When I lived with Saudis during Ramadan in college, their fasting strategy was mostly to just sleep all day and wake up a little before sundown. I ate some really delicious food during that month!
I have often visited Morocco and lived in Malaysia for some time.
Sort of, yes. During noon and afternoon most shops, restaurants, and other places were closed. Certain essential things were open. There was also a divide between rural vs urban, with urban have more open stores.
Especially in Morocco this didn't seem too uncommon even outside of Ramadan though as its often simply too hot to really work during the day.
Depends on the country. When we lived in Saudi, during Ramadan most stores took the morning off and were open well into the night (like midnight). Many businesses (banks etc) did a morning shift (9-1) and then an evening shift (6-10).
No. Rather productivity is down 50% or more for the entire month.
Imagine two civilizations otherwise equal. One works 12/12=100% of the year, and the other 11.5/12=96% of the years. Then compound the gains over 14 centuries!
