Dubai Municipality has clarified the rules for serving meals in restaurants and cafes during religious fasting during the holy month of Ramadan. In particular, catering establishments are prohibited from serving guests on the terraces.
An exception is made for hotel restaurants, including beach: they can receive guests during the day in the fresh air (including on the beaches). It is also forbidden to display food on the street in city restaurants.
Restaurants and cafes can continue to take away and deliver food to homes or offices. The municipality noted that monitoring people who eat during the day in public places is not their area of responsibility. Municipal officials also did not find out whether people were fasting.
Meanwhile, in all establishments during the day (during Ramadan) it is forbidden to serve guests hookah. This rule applies to hotel restaurants. Hookah can be served only after the evening break, or iftar, and until 04:00. Restaurants on the days of the holy month accept the last order until 03:00. This rule also applies to hookah.
Earlier, the Dubai Department of Economic Development allowed restaurants and cafes not to hang shop windows and facades, as well as not to install partitions during the day during Ramadan.
Thus, catering establishments in the territory of the emirate continue to serve the residents and guests of Dubai during the hours of religious fasting in a normal atmosphere. Restaurants also do not need to ask permission to serve alcohol during the day.
The month of Ramadan in 2021 will last until May 12. Fasting in the holy month of Ramadan is a fard (individual duty) for Muslims.
This month, for every believer who fasts, the angels apologize to Allah for his sins. The essence of fasting in the month of Ramadan is not starvation, but work on oneself, on one’s own nafs (ego), rapprochement with God, the possibility of giving up bad habits.