Girl Gone Global: Celebrating Ramadan in Dubai

I visited Dubai during Ramadan last year. In an amazing turn of events, Dubai Tourism had also just organized the Real Housewives of Beverly Hill’s trip there and our itinerary was almost identical. And yes, I did recreate Erica Jayne’s photo shoot with a falcon-- sans my own glam squad. And yes, Erika Jayne did like my tweet. The Kardashians also recently visited many of the same spots we did, as have countless celebrities over the years since the 1970’s when Dubai was just a small fishing village. All that is to say Dubai is a thrilling cosmopolitan city, and I couldn’t wait to visit, however there was some hesitancy, more on that later.

Here is what we did, and I hope you can too this Ramadan or next in Dubai:

During Ramadan, the city doesn’t shut down, instead it’s a great time to visit, fares and rates are cheaper, and the city is less crowded with locals staying home during the day. And, it is the only time to try festive iftar meals that begin at dusk and continue into the early hours at locations like the celebrity favorite Atlantis Hotel where the RHOBH stayed and saw the scuba diver in their hotel room. Locals puff on hooka and play cards to pass the time until the next break fast. It was a pan-Arabic and multicultural mix of guests and we enjoyed ourselves on the “hubba bubba” tea and mezze as our glamorous Lebanese hostess and representative from Atlantis called it.

We stayed at the Taj Dubai, part of India’s Taj Hotels, the company behind the masterpiece Taj Mahal Palace Mumbai which I have written about as my favorite hotel in the world. Their style and panache is impeccable. The Arabic fashioned 35 stories and 296 rooms and suites are crisp and modern and most rooms offer unbelievable views of the majestic Burj Khalifa, others face Downtown Dubai or Business Bay. The hotel is home to five restaurants and the Jiva Spa which is Indian Ayurvedic themed and therefore lovely to relax with a massage, or at the requisite refreshing pool or indoor modern gym.

This is where my friend and colleague Thoufeek Zakryia is a chef under Executive Chef Jitin Joshi, and we ate unique iftar (daily meals after sun down to break the fast) meals full of mezze dishes like labneh, fattoush, moutabel, muhalabia and baba ghanoush (all also Israeli dishes I’ve had by other names), which is a unifying commonality.

Our very first stop was to see the world’s largest skyscraper, the Burj Khalifa, for high tea and dazzling panoramas in the two observation decks. High tea was at the AT.mosphere restaurant on the 122nd floor, a break taking view in which to enjoy British-inspired mid afternoon snacks.

Though Forbes ratings grant 5 stars maximum, the so-called “7 star” Burj Al Arab’s deserves them. It is the world’s most luxurious hotel and a symbol of Dubai. Shaped like a sail to reflect its heritage as a small nautical village, the lowest priced room at $1000 a night comes with a private butler and optional white Rolls Royce. The “Arabic styled” interior design of bright primary colors and lots of actual 24k gold paint are unforgettable and yes, royal. We visited the “Royal King’s suite” which had its own hidden entrance replete with elevator leading to separate his and hers rooms with a king sized rotating beds and mirrored canopy ceilings, for what? I have no idea. The ipads, computers and even toilets were plated in 24k gold.

We had iftar buffet dinner at Al Lawn and looked for celebrities like Gigi Hadid and Kendall Jenner, but what is always most surprising is the modest looking uber-wealthy who stay at places like the Burj Al Arab, as they say “money talks and wealth whispers.”

One of my favorite iftars was at an Australian owned pop-up, called “This is not a Buffet” that had a highly creative fresh and decorative menu that combined Arabic and Australian cuisine. The drinks were combinations of fresh pressed juices and the meals were gorgeous.

For another iftar (to be honest we weren’t fasting, so we were actually just feasting, a lot with yummy breakfasts at Taj Dubai and lunches too) we went with the regular folks of Dubai and are burgers like a local. SALT on Kite Beach has the best patties and fries this side of L.A., and according to our guide, Dubaiers favorite food are burgers. Burkas and bikinis is a common sight in Dubai and we saw giggling burka clad school girls, Emirati men in their traditional white dress, and an International mix of Westerners and other expats all enjoying their crisps and coke on the beach under the moonlight.

One lunch was at the iconic Dubai Palm Jumeirah, an artificial archipelago shaped like a palm tree that connects to hotels and restaurants via monorail. It is also a symbol of Dubai and a popular place to skydive and bungee jump. The Waldorf Astoria Dubai Palm Juemeirah is a sleek Mediterranean designed restaurant and a lavish place for lunch. Try the Cobb salad with turkey bacon, of course.

A Platinum Heritage desert safari was where we met falcons, rode camels, had hennah done and drank camel milk under the stars. It was my favorite night. I declined the camel burger but enjoyed mint tea and shisha in the vast Arabian Desert. Women were given a black hijab and men a red and white keffiyah to protect from the sun during the day hike that we drove to over sand dunes in a Land Rover. The desert guides told us that white is cooling thus Emirati men wear it when we asked about women they said they prefer the fashionable black color. Hmm. Everyone has their own interpretation.

There are are fascinating art galleries in the design district of Dubai. Displays must fall under government sanctioned modesty (no nudes) but exhibit a range of creativity at The Odd Piece and The MB&F M.A.D Gallery at Alserkal Avenue and many of the artists were female.

Last, we visited the awe-inspiring Dubai Aquarium which is on the ground level of the Dubai Mall. It is one of the largest suspended aquariums in the world. The famous walk through tunnel gives 270-degree views from below the surface of the 10 million liter aquarium tank, which houses over 300 sharks and rays, and the largest collection of sand tiger sharks in the world.

Shoppers like me loved the Dubai Mall, the largest mall in the world by area, with traditional Arabic wears and upscale designer clothes. I saw a gold brick machine, bought a chamsa necklace (a Jewish and Muslim symbol called hand of Fatima in Islam.) PS: I lost that necklace when I left Dubai to go to Kerala, which may be another reason to go back.)

A note about the backstory to my visit: As a practicing Jew, I was also nervous to visit Dubai. I was given a checklist and told not to pack anything at all un-Islamic, like tarot cards or my Star of David necklace so I didn’t. It proved to be a fascinating, and sometimes troubling, experience. In short, I loved Dubai and learned that once again, people are different than their governments. Everyone I met in Dubai had apparent sincere high praise for His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. His handsome son Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, the Crown Prince of Dubai was also a very popular social leader for the younger crowd. (He’s married, ladies, FYI.)

I was grateful that by coincidence, my friend and colleague Chef Thoufeek Zakryia from Cochin, a historian and liturgist whom I wrote about in my stories about the Jews of Kerala and Jewish-Muslim alliance in Cochin for “Tablet” and “BBC” was now a sous chef at Taj Dubai. The hotel’s Executive Chef Jitin Joshi treated us like royal guests. It was a full-circle experience and occurred in the midst of “Jewish Week Magazine’s “36 Under 36’s” Irina Tsukerman’s Jewish-Muslim friendship dinners in New York City which I attended so I felt like it was kismet to go, and things came full circle in my own Jewish-Muslim friendship with Zakryia (more on that later.) Since Dubai is just across the gulf from Kerala, my adopted second home in the world, I flew to India and did more research as well as visiting loved ones in Cochin, Kerala, India.

When visiting the Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding we were “allowed” to ask “absolutely any question we liked” before sharing an iftar. We also were invited to the mosque to watch the (only) men pray. I asked the presenter, a lovely woman from England who’d converted to Islam and moved to Dubai to join her Emirati husband, if there was a synagogue and she said that yes there was, and that all faiths were welcome in Dubai.

My friend chef Thoufeek Zakryia and I spent the day looking for a synagogue in a closed complex that contained every branch of the Christian church in its own little building from Catholic to Russian Orthodox. And though the Centre’s presenter said there was a synagogue, we could find none. I called her and she said she only heard there was one in that Christian complex, but she had in fact been mistaken.

Exhausted and disappointed, we ended by enjoying dinner at a Persian restaurant, Special Ostadi, in the normal kind of downtown Dubai, and the food was so yummy (mezze again) but most interesting were the mustachioed me and portraits of the recently passed away founder, who one son even had a necklace of.

No one I asked in Dubai knew of any practicing Jews, and those who were familiar with Judaism said that Jews probably practice at home. Clearly it is not acceptable to be openly Jewish in Dubai, which makes it one of 16 countries which bans Israelis, eight which prohibit those with an Israeli stamp in their passport from entering, and many more which don’t allow a Jew to openly practice their faith or show signs of practicing their faith by wearing any outward signs, like a yarmulke. The same rule applies to homosexuality, which the presenter said she has no judgment or opinion on but it is not allowed in the Koran. Like Judaism, my observation was that homosexuality falls under the dictum “don’t ask, don’t tell” in Dubai which is the most liberal Muslim nation.

Other questions yielded answers about multiple wives being allowed and one presenter explained how he kept a wife in America and Dubai. Beating a wife? A male presenter tapped me with a feather touch and said that was the gist of the rule. As a religious and spiritual person myself, I think that most people pick and choose which laws in their faith, and most are not literalists. And, of course, those that usurp Islam, like ISIS, who is currently using Ramadan as a month to commit terror--they are not Muslims at all, though they may start off that way. The presenter called them heathens, and said they were to go to hell and not paradise for their crimes.

All that is to say that people are not necessarily the equivalent of their governments or majority religions (as in the 50 plus Muslim nations and one contested Jewish nation) nor the fundamentalist religions and religious cults who may usurp them, and we still have a lot of work to do in becoming a harmonious globalized world. One of the best ways to overcome fear and prejudice is to travel and experience the best a country has to offer (and delicious food is one of the ultimate peacemakers, everyone has to eat.)