Eid Mubarak ♡ Selamat Hari Raya!

Eid or in Malay, Raya, is a religious celebration for Muslims to celebrate the end of the fasting month of Ramadhan. To be quite honest, I still can’t believe that it is Eid already, it felt like yesterday I was in Christchurch where I had my first day of Ramadhan. Nonetheless, I am grateful that Allah has blessed me with another year to fast during Ramadhan so that I can work on my deen (faith).  In saying that, I am grateful for all the blessings that God has bestowed on me during the month of Ramadhan as well as the first couple of days of Shawwal (the month where we celebrate Eid).

The first day of Shawwal is Eid al-Fitr which means ‘feast of the breaking of the fast’. It’s no exaggeration that it is a day of feasting. After our morning Eid prayer (which is done on the 1st day of Shawwal), we would host for people to come over and eat as well as celebrate. Normally we celebrate the first three days or sometimes throughout the month of Shawwal. This year my family and I had our morning prayers at Hamilton Gardens where we ended up going to five different houses to eat and then my family hosted one later on during the day as well. Alhamdulillah, my heart, as well as my stomach, was full with a lot of love by the end of the day.

During this religious celebration, mercy, compassion, love and goodwill are some of the virtues that Muslims share not just with Muslims but with everyone from all walks of life. In Malaysia, we normally say “Selamat Hari Raya Maaf Zahir Dan Batin.” which means “Eid Mubarak and please forgive me for any wrong doings.” After the morning prayer, it is a tradition for the children especially to Salaam their parents and ask them forgiveness.

Other traditions include the sighting of the moon the night before to confirm that we can celebrate Eid the next day, preparing for Eid the night before by making traditional meals and sweets (according to one’s own culture), balik kampung (go back to the village of our grandparents), wear traditional or modest clothing and instead of giving presents, we normally give money to children (unfortunately, apparently I am too old for that now).

This year, my mum and I prepared rendang (a dry curry which I must say, was voted the best food in the world), ketupat (cubed rice) with peanut sauce or lontong/sayur lodeh (veggies in a turmeric coconut sauce), lemang (glutinous rice which is traditionally cooked in bamboo) and ayam masak lemak (chicken cooked in coconut cream). Unfortunately, the only raya cookie we managed to make was honey cornflake cookies (if I wasn’t busy with exams and other things we would normally make at least five different types of raya cookies). Nonetheless, I am glad that my family was able to host a feast as I love seeing everyone happy where we also got lit playing uno and singing karaoke of raya and Malay classic songs (not very Islamic but we had a joyous time).

Eid/Raya is a time of joy and happiness and I am grateful to have celebrated with family and friends. Alhamdulillah, although the Malay community in Hamilton is small, the celebration to me was still meriah (exciting), in fact, this year has been one of the best rayas that I have had in a while.

Lastly, please forgive me for anything I have said or done intentionally or unintentionally and I pray for everyone a peaceful Eid where we celebrate with love and compassion. And may God bless us with His love and compassion. Ameen.

Forgiveness For a Peace of Mind

I am pretty sure that all of us have been hurt by someone in our lives. They could have done something unacceptable to you or had said some unpleasant things. But again, how they treat you is a reflection of who they are or even how they treat themselves. So that is why I don’t take things personally with people. Although they might hurt you, it may be because they are going through their own problems that they don’t know how to deal with otherwise.  It doesn’t give them the right to treat you the way that they treated you but it is true when they say that hurt people, hurt people.

The Buddha says that “if you truly loved yourself, you could never hurt another”. I have to admit that when I didn’t love myself, I hurt others with the truth to make myself feel better. However, I’ve genuinely asked for forgiveness from God first and then from the person. If the person doesn’t accept my sincere apology then it becomes their own problem and no longer mine because I did what I could to make terms better with them.

You forgive people not because you want to forgive them. You forgive them for yourself so that you can be happy, have a peace of mind and to also let yourself move forward. Also, you can forgive but you don’t have to forget. Take how people treat you as a lesson and then you can be wiser for it to not happen again. Confront them and tell them that what they said or did was unacceptable. You don’t need to wait for them to apologise to you, just forgive them already. Again, the quicker you forgive them, the quicker it is for you to move on, be happy and have a peace of mind. Plus, you will then be the bigger person and remember, people reap what they sow, so what goes around will always come back around. God knows what people have done, they can run as fast or as far as they want, but it will always catch up to them in the end.

In Islam, forgiveness is a virtue where we are reminded to be forgiving and ask for forgiveness. God is the Most Merciful and the more mercy you have towards other human beings, the more merciful He is to you. The Prophet Muhammad have said, “Whoever suffers an injury and forgives (the person responsible), God will raise his status to a higher degree and remove one of his sins.” Therefore, this is just another reason why we should forgive the person who has hurt us.

I know that sometimes it is not easy to forgive people who have done you wrong but you need to do it for yourself. There is no point in holding onto something that makes you feel upset or bad. But you have every reason to have happiness, a peace of mind and for you to move forward in life.

N.B: You might not take his video thumbnail seriously but I highly recommend you to watch this video by Infinite Waters:

Or watch a shorter video from Oprah’s Life Class:

 

Ramadhan: The basics you should know.

Eight days has already passed in the month of Ramadhan. Alhamdulillah, already God has blessed me so many times and my life has been really peaceful. Thus, I am really grateful to Allah, God.

Last night at the Malay gathering to break the fast, someone gave a Khutbah (religious talk) about the deeper meaning of fasting. From what I understood, Ramadhan is the time to attain Taqwa, which is closeness to God and to be thankful to Allah.

Nonetheless, here are some basic things that I think you should know about Ramadhan:

1. Ramadhan is one of the pillars of Islam and thus is it compulsory for Muslims to do.
2. We fast from sunrise to sunset. Alhamdulillah, this year has been easy in New Zeland as we fast from around 5:50 am until around 5:15 pm. So we fast about 12 hours a day whereas places such as Norway fast for 20 hours a day.
3. We are not allowed to eat any food or drink any beverages.
4. We are not allowed to have anything come inside of our bodies. Thus we are not allowed to smoke, however, we are allowed to brush our teeth as it is makrooh (disliked but still permissible).
5. The time before we fast for the day is called Suhoor and the time that we break our fast is called Iftar.
6. There is an Islamic calendar where Ramadhan is the ninth month. Ramadhan starts when there is a moon sighted and it ends when the moon is sighted again. This month normally lasts for 29-30 days. After this month we do a prayer in the morning and we celebrate Eid.
7. During Ramadhan, Muslims are obliged to pay zakat (charity) as it also one of the five pillars of Islam.
8. The people excused from fasting are women for are menstruating, pregnant or breastfeeding and anyone who is chronically ill. However, the days you have missed, you need to pay back by fasting some other time before Ramadhan starts again in the following year.
9. The month of Ramadhan is a time where Muslims have to improve their character where gossiping/ backbiting, lying and fighting or arguing are not allowed during this month.
10. Laylat al-Qadar is one night during the last ten odd days of Ramadhan. During this night, the blessings and mercy of God are abundant where sins are forgiven and prayers are accepted. It is also the time when the annual decree or fate is revealed to the angels who also descend to the earth.

Previously, I mentioned that Ramadhan is a month where Muslims try to attain closeness with God. This can be done by praying extra prayers such as Taraweeh, reciting the Quran and the doing more dhikr (remembrance of God).

The time of Ramadhan humbles me and it really does remind me to be grateful. There are so many people who are starving with no food to eat and by fasting, I get a sense of what they would go through on a regular basis. If you are not in poverty or have food to eat, be thankful; there are billions of people that would love to be in your shoes right now. Poverty is evident and it is everywhere around the world, including New Zealand, where children are starving. As human beings, if you are able to help, you should help- even if it is one person you are helping or if you only have a couple of cents to spare. You can start helping by making sure that your neighbour has enough to eat, or you can donate money to the charity of your choice or you could even give a loaf of bread to someone begging in the streets. There is no need to give hundreds or even thousands, you just need the intention to help humanity.

Lastly, I wish my fellow Muslims a blessed and peaceful Ramadhan. And to all my fellow Muslims in Yemen, Somalia, Nigeria and South Sudan who are suffering from the famine, I pray that Allah gives you mercy.

N.B: May Allah forgive me if I had said anything incorrect as I am not a Muslim scholar and just an ordinary Muslimmah.