What is Ramadan? This is how we celebrate | Voices of Faith
It’s Ramadan! Happy Ramadan — Ramadan Mubarak! Ramadan Kareem!
This year, Ramadan began on Thursday, March 23. Ramadan is the holiest month for Muslims. It is the month that God revealed the Qur’an to Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) through the Angel Gabriel.
There is excitement and joy in the air; I am decorating my home; the family is planning which days we will host iftar; I’m also checking when our mosque will be hosting community iftars, sister iftars, and the Taraweeh prayer. Ramadan iftar is a religious gathering with family and friends at dusk, just before sunset, to break the fast, pray and enjoy a full meal together. My family makes a point to gather together when it is time to break our fast. Having everyone together is the best blessing.
We end our fast traditionally with one date and a small sip of a drink. I use a beautiful tea set of small plates and small tea cups to serve the dates and drinks. The joy and excitement build as we get closer to the time of opening the fast. We use a timetable that tells us the exact time we will break our fast. The minutes just before that time is spent preparing the table are the most fun.
Our family prays together, so we lay our prayer rugs in the living room. Then as the time hits, everyone says a quiet prayer asking God to accept their fasting, eating a date and drinking a small amount of water or milk or whatever drink one craves during the day. Afterward, we enter the living room and pray the Maghrib prayer as a family.
At the end of the Maghrib prayer, each person will do a private prayer and again ask God to accept our fast, forgive our sins and help us be good Muslims. This moment is powerful; we can also ask God for our heart’s desire during this time. It is easy to fast and pray during this month because, during Ramadan, the devils are chained and cannot use temptations to entice us to do wrong or harmful practices. Any wrongdoing is completely our own choice without any evil interventions. Praying and fasting keep us on the right path, the path that pleases God.
While family members are finishing their prayers, those who finished their prayers start setting out the meal that was prepared for the family iftar. On the first days of Ramadan, my family follows the tradition of my Algerian husband. We make a soup called chorba (that’s Algerian for soup). It is nicely prepared with meat, diced zucchini, onions, tomatoes, carrots, potatoes, peas and chickpeas.
After a day of abstaining from all foods and drinks all day long, it is so delicious and refreshing. It quenches the thirst and fills the tummy. We also add an eggroll-like appetizer called burek filled with meat, potatoes and cheese. Yummy!!! While having our meal, we laugh and talk about some of the challenges we faced that day while fasting.
After our meal, we will head to the mosque for the Taraweeh prayer. During the month of Ramadan, our Imam leads the community prayers by reciting the Holy Qur’an, with his beautiful voice, from beginning to end — a little bit every night, finishing the whole Qur’an before the last day of Ramadan. This is a blessed time for Muslims.
It’s Ramadan! Happy Ramadan — Ramadan Mubarak! Ramadan Kareem!
This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: What is Ramadan? This is how we celebrate
