Pass the Lantern to Malaysia!

I asked you to share your favorite Ramadan Memories from around the world and our first story comes from a Brother in Malaysia! This Brother even shared a great video of his family Iftar, you can view it at the bottom of this posting, God willing.  Enjoy reading in his own words about Ramadan with his family in his home country and please make sure to send your story to hassanandnicole@gmail.com

17 August 2011

Brief stories of our Ramadan Memories.

Malaysia is a multi-cultural and ethnic society. The majority of it's 28 million population is Muslim. Malaysian Muslims are from Sunni following mazahab Shafei. 1st Ramadan is a public holiday in Malaysia.

The coming of the Ramadan month can be noticeable in Malaysia. Many tents and outlets were set up for business selling assorted cuisines. Hotels too advertised Ramadan Buffets as well. It is a custom in Malaysia that the media will announce the starting day of Ramadan. Once it is make known, on that night most of us will go to the mosque to perform the 1st tarawih prayer. During Ramadan, offices change their operation time clock to end the work day at 4.00 pm instead  of 5.00 pm but they still maintain the 8 hour work schedule.

In the evening of 1st day of fasting, we can see flocks of people shopping, buying their likes on groceries as well as ready made foods and delicacies. The non-Muslims too enjoy the fun as they can have so many choices of different foods during the Ramadan months. Praying facilities are well equipped where you can find mosques as well as praying rooms at  commercial centers such as supermarkets and hotels.

Here, we would like to share with you our life style in Ramadan which it is quite common practice by most Muslims in Malaysia. We live in the city Seremban, about 50 miles south Kuala Lumpur, the capital city Malaysia. Ramadan is special to us and we are very anxious for it's coming. During Ramadan we have special tasks to perform, like practicing to discipline our selves in all aspects in life. Hunger and thirst is one of the test we have to go through. When it comes to food, we find that our desire to spend more is high but we always maintain as minimum as possible meeting our needs and budgets.

We usually cook our own foods and buy some desserts or fruits to add into the variety. The dishes are simple, they are comprised of rice, main dish of meat or fish with gravy, vegetables soup or fried, cut out fruits or fruit juices and sweet delicacies as the starters. Off course we change the menu daily so that we always feel a new beginning and don't feel bored eating the same foods. Some preferred to buy ready made either take home or break fast at outlets, especially those working and have limited time to reach home.

After eating, we rest for awhile and then take our wuduk and perform magrib prayers and doa. We usually perform magrib prayers at home unless there are special occasion where we go to nearby mosque. Next, if we want to perform the tarawih prayers at the mosque, we then dressed ourselves up and leave our home before Isha prayers. At the mosques we perform Isha as well as tarawih together with the jamaah. At the mosque we went, there are about 600 jamaah mixer of men and women. Here, we performed 8 rakaat tarawih and 3 rakaat witir. Some mosques in the country sides performed 20 rakaat tarawih and 1 rakaat witir.

Besides breaking fast at home, we also do 'pot-luck', bringing our foods to my mum's home and we share breaking fast together.  My imediate families also join in making the day more merrier. At the mosques there are also foods people bringing in where we can enjoy the midnight hours with friends while listening to Quran recited by the jamaah. The mosque is never quiet during the Ramadan nights!

At times we perform Isha and tarawih after midnight. Our sahur time is after the prayer. We usually eat light food such as egg omelet with toppings, bread, tea or coffee. Plain water is also added in as we need to prepare for the next day of fasting. Upon hearing azan subuh, we headed for our wuduh and perform subuh prayer plus reciting Quran verses a bit.

Alhamdullillah, for the past half month fasting and prayers we felt ourselves more healthier, energetic, peace of mind and cut loose all the unnecessary weight we had. With the Ramadan coming to the end, we felt that we are in the old track of life but with good values in our soul. Inshaallah Allah forgive us, looking forward for the next Ramadan and aim to do much better from what we have gone through this Ramadan.



Here is a great video of this Malaysian family iftar! Enjoy!

 

I would personally like to thank this Brother for sharing his Ramadan Memory with all of us and I hope to one day visit this beautiful country!

Would you like to see an article about Ramadan in your country? Then please Pass the Lantern to us by sharing your story! Send your story to Hassanandnicole@gmail.com