GAZA, (PIC)
Despite the destruction enveloping every corner, and despite the Israeli attempts to erase the signs of life in the Gaza Strip, the voice of the mosaharati remains steadfast as a call to life in a city facing death every day. Nothing stops the mosaharati from going out, even if the mosques have been destroyed and the minarets leveled to the ground, and even if fear has besieged every home.
They understand that their role is greater than simply waking people for suhoor; it is a revival of the spirit of Ramadan that the occupation army and its weapons try to extinguish. “We will not disappear… even if everything else does.”
The mosaharati is not just a person carrying a drum; he is a symbol of Gaza’s heritage and identity, one of the rituals that refuses to fade even in the harshest moments of war. Haj Abu Ibrahim, one of the oldest mosaharatis in the Gaza Strip, refuses to abandon his role, despite the Israeli bombardment of the mosques from which the call to prayer used to ring, and despite the targeting of homes that once shone with the light of Ramadan.
He tells a reporter from the Palestinian Information Center: “War steals everything, but we try to leave a mark of life. When the call to prayer is silenced and when the mosques are demolished, the voice of the mosaharati reminds people that Ramadan is here, and that Gaza has not been broken.”
A drum among the rubble… A message of defiance
In the Shuja’iyya neighborhood of Gaza City, where only the ruins of bombed homes and mosques remain, the mosaharati Mahmoud walks cautiously, navigating the debris, striking his drum with a sound that can still penetrate the shattered walls.
Children, despite their fear, open their windows to see him, as if searching for proof that life still exists. Haj Abu Said, a resident of the neighborhood, says: “We have nothing left… even the houses of God have been bombed, and they wanted to kill the spirit of Ramadan… but we cling to anything that brings back the feeling of this holy month, and the mosaharati is one of those symbols that restores our hope.”
“We fear death… But we fear more to be silent”
The mosaharatis in the Gaza Strip understand that going out at night is a risk, but they refuse to surrender, as the Israeli occupation forces continue to breach the ceasefire and kill Palestinians every day. Young Muhammad, who decided to join the mosaharatis despite his family’s fears for him, says: “Yes, I fear that tonight might be the last, but if we stop beating the drums, who will tell the world that Ramadan is still in the Gaza Strip? The occupation wants to silence our voice, and we refuse to be silent.”
The Mosaharati: The voice of Ramadan in a city fighting for life
The mosaharati in the Gaza Strip is not merely someone waking the sleepers; he is the last remnant of Ramadan’s features amidst the rubble. Despite Israel’s efforts to kill joy, erase the city’s identity, and destroy the mosques, the mosaharati insists that Ramadan has not been erased and that the Gaza Strip still pulses with life.
In the Gaza Strip, the call to prayer is heard mixed with the sound of the drum, as if sending a message to the world: they may bombard the houses of God, and they may try to kill the spirit, but Ramadan in the Gaza Strip cannot be erased, and the mosaharati will remain a witness that this city will not die.
