Now, is the month of Ramadhan. In Islamic calender, Ramadhan is a ninth month in lunar calender. For this year, in Gregorian calender Ramadhan will start from 21st July and end on 18th August 2012. Ramadhan is a special month. In this month of Holy Ramadhan, me and my family are fasting everyday. We begin fasting at dawn and end it at sunset. While fasting, we must not eat, drink, smoke, and having sex. Also cleanse the soul by abstaining from bad (sinful) speech and behavior. Fasting is our soul training to control our desires of hunger, thirst, sexuality, anger and to focus more on devoting oneself to God. It also teaches us how to better practice self-dicipline, self control, sacrifice and empathy for less fortunate, and do acts of generosity and charity.
Ramadhan is a God's gift, it is month of forgiveness and opportunity to grab so much pahala (rewards for good deeds) through our prayer, acts of generosity and charity. Every good behavior will be reward by God.
Allah The Almighty and The Most Merciful, promises to people who fast, "All actions done by a human being belong to him except fasting; it belongs to Me. I shall reward it accordingly. (Hadith Qudsi, God's own words quoted by Prophet peace be upon him but is not part of the Qur'an).
God also has given us a chance to earn forgiveness of all past sins. In another Hadith the Prophet Muhammad pbuh is quoted as saying "Those who fast the month of Ramadhan, motivated by faith and devotion, shall have all their past sins forgiven."
There are Hadith, Prophet Muhammad is quoted as saying "The one who fasts experiences two joys. He feels pleasure when he breaks the fast. He will be happy by virtue of his fast when he meets his God."
So true, we feel the joy and pleasure when we break our fast. We all excited and gather with family members and provide our favourite dish. During this month, we usually will prepare special foods to reward our self after fasting at day. Also a culture of bazaar Ramadhan (food bazaar sells foods and drinks to break the fast) is seen everywhere throughout Malaysia to ease people in buying their favourite dish. Which, I don't prefer so much. It's better to prepare our own food, fresh and full of love. :D
My favourite dish is Pecal, a dish comprises of local vegetable and it's gravy from peanut, dried chilies, garlic, ginger, kaffir lime leaves and cekur (Kaempferia galanga).
My favourite desert is kuih Buah Melaka (desert Malacca Fruit, it is just a meta fore). It's ingredient comprises of tapioca flour, water, pandan leave, pinch of salt, and palm sugar (gula melaka) as filling. Pick small dough, stuff in the filling and make it in a size of ping pong ball. Cook it in the boiling water. Then roll it on grated coconut meat (isi kelapa parut...I don't know why it's called meat :P ).
I will post picture of desert Buah Melaka. I learnt how to prepare it from my mother. But I only eat this desert when my mother prepare it. I know, practice make perfect, but I am too convenient having my mother prepare it, furthermore she has such skill and also diligent. Oh my, if my late father still around, he will remind me again.
Everyday, breaking the fast or iftar is more likely as a small daily celebration. We eat at home, at restaurant, at friend's home and sometimes at hotel (Which I don't prefer, because I have to abstain myself from eating too much food after break the fast). We also provide and shares food with others, it is mention in a Hadith that the person who feeds a fasting person at the time of breaking fast will receive the same reward as that of the fasting person without any decrease in the reward of the fasting person.
After break the fast, we will go to masjid to pray our tarawikh together. We also have choice to stay at home and pray together with family, recite Al-Qur'an and make our prayer to God to accept our repents because He is The Most Merciful and The All Forgiving. Only He, The All Knowing will forgive us. If we feel alone or sad, just seek guidance from Him.
At the end of the month of holy Ramadhan, we will celebrate our victory after fasting for a month. We also encouraged to forgive each other. Embrace our family with love and true heart. We will dress with our finest clothes and the youngest in the family will start to seek for forgiveness from the elders.
Ramadhan, is our school. If a Muslim success in the month of Ramadhan and achieve the level that purify her soul. He/she will be a better person, act with pure heart even not in Ramadhan, embarks better life and better understanding for her surroundings.
Furthermore, I quote from Wikipedia about the benefit of fasting :
" Research suggests there are major health benefits to caloric restriction. Benefits include reduced risks of cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, insulin resistance, immune disorders, and more generally, the slowing of the aging process, and the potential to increase maximum life span.[1] Besides these health benefits, research by Valter Longo has also uncovered a potential link between fasting and improved efficacy of chemotherapy.[2] [3] [4] According to Dr. Mark P. Mattson, chief of the laboratory of neurosciences at the USNational Institute on Aging, fasting every other day (intermittent fasting) shows beneficial effects in mice as strong as those of caloric-restriction diets,[5] and a small study conducted on humans at the University of Illinois at Chicago indicates the same results [6] According to the US National Academy of Sciences, other health benefits include stress resistance, increased insulin sensitivity, reduced morbidity, and increased life span.[7][8] Long-term studies in humans have not been conducted. However, short-term human trials showed benefits in weight loss. The side effect was that the participants felt cranky during the three week trial. According to the study conducted by Dr. Eric Ravussin, "Alternate-day fasting may be an alternative to prolonged diet restriction for increasing the life span".[9] "
Indeed, I have so much to share about Ramadhan in Malaysia. And I believe every Muslims in this world has their own stories about their Ramadhan. And for tourists who visit Malaysia during this month will encounter many things, especially foods and drinks in bazaar Ramadhan.
P/s: I write this while having fever and asma. Hoping tomorrow I can start fasting again. It is so much joy in it.
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