SINGAPORE: During Ramadan, Muslims fast during daylight hours and only eat before dawn and after sunset. Therefore, the choice of one commuter to break his fast with one candy bar while on the train is understandable.
However, he encountered a woman who insisted that eating on the MRT was illegal. But when the commuter asked a staffer if it’s all right “to consume finger snacks that are dry and those without aroma,” he said it’s “totally permissible,” a follower of the @sgfollowsall account wrote in a post published on Wednesday morning (Apr 12).
The man wrote that his encounter with the woman occurred on the MRT to Bedok, a long ride he had boarded at around 6:30 pm at Clementi.
Writing that he “thought people would be more considerate and educated about certain things,” he wrote that “we all know that now it is Ramadhan and the break fast time is around 7+! So, I had no choice but to break fast during my journey on the mrt as I had no luxury to get down at a station and eat out then get on board back.”
He added that he then decided to eat a Snickers bar at around 7:11 to break his fast.
When a woman saw him, she “admonished that eating on MRT is illegal and pointed at the sign sticker on the window.”
He answered back that he was fasting, was tired from work, and that “it is mandatory to eat eitherways.”
But the woman ignored his reply and “persisted that I save the candy and not eat there.”
Putting away his Snickers bar, he asked the woman, “what if someone is low on sugar and they had to eat?” But “she just kept silent and still repeated that i should not eat on MRT.”
When he arrived at Bedok, the staff told him that eating this type of food is “totally permissible.”
He ended his post with an appeal to the public to be considerate of others eating non-messy food while commuting.
“You might not know how urgent it is for them. Especially muslims who are fasting. If possible, if u see a muslim on board and it is time break fast, and they are not having anything, offer them if you have something!” /TISG
Kampong Gelam Ramadan Bazaar returns; 33 days celebration of lights and community