’s foremost priority is to facilitate access to housing through low-cost schemes,” Sharif said during a task force meeting to address the issue.

“Such projects will not only make residential units accessible to the common man but also stimulate economic growth and create employment opportunities,” he continued.

The prime minister instructed the task force to work with the finance ministry and banks to prepare detailed financing proposals for affordable housing, with the aim of making them part of the upcoming budget.

He also emphasized that developing the construction sector was key to sustainable economic growth.

Officials briefed the prime minister on ongoing reforms to the Condominium Act 2025 and Foreclosure Law, saying they were in their final stages and were expected to ease access to housing loans under the new schemes.


Pakistan says India using ‘terrorism’ as foreign policy tool after school bus attack in Balochistan

Updated 21 May 2025
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Pakistan says India using ‘terrorism’ as foreign policy tool after school bus attack in Balochistan

  • New Delhi rejects Pakistan’s allegation, calls it an attempt to deflect responsibility for internal failures
  • PM Sharif visits Balochistan after school bus bombing kills three children, leaves eight critically wounded

KARACHI: Pakistan urged the international community on Wednesday to condemn what it called India’s use of “terrorism” as a foreign policy tool, after a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device targeted a school bus in the southwestern Balochistan province, killing at least three children and injuring 39 others, including eight critically.

Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest province by landmass and rich in mineral resources, has long faced an insurgency led by separatist groups who accuse Islamabad of exploiting local resources while neglecting the population. The government denies the claims, citing investments in health, education and infrastructure.

In recent months, the insurgency has intensified, with groups like the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) carrying out high-casualty attacks on civilians and security forces, including taking hostages at a passenger train. Pakistan says it has evidence linking India to these attacks, though New Delhi has denied involvement and distanced itself from the Khuzdar school bombing.

However, Islamabad described the attack as a “sequel” to India’s missile and drone strikes earlier this month, accusing New Delhi of deploying militant proxies to destabilize the country, as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir visited the region to meet injured children in hospital.

“These terrorist groups — masquerading under ethnic pretenses — are not only being exploited by India as instruments of state policy, but also stand as a stain on the honor and values of the Baloch and Pashtun people, who have long rejected violence and extremism,” said a statement issued by the PM Office after Sharif’s visit to Quetta.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir being briefed on the Khuzdar school bus attack, in Quetta on May 21, 2025. (Photo courtesy: Handout/PMO)

“India’s reliance on such morally indefensible tactics, particularly the deliberate targeting of children, demands urgent attention from the international community,” it added. “The use of terrorism as a tool of foreign policy must be unequivocally condemned and confronted.”

The prime minister and the accompanying delegation was briefed by Balochistan’s Chief Minister Sardar Sarfraz Bugti and local military officials on the attack, which also killed two soldiers and injured 53 people in total.

The official statement said Pakistan’s security forces and law enforcement agencies “will relentlessly pursue all those involved in this barbaric act,” vowing to bring “the architects, abettors and enablers of this crime” to justice.

It added the incident had exposed India’s “cunning role” to the world, revealing how it orchestrated militant violence while simultaneously portraying itself as a victim.

 

 

India’s Ministry of External Affairs earlier in the day rejected Pakistan’s allegations, describing them as Islamabad’s attempt to deflect responsibility for its own failings and internal issues.

The latest attack follows a brief military standoff between the two countries earlier this month, which ended in a ceasefire on May 10.

While hostilities along the border have subsided, both sides continue to trade diplomatic barbs, accusing each other of sponsoring terrorism and destabilizing the region.

School bus targeted in a suicide blast in pictured in Pakistan's southwestern Khuzdar district on May 21, 2025. (Jawad Yousafzai)

The attack in Khuzdar, which targeted children en route to an army-run school, was condemned by US Chargé d’Affaires Natalie Baker and UNICEF in separate statements.

It was also reminiscent of one of the deadliest militant attacks in Pakistan’s history when over 130 children were killed in a military school in the northern city of Peshawar in 2014. That attack was claimed by the Pakistani Taliban group.


India expels second Pakistani diplomat amid ongoing tensions

Updated 21 May 2025
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India expels second Pakistani diplomat amid ongoing tensions

  • India declares Pakistani diplomat persona non grata, orders him to leave the country within 24 hours
  • India expelled another Pakistani diplomat on May 13, prompting a tit-for-tat response from Islamabad

ISLAMABAD: India has expelled a second Pakistani diplomat within ten days, declaring him persona non grata for activities “not in keeping with his official status,” the external affairs ministry in New Delhi announced on Wednesday.

The move comes amid heightened tensions between the two countries following a military standoff earlier this month. Despite a ceasefire agreement reached on May 10, diplomatic relations between the nuclear-armed neighbors remain strained.

“The Government of India has declared a Pakistani official, working at the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi, persona non grata for indulging in activities not in keeping with his official status in India,” the Indian ministry said in its statement.

“The official has been asked to leave India within 24 hours,” it added.

This is the second such expulsion in recent weeks. On May 13, India expelled a Pakistani diplomat on similar grounds. In response, Pakistan declared an Indian High Commission staffer in Islamabad persona non grata.

The Indian ministry also summoned the Charge d’Affaires of the Pakistan High Commission to issue a demarche, emphasizing that Pakistani diplomats must not “misuse their privileges and status in any manner.”

As of now, Pakistan’s foreign office has not responded to the latest development.


Pakistan’s health minister assures Palestinian counterpart of medical support

Updated 21 May 2025
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Pakistan’s health minister assures Palestinian counterpart of medical support

  • Syed Mustafa Kamal meets Dr. Maged Abu Ramadan at the World Health Assembly in Switzerland
  • Israel has repeatedly targeted hospitals and health workers in Gaza, causing international concern

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s health minister Syed Mustafa Kamal informed his Palestinian counterpart that a framework has been developed to provide medical assistance to the people of Gaza, according to an official statement on Wednesday, during a meeting on the sidelines of the 78th World Health Assembly in Switzerland.

Kamal’s meeting with the Palestinian health minister, Dr. Maged Awni Muhammad Abu Ramadan, took place at a time when Israeli forces have repeatedly targeted hospitals and health facilities in Gaza, crippling the enclave’s health care system.

Israeli attacks have also led to international concern over violations of humanitarian norms in the war-torn Palestinian territory.

“We stand with our Palestinian brothers and will provide all possible medical support to heal their wounds,” the health ministry quoted Kamal as saying.

He strongly condemned Israel’s targeting of hospitals and health care workers, urging the international community to take concrete action to end the atrocities against Palestinians, including women and children.

“The brutality and oppression must stop,” he was quoted as saying. “The world must hold Israel accountable.”

Earlier this week, Pakistan condemned Israel’s targeting of hospitals in Gaza and described its announcement of taking control of the entire Palestinian territory as a “grave threat” to regional peace.

The remarks by the Pakistani foreign office came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared his government wanted to take control of the Gaza Strip.


Pakistani military blames ‘Indian-sponsored’ militants for children’s death in northwest this week

Updated 21 May 2025
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Pakistani military blames ‘Indian-sponsored’ militants for children’s death in northwest this week

  • Protests broke out in North Waziristan after a suspected drone strike reportedly led to the killings of four children
  • The military says initial investigations have revealed the incident was carried out by ‘Fitna Al Khwarij’ militants

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s military on Wednesday denied responsibility for the death of four children in North Waziristan earlier this week, attributing the incident to a proscribed militant network which it said was operating on “the behest of their Indian masters.”

The incident occurred on May 19 in the Hurmuz village of Mir Ali tehsil, where a suspected drone strike reportedly led to the death of four children from the same family and injuries to five others, including a woman.

The tragedy sparked protests in the area, with locals staging a sit-in and refusing to bury the deceased until authorities provided clarity on the incident and ensured accountability for the loss of innocent lives.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military’s media wing, dismissed allegations implicating Pakistan’s security forces in the strike, labeling the accusations as “entirely baseless” and part of a “coordinated disinformation campaign” aimed at discrediting the military’s counterterrorism efforts.

“Initial findings have established that this heinous act has been orchestrated and executed by Indian-sponsored Fitna Al Khwarij,” the statement said, using a term commonly employed by Pakistani authorities to describe extremist factions like the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

The term “khwarij” is rooted in early Islamic history and refers to an extremist sect that declared other Muslims apostates.

“It is evident that these elements — acting at the behest of their Indian Masters — continue to exploit civilian areas and vulnerable populations as shields to conduct their reprehensible acts of terrorism,” the statement added. “Such tactics aims to unsuccessfully sow discord between the local population and the security forces, who together remain resolute to uproot the menace of terrorism.”

The military also reaffirmed its commitment to bringing the perpetrators to justice, emphasizing its ongoing efforts to combat militant violence in the region.