Decorations fill the streets, songs resounded even before the crescent moon was reconnaissed, children roaming the streets carrying their lanterns and toys. This is how we receive Ramadan in our countries that comes in all its simple and deep details, immersing young people in the tales of the month and its symbolism.
But perhaps those who live Ramadan in countries other than their own need to bring it themselves to their children, as there is no supportive family, no grandmother preparing dishes and telling her stories, while her grandchildren gather around her before the call to prayer, and there is no grandfather to accompany them to the mosque for the five daily prayers. What is most missed by expatriates is the large family iftar that includes all members of the extended family on the first day, yet Ramadan is an opportunity to instill the concepts of the holy month in the hearts of our children, who may live it in spatial and spiritual alienation.
Find answers
A Ramadan few days ago, my youngest daughter began her questions about the idea of fasting, its feasibility and impact, and she was eagerly waiting for an answer about those things stuck in her mind, why do we fast only one month? And how do we abstain from food for so long without getting tired? What is the use of fasting? How is it good for God to quit eating and drinking for specific hours? We talked for a long time, researched and exchanged anecdotes and explanations and tried to answer her questions, and we also watched videos about fasting, how it works, and its health benefits.
A few days later, we started decorating the house with the crescent and lights, and it was an important and very influential paragraph in our sense of preparation for the holy month, and with its first days, my little girl decided to complete her fast, so I encouraged her to do so, and we identified certain caveats if she felt very thirsty or hungry to tell me and break the fast, especially with the advent of Ramadan this year amid the study.
My child finished her first day peacefully, and just before the call to prayer, our friends came to share our first iftar with us, we sat remembering our first day of fasting as children, we laughed and prayed Maghrib and near the evening call to prayer we chose a nearby mosque for Taraweeh. We replaced the family with friends who share the same feelings as us and whose children need distant family feelings as well.
The next day we exchanged delicious dishes with neighbors from different cultures, an opportunity to learn about the customs of Ramadan in India, Pakistan, Syria and Iraq. This is an advantage that we may not achieve in our country, as alienation also has advantages.
Small wins
A few days later, my ten-year-old daughter participated in a school play about fasting, and she was keen to understand every sentence her teacher wrote in her role, including the importance of praying on time. A few days later, she decided to ask her school to allocate a place for noon prayers in the school, which does not have a mosque for students; the next day, Farha returned as she told how she had won, achieving her goal of getting what she fought for, so that the first noon prayer would be held for all primary classes the next day.
She was happy and stood up that day and said seriously: "Mama, I feel that my faith is very high and sincere today." I was fascinated by the profound way in which she chose her words, and we, who are overwhelmed by the resonant words, may not be able to express such moments that unite us with the power of faith when we feel it overwhelm us.
On the same day, she decided to prepare a schedule in which she would write down her new commitments, such as keeping reading the Qur'an on a daily basis, Fajr and Taraweeh prayers, and adding a number of rak'ahs to her obligatory prayers.
In the first Taraweeh prayer, I was struck by a fifteen-year-old girl who looked very excited, who entered the mosque with her mother and brought her prayer dress with her, she kept running until she stood in the first row, and held her Qur'an in her hand in pink color with her name on its cover.
When the prayer began, tranquility was evident on her features, and when the imam started praying, she continued to cry. When she was done she turned to her mother and said "Ramadan beautiful mom an opportunity to pray and pray, I feel like I am in Mecca". She smiled at her beautiful understanding of Ramadan and its impact, took off her prayer clothes and went out happy.
Even with a smile..!
On the doorstep of a shopping store, I saw a little girl carrying in her hands carefully wrapped gifts that she distributes to workers, she paused to understand what she was doing, she was waiting for them to pass while helping shoppers carry their things after buying and giving each of them a gift, I liked her idea, and I noticed the presence of her father in his car, watching her from afar with her older brother, who preceded her inside to distribute small white envelopes to the workers and a pink flower adorning it.
"Maybe we go a little overboard in Ramadan, we prepare full tables and a variety of foods, and we may overflow in several days, so every day, I prepare 5 dishes before breakfast and ask my son to deliver them to the security workers and the muezzin in our apartment complex," said my co-worker when I asked her how to instill the concept of charity in our children.
Oceans and travels, my friend, who lives in Australia, sent a small booklet, which she prepared for her children about Ramadan, containing a daily schedule of prayer, reading the Qur'an and fasting, then she increased charity as a daily act and attached coloring sheets with it. She asked me to distribute it to people I knew who had children her age, and I liked her simple idea.
Another friend said that her son was affected by the first Friday sermon of Ramadan, so he decided to allocate a part of his allowance as a daily charity to give to whoever he can, and he was not limited to money only, but he thought about giving charity with his time and effort as helping a classmate or participating in a charitable work, and when he finds nothing, the smile will be in the face of a Muslim who gave him charity for that day. His goal is to do at least one act with every sun that rises."
"News of the above"
After reading Surat Al-Kahf on the first Friday of Ramadan, a mother of 4 children told how her son started a dialogue about the last verse of the Holy Sura "Whoever hoped to meet his Lord, let him do a good deed and not associate anyone with the worship of his Lord." He said: So if you believe in God and do good deeds, I am sure of meeting God Almighty in the Hereafter. I mean, I will definitely enter heaven, and we will only receive this scholarship there. She paused for a moment before answering him, and thought about the meaning and found it clear, but she thought of a way to involve him in knowing the meanings, so she asked him to ask the question and look for the interpretation of the verses and learn more about the forms of good deeds intended here.
Her son did what she said and the talk went on and branched out into many topics and ideas that were mentioned in the Holy Surah. They ended their session contemplating what had happened, for she had never known that her rebellious son had ever thought of the majesty of God's encounter, and that he had searched for the whereabouts of Gog and Magog. Or he wondered how Al-Khidr knew all those things that he told our master Moses, peace be upon him..!
She was not interested in reading Surat Al-Kahf with her children before, and she may waste many Friday days without reading it because she is busy. Since that day, I have decided to mark that year, which has been a key to dialogue on important matters.
Perhaps Ramadan is an opportunity to review many of the stories that we missed to share with our children, a grant to reflect on the Qur'an, a step on the road to maintaining prayer, a free space to learn more about the stories of the first two, 30 days of windows open to reflection, understanding and reflection, and above all we need to be role models, not just trumpets for words that we memorized, chanted and forgot to apply in our daily lives.