Saudi Arabia warned foreign residents Wednesday they must respect a prohibition on eating, drinking and smoking in public during daylight hours in the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
Violators would be dismissed from their work and deported, the Interior Ministry said.
Ramadan, four weeks when Muslims fast and abstain from sex between dawn and dusk, begins about October 15, with the sighting of a new moon. Muslims believe it was during Ramadan about 1,400 years ago that the Koran, the Islamic holy book, was revealed to the Prophet Mohammed.
"Resident non-Muslims must respect the feelings of Muslims and not eat, drink or smoke in shops, streets or offices. Being a non-Muslim is not an excuse," the ministry said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.
The statement said the warning must be explained to non-Muslims by their employers and that it would be broadcast repeatedly on state-run television and radio in Arabic, English and French.
There are an estimated two million non-Muslim foreigners living in Saudi Arabia, which has a population of about 19 million.