Posts tagged with "Ramadan"

Zakat Al-Fitr زكاة الفطر

Posted by Fisal No Comments
Aug 22 2011

     Zakat Al-Fitr زكاة الفطر or Sadaqat Al-fitr صدقة الفطر is a charity given to the poor at the end of the fasting in the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. The word Fitr فطر means the same as Iftaar إفطار (= breaking a fast) and Futoor فطور (= breakfast). The root verb for all these nouns is أفطرَ /af’tara/ = to break one’s fast or to have breakfast. It is the climax of the good deeds of Ramadan. After one feels and shares the hunger feeling of the poor, one should do something towards it, so he gives out that amount of charity to help the needy feel happy at the feast day which follows Ramadan.

      Zakat Al-Fitr is a duty which is Wajib واجب (required) of every Muslim, whether male or female, minor (even the newly-born) or adult, as long as he/she has the means to do so. This Sadaqah or Zakah is required only if the family has enough food for the night and day of the feast day. The breadwinner عائل of the family or the head of the household may pay the amount for the other members. This Zakah also, is only Wajib for a particular period of time. If one misses the time period without a good reason, then he can not make it up. If given after the time period, it is not considered Zakah. This form of Zakah becomes obligatory from the sunset غروب الشمس of the last day of Ramadan (fasting) and remains obligatory until the beginning of the E’id prayer (shortly after the sunrise شروق الشمس of the following day). However, it can be paid two or three days before the E’id.    

     The purpose of Zakat Al-Fitr is to provide the poor with a means of celebrating the festival of breaking the fast (E’id Al-Fitr عيد الفطر) along with the rest of the Muslims. It is an act of solidarity and thankfulness to Allah for having enabled the Muslim to observe the obligatory fasting of the holy month. Its main purpose is to purify those who fast from any indecent act or speech and to help the poor and the needy.

     The amount of this kind of Zakah is the same for everyone regardless of their different income brackets. The minimum amount is one Saa’ صاع  (four double handfuls) of food (grain or dried fruit) for each member of the family. According to the Muslims majority, the Saa’ is approximately between 2.6 kg to 3 kg. Also, one can pay Zakat Al-Fitr as money equivalent to that amount.

      Each Muslim is required to calculate يحسب how much Zakah or charity is due from himself and his dependants and go into the community المجتمع in order to find those who deserve such charity. Thus, Zakat Al-Fitr plays an important role in the development of the bonds الروابط inside the community. The rich are obliged to come into direct contact اتصال with the poor, and the poor are put in direct contact with the extremely poor. This contact between the various levels of society helps to build real bonds of brotherhood الأخوّة and love within the Islamic community and to encourage generosity and sympathy to and with those who do not have.  

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Peace  سلام / Salam/ 

Ramadan and Fasting رمضان و الصوم

Posted by Fisal 2 Comments
Aug 8 2011

         Today is the eighth day of the holy month of Ramadan which is the ninth month of the Islamic (lunar) calendar. For all Muslims all over the world, Ramadan is the special month when they fast. Fasting الصوم /As’sawm/ is the fourth of the five pillar of Islam. It is a duty for all Muslims who are sane, capable and pubescent.

      In the terminology of the Islamic law, sawm (fasting) means to abstain from eating, drinking (including water), smoking and any sexual relations from dawn (Fajr الفجر ) until sunset (maghrib المغرب ) during the whole month of Ramadan. That is on the physical level. On the moral and behavioral level, one must abstain from lying, malicious gossip and trivial nonsense.

       Sawm or fasting is essentially and attempt to seek nearness to Allah الله  and to increase one’s piety (Taqwa  التقوى ). One of the remote aims of fasting is to sympathize with those less fortunate ones who don’t always have food and drink readily available. Also, one must avoid cursing and thinking evil thoughts. Fasting is also viewed as a means of controlling one’s desires; (of hunger, thirst, sexuality, anger) and focusing more on devoting oneself to Allah (God). Sawm also carries a significant spiritual meaning. It teaches us the principle of Love الحُب . When one observes fasting, it is done out of deep love of Allah and to learn self-restraint. 

 

        Those who are sick, elderly or on a journey, and women who are menstruating, pregnant or nursing are permitted to break the fast, but must make up an equal number of days later in the year and before the next Ramadan. If physically unable to do so, they must feed a needy person for each day missed.

      Although fasting is beneficial to health, it is regarded principally as a method of self-purification تطهير النفس . By cutting oneself off from worldly pleasures and comforts, even for a short time, the fasting person gains true sympathy for those who go hungry regularly, and achieves growth in his spiritual life, learning discipline, self-restraint, patience and flexibility.

      In addition to the fast proper, one is encouraged to read the entire Qura’an. Also, Special prayers called Taraweeh التراويح  are held in the mosque or at home every night of the month. During these prayers (Taraweeh) the whole Qura’an is completed all over the month. The prayers are done in remembrance of the fact that the revelation of  the Qura’an to Prophet Muhammad was begun during Ramadan. 

 

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Peace  سلام  /Salam/

Eid Al-Fitr

Posted by aziza No Comments
Sep 19 2009

Today is the last day of the month of Ramadan (رمضان), the best and most important month for Muslims. At the end of the holy month of fasting (الصوم) and worship (العبادة), Muslims have a special feast called (عيد الفطر). It marks the end of Ramadan and lasts for 3 days. It starts on the first day of Shawwal (شوال), and lasts until day 3.

The Eid is celebrated in many ways. It has special ceremonies, most importantly the Eid prayer (صلاة العيد) which is a special prayer on the morning of the first day of the feast. It includes a religious speech that usually deals with the merits of the month of Ramadan and the joy of the feast. This prayer ends in special loud prayer to praise God called (تكبيرة العيد), shown in the link below.

Another special tradition for the feast is to give money and food to the poor (زكاة العيد). This must be given before the end of the first day of the feast to make sure that everyone share and enjoy the feast.

The feast has social traditions, as family members visit each other and exchange presents and children are given money (العيدية) to buy presents of their choice. Young people enjoy this occasion very much. Most young people get new clothes for the feast, and they wear them on the first day. They go out together and enjoy themselves. Cinemas show new movies and television stations broadcast special programs.

As for food, mothers bake all sorts of lovely biscuits and cookies (كعك العيد). There is nothing like mother’s home-made biscuits with warm tea for breakfast on the first day of the feast. My mother has baked 3 varieties for me this year, and they are absolutely delicious! I can’t wait for tomorrow morning!

كل عام وانتم بخير!

Ramadan habits

Posted by aziza 5 Comments
Aug 23 2009

Today is the second of Ramadan in the Hijri year 1430. Nabeel kindly commented on my previous post and gave a more accurate definition for fasting as “Fasting means willing abstention from eating, drinking and satisfaction of certain demands of the flesh, from predawn to sunset.”

 In fact, this alerted me that I mentioned briefly that Ramadan is a very spiritual time of the year without explaining in which ways. In Ramadan, Muslims should not only give up food and drink, but also give up bad habits and conducts, e.g. telling lies, making jokes at others, gossip, etc. People are ordered to give up any act that might harm others no matter how small. Of course people should do that all year round, but in Ramadan people tend to be more careful about what they say and do, and they tend to pay more attention to worshipping and be more obedient to God’s orders.

People celebrate Ramadan and enjoy it. If you live in an Arab country, you will find a lot of manifestations of these celebrations, often people decorate the mosques with lights, and also decorate their homes and streets. Parents usually buy lanterns for their kids called (فانوس), which are only used in Ramadan. In the past, when I was a kid, we used to put a small candle inside it, but now they all come with a small lamp. We visited relatives and friends and sang special songs for Ramadan, and we used to get a lot of money and candy during these visits. Nowadays, most lanterns come a small microphone that does the singing as well!

lantern

Ramadan has its own special foods like (خشاف) which is made up of dried fruits like dates, apricots, prunes, raisins, etc.  soaked with water and milk, and a lot of special patries and sweets like baklava (بقلاوة) , konafa (كنافة) and katayef (قطايف). I will put pictures of them below. Each country has its own special Ramadan foods.

 

Ramadan pastries

 Ramadan has some very special things, like (مدفع الإفطار) which is a traditional cannon that makes a loud noise at sunset to alert people to the time to break their fast. It is usually shown on television

 

cannon

Ramadan

Posted by aziza 2 Comments
Aug 18 2009

Muslims around the world, including me, are waiting for the month of Ramadan (رمضان) now. It is the month of fasting and worship, and it is a very spiritual time for all Muslims. Fasting (الصوم) involves not eating or drinking anything from dawn to sunset. This may seem hard, but it is not that difficult if you are used to it. There is also a very late meal we have shortly before dawn or very late at night called (السحور) which helps us cope with fasting the following day. Children usually practice fasting gradually until noon at first, and then year by year they learn to fast all day long.

Ramadan is also a good time to strengthen family ties, as you find many families making a point of getting together at the time of breaking the fast (الإفطار). Even extended families get together for Iftar. I remember that we used to invite all my uncles and get invited at their homes for Iftar. It is also a very good time for the rich to help the poor, as we usually find what is called (موائد الرحمن) literally “God’s buffets” which are meals that rich people prepare especially for the poor, and everyone can eat there.

Ramadan is also time of worship and reading the Qur’an. Many people make a point of reading the whole Qur’an during the month of Ramadan. People tend to pray more and go to the mosque more often than usual. Yet, Ramadan has its special entertainment as well. Television usually shows all sorts of special programs and soaps to keep people entertained all day and all night long. In addition, although Ramadan is the month of fasting, people tend to consume more food than any other time of the year, especially sweets. Ramadan special foods may merit a special post.

There is a special prayer that we say at this time of the year when we wait for Ramadan (اللهم بلّغنا رمضان) which means “God, help us reach Ramadan.”

اللهم بلّغنا رمضان

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