It's a period of positivity. Quality family
time is encouraged, we tend to wish one another well, we give & receive gifts,
we feed the poor, we care for each other etc.
Growing up, I would say that I took the
month of Ramadhan for granted. It was merely a month of fasting, abstaining from
eating and drinking between sunrise and sunset, nothing more really.
I must admit that it took a while before
I realized and fully understood the fundamental reasons behind this act of
worship. I am not going to elaborate on this since I am not a scholar or intend
to give a lecture on fasting in Islam but I do believe that there is a phenomenal
link between fasting and humanity.
As a child, I remember it being more of a "rewarding
act" because my parents would gift me money for every day I fasted. I clearly recall
this joyous feeling, receiving my golden 10kr coin for every fast.
Some might argue that it was misleading because as young children we don’t
always understand the “concept of God” but reflecting on this, I think it was
actually quite encouraging.
Imagine being a young child, aged 6-7
years old who started fasting in a Nordic country with about 18 hours of
daylight during the summer months. How do you explain to your child that
fasting is “something” for God?
My parents were very tactical too, I only
fasted weekends otherwise I wouldn’t have survived school. My few fasting days
would be spent mostly indoors and with minimal movement especially towards the
end of the day. I was basically being trained to fast. It began with quarter
days of fasting that eventually turned into full days. It’s like training for a
marathon, you don’t start with a 10km run but you train your body to do the
10km run.
A couple of decades later, I have learned
to absolutely fall in love with Ramadhan. It has become that time of the year
where I jump off the bandwagon of life and have some personal quality time to reflect
on the past year. I get to examine myself; where I can improve mentally,
physically and spiritually. It is also a precious time that I get to spend with
my near and dear ones because our “normal” days don’t always allow that.
Having moved across the world and currently
not having to fast 15+ hours, I now have the privilege to plan my days during Ramadhan so that
I am at my granny’s for iftar (to break fast) and enjoy a nice meal surrounded with
family (photos below are from the 1st day of Ramadhan)
We tend to forget how important it is to
sit with family members and share a meal. Everyone comes together even neighbours' children, brings their
dishes or whatever they crave and we all sit in a circle to eat together.
Around the circle, you hear about the daily
happenings, you laugh about family affairs, you see how some have grown and
others have aged. It is a month of sharing, where charity of all types literally double or triple in communities. Most importantly you share moments that only come once a
year. They come during a blessed month.
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