Ramadhan 2025 and Hope for World Peace

Ramadan will arrive at the end of this week. Some countries will observe it on Friday (28/2/2025), while others on Saturday (1/3/2025). In 2025, Ramadan is considered to bring many winds of change with positive hopes. Several countries are recovering from conflicts and disasters.

For the residents of the Gaza Strip in Palestine, Ramadan 2025 arrives with the hope of bringing peace. The Israeli military and Hamas signed a ceasefire agreement on January 19, which is being implemented in three phases, each lasting 42 days. The first phase of the ceasefire ended on Friday (28/2), and the second phase was supposed to begin on Saturday (1/3).

Gaza residents are gradually starting to return to their homes after spending 15 months in refugee shelters. On October 7, 2023, Hamas launched the Aqsa Storm attack on Israel, which killed 1,112 Israeli and foreign citizens. They also kidnapped 251 people to be held as hostages.

Hamas and Israel have now conducted an exchange. In this first phase of the ceasefire, Hamas has promised to release 33 hostages, and 29 individuals have been returned. Eight of them were found to be deceased. According to data from Tel Aviv, 62 hostages are still being held by Hamas, 35 of whom are believed to have perished.

Israel has pledged to release 1,900 Palestinian prisoners they have detained. In the first phase, 620 Palestinian detainees have been released. They were transported by Red Cross vehicles to Ramallah in the West Bank.

After the first phase was completed, could the second phase be carried out during Ramadan? Najat Al-Agha (75) hopes so. Her son, Diaa Al-Agha, was arrested at the age of 16 for being involved in a conflict that resulted in the death of an Israeli citizen. Diaa has been imprisoned for 33 years. Speaking to Al Jazeera, Najat expressed her hope of awaiting her son's return to observe Ramadan together.

"This is my dream for 33 years. I am afraid my life will end without seeing my son freed," he said.

In Syria, Ramadan was welcomed with joy. The people of the country received a surprise on December 8, 2024. The Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham group, an opposition faction opposing the rule of President Bashar Al-Assad, succeeded in seizing Damascus and the government. The Assad family regime fell after 54 years of dominance in the country. Bashar Al-Assad, along with his wife and three children, fled to Russia.

Syria is now led by de facto president Ahmad Al-Sharaa or who was known during the conflict by the alias Abu Mohammad Al-Golani. On December 30, 2024, Al-Sharaa said it would take four years to prepare the infrastructure and for its people to undergo general elections. The schedule is clearly behind the initial promise that the interim government would only be in power until March 2025.

Despite this, people are optimistic. China's national news agency Xinhua reported that traditional lantern craftsman Mohammad Al-Shayeb in Damascus has begun making orders. Al-Shayeb has been a lantern craftsman for 35 years. The skill is inherited from his family.

He said the price of raw materials has increased because Syria is still in a transition period. Automatically, the price of lanterns has also increased. However, customers have started to come, although not as many as last year, to order lanterns. They still want to add color to the joy of the holy month.

While in Gaza there is a ceasefire, in Sudan the civil war is still ongoing. Last week, at a meeting in Ethiopia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) called for a humanitarian pause during the fasting month. The Sudanese war broke out on April 15, 2023, exactly a week before Ramadan began. In fact, its people were unable to celebrate Eid al-Fitr 2023 because they were busy fleeing from Khartoum to other cities.

This civil war is between Sudanese Military Commander General Abdel Fattah Burhan against General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, leader of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). In 2019, these two officers overthrew President Omar Bashir. They promised an interim government and elections. It turned out that the two of them then fought for power. As a result, 12 million Sudanese people were forced to flee.

The UAE has been criticized by the world for supporting the RSF. They support weapons and funds for the RSF. The death toll in Sudan is high, at 61,000. The BBC cited the results of a study by the School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (LSHTM) in November 2024. It said that 26,000 victims died directly due to the conflict. The rest died of starvation and untreated diseases due to lack of access.

“We are asking for a humanitarian pause during Ramadan so that we can provide social assistance,” UAE Minister of International Cooperation Reem Al-Hashimy said on February 14, 2025.

In Los Angeles, California, United States, Ramadan is a revival. The city has just experienced a fire disaster that burned an area of 146 square kilometers and killed 17 people.

In Altadena, one of LA's boroughs, the Al-Taqwa Mosque has been razed to the ground. The 42-year-old mosque was previously the center of Muslim activities in Altadena. However, the local Muslim community is not discouraged. They carry out worship and prepare Ramadan activities at a private Islamic school there.

In fact, the members of the Muslim community are still experiencing hardship. Many of them lost their homes due to fires. They are now still living in inns. Therefore, this Ramadan is a place of recovery for the community.

"This is not just a ritual of prayer and fasting. Ramadan is a time for us to help each other and care for each other. Two things that are very important after the fire disaster," said Junaid Aasi, a professional in information technology who has been an imam at the Al-Takwa Mosque.

In that mosque, the congregation came from all over the world. In addition to US citizens, there were also many diaspora from Baghdad, Algeria, Morocco, India, Pakistan, Arabia, and Turkey. Various ethnic groups and skin colors worshiped and socialized there. That spirit is what Aasi and the mosque administrators want to continue, even though the mosque has collapsed.

“We will rebuild together,” said Sakeenah Ali, a worshipper. (AP)