Assalammualaikum my dear friends!!!
I'm in a happy, jolly good mood now..
Why?
Cos tomorrow is the first day of fasting month...!
But why did i put the title of this post in BM?
Simply because "Yay yay! Tomorrow is the time to fast!" sounds awkward to me, and it doesnt bring the joy and excitement i want it to.
Why is fasting month or specifically, this yea r's fasting month overjoyed me?
I can't answer that myself.
Perhaps i have a lot of dopamine circulating in me.
And also, perhaps it's because this is the first time i'm gonna fast in IMU, and i can't wait to see how it goes.
And maybe I am a little bit more grown up this year that I started to appreciate the benefit of Ramadhan, the holy month.
So here, i'd like to tell a few stories abt the Ramadhans i went thru. =)
When I was born
Feeling weird? How can i tell a story that happened when i was born?
Well, my mum told me this story (as most of u will probably hv brilliantly guessed).
I was born on the 3rd of Ramadhan.
And my father was a tailor, in our small house in Kg Pasir, Ulu Klang abt 19 yrs back.
I remembered he had 3 sewing machines when i was abt 10; I'm not sure how many he had when I was born.
When I was still a less-than-a-month baby, or a neonate as medical field puts it, I was always shocked.
Not by electricity, but by noises.
Whenever my father pressed the pedal on his sewing machine, it will produce a very loud sound. Perhaps it wasnt loud enough for an adult, but it was certainly enough to scare me off and woke me up.
And i'll start crying. I'll be very shocked and my mother needed to calm me down.
And since we were staying in a small, little peaceful village, the kids always play firecrackers during the fasting season (doesn't that sound familiar? Kids always like to play firecrackers"
And they always play in front of my house.
Whenever any of the firecrackers explode, i'll get shocked and scared and woke up and started crying again.
And so my mother needed to soothe me down again.
And that happened every night.
That is why (my mother said), i'm easily shocked @ frightened.
I jumped out of my skin easily.
My mother is still jokingly blaming my father for it.
During my pre-school years
My family have this one yearly tradition. We wil go to our relative's hse at least once every Ramadhan to break fast with them.
We usually drove to Kuantan, Pahang for that purpose but this year, due to some internal affairs, we might not be able to make it.
But anyway, one day during my pre-school years, my mother decided to go to my grand uncle's hse to break fast. And of course, we'll bring some food from home and my mother cooked crab at that time. I dont know what the menu is called but my hse will simply address the dish as "cook crab" or "masak ketam" in Bahasa.
And crab is one of my favourite food. And so, on that day i excitedly fast.
Well, my mother had always been lenient to me. When i was small, i always fast half day.
Rarely do i get to fast one whole day. But i do now, of course!
So on the day my mother cooked crab that year, i fasted one whole day.
My grand uncle's hse wasnt far from our little hse in the small village.
So at around 5pm, we were still at home.
And my mother asked me to buy something at the grocery shop while she cook.
My mother told me that ppl who do not fast can't break fast, and that will mean that that person cannot eat the breaking fast dishes.
While at the grocery store, I bought myself an ice-cream.
And on my way back, i ate the ice cream and when i was passed thru some houses along the way, with their residents hanging out in front of their houses, the residents looked at me weirdly (i think or so i imagined).
I didnt care, i continued to lick my ice-cream until it suddenly strucked me: i was fasting!!!
And i'm not supposed to eat that ice cream!
But by that time, the ice cream finished. I dropped the ice cream stick and ran back home, panickly.
I rushed to my mum and apologised and pleaded and begged to her so that i can still eat the crab. I told her that i forgot i was fasting and i finished one ice cream on the way back from the grocery store.
I was very very panicked and sad and angry because i couldn't eat the crab now, bcause i didnt fast.
But my mother laughed and said Allah will forgive me.
I was still a kid, and i forgot that i was fasting. It's not like i purposedly ate the ice cream.
And so she said my fast was still valid. I was still considered "the one who fast" and was still entitled for the crab.
It relieved me, but i was still embarrased. I kept repeating to my mother that all the uncles and aunts in front of their hse just now will think that i am a girl who do not fast. I was so sure that all the uncles and aunts will laugh at me.
But come to think of it again now, if i see a 4, 5 year old Muslim girl eating in front of me in the fasting month, i will never laugh at them. Bcause it's totally normal.
And so, before we reached my grand uncle's hse, i made my mother swore not to tell them that i accidentally finished an ice cream. Hahaha...
And i dont think she did, bcos if she really did, i think i'll definitely remember their laughter.
One day during my lower secondary school years
Another incident was when i was in my lower secondary.
I forgot which year was it exactly but at that time, my mother was still a teacher in my school.
It was a school holiday but my mother needed to go to school to finish off her work (she's such a workaholic).
And so i followed her to school.
My mother was the library teacher and so, she had her desk in the office in the library.
She left me in her office alone while she went down to the school admin office.
In her office, there was one big tin of biscuits.
The biscuits are for her fellow student librarians who needed to stay back for their duty.
If the student is a morning session stdnt, he/she will hv to stay during the evening and vice versa.
So i took the biscuits and ate them.
I ate until my mother came back to her office and upon seeing me eating the biscuit, she asked surprisedly, "Aren't u fasting?"
I was blurr and i said, "What?"
And then she said, "Dear, this is the fasting month. Remember?"
And i choked when she said that.
I ran out of her office, went to the corridor and spitted out every single biscuits left in my mouth at that time.
And i felt awful.
How could i forget i was fasting??
And i ate a lot of biscuits already when she was away.
But then i told myself, "Okay, let's assume the biscuits i ate are my luck. It's not like i purposely eat it".
And so, i continued to fast.
Today
Today, I am almost 20.
And i really hope any kind of those incidents wont occur again to me this time.
Pray for me, and i'll pray for u guys too.
Haha...
So again, my best wishes for all Muslims starting to fast tomorrow....
Salam Ramadhan!
Assalammualaikum...!
-AkMaR-
http://akmarr90.blogspot.com
I'm in a happy, jolly good mood now..
Why?
Cos tomorrow is the first day of fasting month...!
But why did i put the title of this post in BM?
Simply because "Yay yay! Tomorrow is the time to fast!" sounds awkward to me, and it doesnt bring the joy and excitement i want it to.
Why is fasting month or specifically, this yea r's fasting month overjoyed me?
I can't answer that myself.
Perhaps i have a lot of dopamine circulating in me.
And also, perhaps it's because this is the first time i'm gonna fast in IMU, and i can't wait to see how it goes.
And maybe I am a little bit more grown up this year that I started to appreciate the benefit of Ramadhan, the holy month.
So here, i'd like to tell a few stories abt the Ramadhans i went thru. =)
When I was born
Feeling weird? How can i tell a story that happened when i was born?
Well, my mum told me this story (as most of u will probably hv brilliantly guessed).
I was born on the 3rd of Ramadhan.
And my father was a tailor, in our small house in Kg Pasir, Ulu Klang abt 19 yrs back.
I remembered he had 3 sewing machines when i was abt 10; I'm not sure how many he had when I was born.
When I was still a less-than-a-month baby, or a neonate as medical field puts it, I was always shocked.
Not by electricity, but by noises.
Whenever my father pressed the pedal on his sewing machine, it will produce a very loud sound. Perhaps it wasnt loud enough for an adult, but it was certainly enough to scare me off and woke me up.
And i'll start crying. I'll be very shocked and my mother needed to calm me down.
And since we were staying in a small, little peaceful village, the kids always play firecrackers during the fasting season (doesn't that sound familiar? Kids always like to play firecrackers"
And they always play in front of my house.
Whenever any of the firecrackers explode, i'll get shocked and scared and woke up and started crying again.
And so my mother needed to soothe me down again.
And that happened every night.
That is why (my mother said), i'm easily shocked @ frightened.
I jumped out of my skin easily.
My mother is still jokingly blaming my father for it.
During my pre-school years
My family have this one yearly tradition. We wil go to our relative's hse at least once every Ramadhan to break fast with them.
We usually drove to Kuantan, Pahang for that purpose but this year, due to some internal affairs, we might not be able to make it.
But anyway, one day during my pre-school years, my mother decided to go to my grand uncle's hse to break fast. And of course, we'll bring some food from home and my mother cooked crab at that time. I dont know what the menu is called but my hse will simply address the dish as "cook crab" or "masak ketam" in Bahasa.
And crab is one of my favourite food. And so, on that day i excitedly fast.
Well, my mother had always been lenient to me. When i was small, i always fast half day.
Rarely do i get to fast one whole day. But i do now, of course!
So on the day my mother cooked crab that year, i fasted one whole day.
My grand uncle's hse wasnt far from our little hse in the small village.
So at around 5pm, we were still at home.
And my mother asked me to buy something at the grocery shop while she cook.
My mother told me that ppl who do not fast can't break fast, and that will mean that that person cannot eat the breaking fast dishes.
While at the grocery store, I bought myself an ice-cream.
And on my way back, i ate the ice cream and when i was passed thru some houses along the way, with their residents hanging out in front of their houses, the residents looked at me weirdly (i think or so i imagined).
I didnt care, i continued to lick my ice-cream until it suddenly strucked me: i was fasting!!!
And i'm not supposed to eat that ice cream!
But by that time, the ice cream finished. I dropped the ice cream stick and ran back home, panickly.
I rushed to my mum and apologised and pleaded and begged to her so that i can still eat the crab. I told her that i forgot i was fasting and i finished one ice cream on the way back from the grocery store.
I was very very panicked and sad and angry because i couldn't eat the crab now, bcause i didnt fast.
But my mother laughed and said Allah will forgive me.
I was still a kid, and i forgot that i was fasting. It's not like i purposedly ate the ice cream.
And so she said my fast was still valid. I was still considered "the one who fast" and was still entitled for the crab.
It relieved me, but i was still embarrased. I kept repeating to my mother that all the uncles and aunts in front of their hse just now will think that i am a girl who do not fast. I was so sure that all the uncles and aunts will laugh at me.
But come to think of it again now, if i see a 4, 5 year old Muslim girl eating in front of me in the fasting month, i will never laugh at them. Bcause it's totally normal.
And so, before we reached my grand uncle's hse, i made my mother swore not to tell them that i accidentally finished an ice cream. Hahaha...
And i dont think she did, bcos if she really did, i think i'll definitely remember their laughter.
One day during my lower secondary school years
Another incident was when i was in my lower secondary.
I forgot which year was it exactly but at that time, my mother was still a teacher in my school.
It was a school holiday but my mother needed to go to school to finish off her work (she's such a workaholic).
And so i followed her to school.
My mother was the library teacher and so, she had her desk in the office in the library.
She left me in her office alone while she went down to the school admin office.
In her office, there was one big tin of biscuits.
The biscuits are for her fellow student librarians who needed to stay back for their duty.
If the student is a morning session stdnt, he/she will hv to stay during the evening and vice versa.
So i took the biscuits and ate them.
I ate until my mother came back to her office and upon seeing me eating the biscuit, she asked surprisedly, "Aren't u fasting?"
I was blurr and i said, "What?"
And then she said, "Dear, this is the fasting month. Remember?"
And i choked when she said that.
I ran out of her office, went to the corridor and spitted out every single biscuits left in my mouth at that time.
And i felt awful.
How could i forget i was fasting??
And i ate a lot of biscuits already when she was away.
But then i told myself, "Okay, let's assume the biscuits i ate are my luck. It's not like i purposely eat it".
And so, i continued to fast.
Today
Today, I am almost 20.
And i really hope any kind of those incidents wont occur again to me this time.
Pray for me, and i'll pray for u guys too.
Haha...
So again, my best wishes for all Muslims starting to fast tomorrow....
Salam Ramadhan!
Assalammualaikum...!
-AkMaR-
http://akmarr90.blogspot.com
When driving to Scotland one day (as part of my job at the time), I bought kerepek kentang at the motorway service centre, and at about 110 Km/h, while busily eating them, almost finished the packet!, I realised I was supposed to be fasting!!!
ReplyDeleteAaaaagh!!!!!
But my mouth was full of crisps! I panicked! What should I do? I really didn't know. I was still a pretty new Muslim. I'd heard somewhere to waste food was a sin (dunno now if that is actually true), and it would have been virtually impossible to spit out all the crips - some of which were stuck on my teeth etc.
So after about 30 seconds of horrible indecision, I concluded the best thing was to not eat any more (obviously) but to swallow the kerepek already in my mouth, doing all I could to get rid of what was in my mouth to the best of my ability, and if any 'turned up' later I should spit it out.
Just in case I made the wrong decision, I decided to atone for any possible bad choice by choosing the longest day of the year to fast - usually around 21st June, fajar about 3:45am!! magrib about 8:20pm. The hours for fasting were very long but alhamdulillah, Allah made it very easy for me. One things for sure Allah SWT knows my intention and sincerity more than myself!
Now however, I am of the opinion that I should always spit it out as much as possible.
Quite a few ppl forget I would guess, perhaps u're mum and dad have an instance or two they could tell.
I'm just sharing experiences, and I'm certainly not trying to normalise' errors bu making/'helping' people become unconcerned or complacent about fasting! We should never fall into complacency about fasting.
Allah is Most Forgiving, Most Wise.
I'll make doah 4 u.