The issue of discussion here is the contradicting instructions, the general and loose-ended wording used in the mandates which allow for abuse of power and the absence of once-and-for-all clear stand on how handling the issue of restaurants and Ramadan by our policy makers.
This story continues to emerge into the surface every year during Ramadan. Shall restaurants be closed? Shall alcohol be banned? And every year, there are instructions after others, some of them are distributed, some of them appear suddenly at the time, and the result is: such an issue of how restaurants operate in Ramadan becomes at the hands of some official employees who wish to see the rules applied according to THEIR ideologies and beliefs and personal relations! it is this issue that should be discussed, the issue of having clear and fixed instructions that do not change by the change of public officials or the members of the inspection committees.
The issue is not about fasting in Ramadan, or opening a restaurant in Ramadan, or serving food and alcohol in Ramadan, because all of these are forms of expressing personal freedoms! Books @ cafe and other restaurants in Jordan do not force people to break their fasting or drink alcohol during Ramadan, those who do not drink alcohol or fast in Ramadan can simply refuse to go there! The same should apply vice versa since Jordan does not have “Al-Amr bel Ma3rouf” committee, the system should not allow inspection committees to act as such!
Finally, such behavior by public employees, and the failure of having clear regulations that governs such issues, only contribute in harming the image of Jordan. for this reason, and this reason only, we should go beyond our different personal beliefs, and fight against the abuse of power, which could harm us, extend to harm our personal beliefs as well!

“jalsat 7ameema wa tabadol al qubal.” gosh , this country is doomed anyway .. there is no better reason…

PEOPLE, serving alcohol is a ***** PRIVILEGE not a RIGHT!

Know the difference. its a license much as a driving license, the ministry of transportation can revoke your license anytime because its a privilege to drive not a right!

yes you can fight legally on why and how they revoke a license, but not on basis of freedom of rights.

besides, as one commentator mentioned, other muslims tolerate such places for 11 months, respect them for 1 month, i think thats a bargain offer.

and like what other commentator mentioned, its not a big deal! the place’s service is *****, and their food is OKAY, i mean come on people, it’s not like a gourmet french cusine. cold thin pizzas and salads filled with cheap iceberg lettuce.

I respect madian because he was an engine for a change, (notice ‘was’) whether on the social level or business level. but he should be PROACTIVE, take this initiative as step to give his place a make over and service upgrade. not to whine and **** about freedom of alcohol rights.

how many nights kids under 21 left that place drunk and drove home drunk. trust me, if it was in a ‘western’ country, he would be fined millions for that let alone shut his place.

and sorry, books@cafe is not the only place in amman where tolerance exists. I mean just because u see alot of ‘tourists’ hanging around, with other cool-wanna bees, doesnt make a place a beacon for tolerance like one commentator said above.

….oh shit, the mosque next door is calling for Dohor Prayer, let me go turn off my music for few minutes. u know.. I RESPECT the call for prayer.

OBSERVATUER , i will rise above your words and take the higher moral ground regarding what shalow is , However what i love about your comment is how oxymoronic it is and how it only proves my point , if you are talking about tolerating and subculture , They are tolerating for 11 months , we can tolertae for one … Bonjournee

SHUT UP GUYS! Those of you who decided to speak on behalf of Christians in Jordan, speak for yourselves. You are embarrassing us with your rudeness. This is not about tolerance and freedom of religion. This is about a few who want their lifestyles to trump all others. I am a Christan and in Ramadan I can drink alcohol at home or at my friends’ house. It’s not against the law. We have parties in Ramdan and we drink to our hearts’ content. We go to church every Sunday in Ramadan or in any other month without any restrictions. We hang the cross before, during, and after.

So please stop speaking on Christians’ behalf. All of you are Books@Cafe regulars and you are loyal customers and friends of the Jazeerahs. Great. Nothing wrong with that. But they way you are conducting this campaign makes us look like we want hedonism or bullying not tolerance.

You want to fight the Books@Cafe issue as a case of government corruption and selective enforcement of the law, I am with you. But DON’T F***NG TURN IT INTO A RELIGIOUS FREEDOM ISSUE. you are abusing the concept and you have no clue what it means.

Want to know what it means? Go to India where they are killing Christians for being Christians. Go to Philippines where they target-shoot Muslims in remote islands. We are so fortunate to have a country like Jordan. This part of the world is the homeland of Christianity and we have been here for hundreds of centuries because of the culture of co-existence.

Jessy , I think your understanding of liberalism needs a re check , again I will rise above your peronal attack and ask you to go back and understand what liberalism is and for your own knowledge liberalism did n ot start from US, or did yo not know that ???.. once your actions encrouche on others , you need to stop and think…I have read some of your posts and it is really sad to see how you react and attack people , may be you are a hard core republican but yo do not know that yet , re examine your thoughts , be more rational . Good luck , I hope they keep it close all Ramadan and once upon will go there

well im sure it would have been fine if they just told them not to surve or just provoked their licence … not shut the place up … this shows the “Forgivness” and “Respect” of these “Religious” people in their “Holy” month of ramadan …

Harout , 100% RIGHT YOU ARE , THAT WOULD HAVE SOLVED The PROBLEM .

Observateur & Jessy , read teh below definitions , it might helpyou out to look at things from a different perspective

(5) Liberal Radicals are adherents of progressive modem ideas, which they try to realize without consideration for the existing order or for other people’s rights, ideas, and feelings. Such was the first Liberal political party, the Spanish Jacobinos in 1810. This is the Radicalism, which under the mask of liberty is now annihilating the rights of Catholics in France.

(6) The Liberal Democrats want to make the masses of the common people the deciding factor in public affairs. They rely especially on the middle classes, whose interests they pretend to have at heart.

Hazem, you got my id and have the definition of tolerance wrong.

Tolerance means respect other choices of belief and practices as long as they dont interfere with your freedom.

I respect your belief of the sinful nature of alcohol, and I respect your practice of not drinking any, and I respect your holy month of Ramadan.

And I except in return for you

To respect my belief on the un-sinful nature of alcohol, to respect my practice of drinking it anytime of the year (as long as I dont get drunk in public) and respect my right drink and eat in public when I feel so any time of the year.

It isn’t about Christians in Jordan as some pointed out here. It is more about any other non-extremist or non-religious muslim. I know many muslims who choose not to fast and they are not tolerated for their choices, I know many are muslims or christians in name and identitfy themselves to be atheists or agnostics and don’t fast in the holy month of Ramadan. Those people should be tolerated and respected as well. I don’t see the same law applied when Christians fast. People can still eat chocklate, eat shawerma and drink milk in the streets while our christians brothers fast. They don’t consider it irrespectful to christianity! or to themselves! Hell it can’t be! Fasting is a personal choice one for himself, you dont force people not to eat in public because you are hungry! That is a violation of others freedom and imposing of your own beliefs which is wrong, even if you share your views with the majority of the citizens of this country. It is still wrong.

Dear Madian,

can you please state the main differences between cafes and restaurants classifications? like whats the difference between 3 stars cafe and no stars cafe vs. num of licenses? can one have to same licenses hotel restaurants have?

Is it the law that all non-hotel restaurants and cafes stop their service during day time in Ramadan?

after what happened, are there any places left open in Amman that serve food and Alcohol or was the ban selective?

Observateur , You are saying what I am saying bit let me put it in a different way . Youe belief , your actions, your ideas, etc.. are yours , you can advocate for all, but out of basic human decency , you try and respect the others and do what you want without insulting them, Alcohol served in a place like boos@Cafe is in Ramadan is insuling , even to many christians . One month of No alcohol versus 11 months of all what you can do .. Is that too much to ask fopr or we simply understand life as balck & White. Unless yo uare a radical Liberal and that is also a form of Fanaticisim .Just use logic

The Observer,

I remind you again, that while you can legally drink alcohol in private or infront of your cool friends, you still DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT to sell or serve alcohol. its a PRIVILEGE given to you by the governing authority.

it has nothing to do with being muslim or christian. It’s the law. even in the US, its a privilege given to the masses. there is no violation of ‘freedom’. so stop arguing as if you hold the flag of liberty to the jordanian masses.

BTW christians are a minority, their fasting is highly respected nevertheless. and they can STILL eat while they fast. their fasting is different. when you go to the west and you fast, do they respect the holy month of ramadan? oh wait… they are secular, i forgot.

and your premise of eating/drinking in public in ramadan doesn’t violate freedom, because we still eat in public during christian fasting, is faulty and invalid at its best. firstly, not related to this post’s topic and secondly, even if it was, alcohol is technically banned in islam throughout the year. so wasn’t it so respectful to christians that Jordan’s government ‘allowed’ serving alcohol for 11 months? I think it was. fair deal.

I know it sucks. Why not post something on HM the Queen’s YouTube channel for instance? It doesn’t solve the problem but it sheds some light on it.

Some people fast and some dont, poeple who fast does not have to go out to any place that serves food. they could stay home. the people who dont fast needs to go out and chill. and knowing books@cafe, its a place were a lot of tourists visit. We dont have decent places in Amman and the government or whoever is responsible should wake up to reality. WE ARE FREE TO FAST OR NOT!its ‘MY’ personal relationship with God NOT the governemnt or ANYONE!
to show how religious they are, they ‘LIED’ to close the place down… and they call themselves religious.

I’m Jordanian-American and I have fond memories of spending time with my cousin at Books@Cafe. I found this cafe to be very special because it welcomed people from different backgrounds. Books@Cafe is a symbol of tolerance and acceptance in Jordan. I have faith that I will have a cup of coffee (or a beer) there again on my next visit to Jordan.

well , sorry 2 say this but give me a break … i know at least 300 people in my circle who r muslims , n they dont even think of ramadan , they dont fast or pray or anything of that matter , some of them r even from KSA …
N another thing … i know looooooooots of muslim people who live on drinking , at least some of the people know there limits …
this “syam” thing is having more PUBLICITY than it should , cmon … ramadan nights , shows , offers … the only things that missing is ramadan belly dancers …
loooooool

To those who think this is about religion, at the official level in Jordan, it’s rarely about religion or righteousness, even when this is the articulated objectives. It’s almost always about $$$.

if Books@Cafe is shutdown, it means someone paid for this to happen or someone from their inner circle will jump in to replace it and reap the profits of weakened competition.

This is sort of like the counterfeit DVD shops downtone and how some are closed while others florish.

It’s so corrupt around here it’s hopeless. We even beat Syria and Egypt now.

I bet most of those thugs will hang the King’s photo and a flag inside their cars and blast the radio wheever Abudllat sings Jayshuna.

Some of the most corrupt people in Jordan are the ultra nationalist blowhards. And rightly so. Jordan is their cow and boy does it produce lots of milk and the smaller the circle, the more milk portions.

You know we have a serious problem when patriotism is directly related to the spread of corruption. That’s how the inner circle was conditioned.

It’s all about the loot.

Okay i think this is my last post because the conversation here has regressed..
I dont think this is about tolerance, or religion people.. this is about corruption and a total lack of respect for the laws; maybe even a total lack of respect for the concept of law that should not be changed every year to reflect a different mindset

Madian.. i really think the action plan should be as follows:

1- Forge an alliance with those who have been affected
2- Create a speaking platform (press conference) where you can address all issues – and again be well versed in the law – if you can have both a lawyer and a ministry rep on the same table
3- Invite those who have made the decision to participate – offering an objective viewpoint
4- Invite all media (international included)

I will write the release for you and create the full logistical plan for you if you need it.

:)

Love You Sunshine.. you really do make the world go round for me:)

love you books@cafe!

Madian,
Don’t escalate, and don’t follow serene’s advice. I say this because this issue will move from a confrontation with a governmental entity to a confrontation with the society. The Backlash can affect your bottom line and maybe bring worse-than-you-can-expect reprecussions. The fear is that with all the economic and political failures is that the government might want to find a scape goat to re-direct the anger at.

My two cents.

Hazem, it is the observer, not observateur, that is another id.

People do choose to be offended. Any place serving alcohol in Ramadan shouldnt be insulting to anyone. It isn’t like people are forcing you to drink against your well. You have your own belief of the sinful nature of alcohol, and it is your own belief. You shouldnt be offended if others dont share it with you.

I had a Ramadan Iftar at my house with my friends today. We were 4 christians and 6 muslims. One of which was fasting. We had food and alcohol as well. No one was offended. We had a very beautiful evening. No one tried to impose his beliefs on the others. We all respected each other choices and we all are tolerant to each other beliefs.

Doesnt matter, you are right, selling or serving alcohol is a privilage, a privilage that was given by the government to those venues and was violated.

As for Christians, yes they are minorities in Jordan, but so what? Aren’t all Jordanians equal againts the law? Isnt that what our constitution state? If you are going to forbade non fasting people from eating in public in Ramadan, then you should apply the same rule for Christian fasting on other non fasting citizens. It is ridiculous, no? It is more insulting to prevent anyone from eating in public rather than seeing one doing so while you are fasting.

As for Alcohol, it isn’t just about Christians. It is also about muslims who choose to drink, and others who identify themselves to be atheists or agnostics or any other Jordanian citizen who doesn’t care if alcohol consumption is haram or not. Alcohol is banned in Islam yes, and I respect Muslims who choose not to drink alcohol, but it isn’t banned in the Jordanian law, is it?

But as you said, this is entirely off topic.

Because drinking alcohol according to Sharia law is a violation, i’m sorry to say that gainig public sympathy for such a cause is out of the question!
The issue worth publicizing in local media would be the degree of authoritive power abuse by our security and government offices.
The problem is not human rights violations in the name of Religion, but the corrupt loose system that gives the law enforcer the capacity to enforce law as he/she percieves and the capacity to fabricate facts and persecute.
Lack of an active institution to safeguard us the citizens/residents from such abuse is a tragedy. Perhaps inspection is much more needed in government offices than the books@cafe kitchen.

Because drinking alcohol according to Sharia law is a violation, i’m sorry to say that gainig public sympathy for such a cause is out of the question!
The issue worth publicizing in local media would be the degree of authoritive power abuse by our security and government offices.
The problem is not human rights violations in the name of Religion, but the corrupt loose system that gives the law enforcer the capacity to enforce law as he/she percieves and the capacity to fabricate facts and persecute.
Lack of an active institution to safeguard us the citizens/residents from such abuse is a tragedy. Perhaps inspection is much more needed in government offices than the books@cafe kitchen.

You re missing the whole point – its not about the alcohol…I dont think you re getting this at all

I’m going to repeat what sarab wrote for the Ignorant ppl making comments!Again, this is not about serving food and alcohol in ramadan, this about goverment officials fabricating evidance to serve their own need of forcing thier beliefs on everyone around them!
If they can do this to Madian in ramadan, they can fabricate evidance on any of you any other time! This is far more serious than just SERVING ALCOHOL!wake up ppl!
Books is officially licensed to serve food and alcohol, anyone who disapproves just stay away and respect others of other religions and muslims who choose not fast, just as they respect you in the streets.