Ramadan $5 Challenge in Morocco

A video clip documented a group of Moroccan youths breaking the fast during the day in Ramadan on a public street, on social media, went viral. During Ramadan, Muslims traditionally refrain from eating and drinking during the day, only breaking their fasts after sundown.

In the clip, a young man is shown performing a social experiment, in which he asks young men to break their Ramadan fast in exchange for small sums of money as low as 50 Moroccan Dirhams ($5). The video was considered shocking (I am wondering what’s shocking about getting cash when most of the young people over there are jobless and because of the COVID-19 pandemic, their situation is getting worse). The video showed a man who was luring young people in the street and offering them 50 dirhams in exchange for daring to break the fast and to eat a "chebakia" (Moroccan cuisine’s most consumed cookie during Ramadan). These young guys who actually accepted because they were desperate for cash, without knowing that what they did might expose them to legal accountability as article 222 of the Moroccan Penal Code criminalizes not fasting the blessed month of Ramadan in Morocco and punishes the accused with imprisonment of between one and six months.

Even though Islam itself does not impose any punishment on the non-fasting person, the Moroccan law does. I don’t remember who told me that there’s no justice in politics so for those who are demanding the abolishment of this law, good luck, that may happen during the next century as many activists on social media called for the authorities to intervene resolutely and arrest all those involved in the infamous incident, which they considered a challenge to the Islamic religion and the sanctity of the holy month. Their carelessness will cost them a lot, but the fact that they didn’t care that their actions were documented in violation of the religion and the law, shows their desperation.

Through the camera lenses, the audience clearly notices how powerful the cash is over the religious belief of fasting, of which they’ve followed their entire lives, can all be thrown away at the cheap offering of $5. Imagine what these guys would do if you offered them $100?! I’m sure we all know…and I know many who have traveled all the way there to get what guys like those have to offer.

By Simo