Dearborn Extends Closing Time of Hookah Cafés for Ramadan

Dearborn, MI – In the holy month of Ramadan, eating, drinking and smoking are not allowed for Muslims from sunrise to sunset. This year, Ramadan runs from June 6 to July 5.

During this time, observant Muslims will stay up much later to eat, drink and socialize.

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"We would be in bed by now, we'd be knocked out by 9 o'clock," Zeinab Bazzi of Dearborn told the Detroit Free Press, sometime after midnight on Friday.

Alcohol is forbidden in Islam, so hookah cafés, rather than bars, are preferred for Muslims. To accommodate the city’s growing Muslim population, Dearborn is allowing several hookah cafés to stay open until 4 a.m. for the 30 days of the sacred month.

"My grandmother always said, nothing good happens after midnight,” Dearborn resident Miriam Wilke said at a recent City Council meeting.

"I'm going to be watching. I'll make sure all my (neighborhood association) members are watching."

The Dearborn City Council has approved five cafés to stay open two hours past the required 2 a.m. closing time. Cafés have to apply individually to get the extension, which expires at the end of Ramadan.

At Dearborn’s Sky Lounge café, police have been "coming every day" recently to check on closing times, said manager Ali Fawaz. In one case shortly before closing time, Fawaz recalled officers telling customers,"you have to box your food and leave."

The café owners hope they can get extended hours after Ramadan, which they say are helping the economy by attracting customers who desire unique entertainment.

"We even have people coming out of state to Dearborn just to smoke a hookah," said Fawaz. "Everybody knows this is the place for that."

Image credit: Joi Ito via Flickr / licensed under Creative Commons