Kopitiam – An Insider's Brew

Ramadan. Sounds like a foreign name, doesn’t it, a name of a friend perhaps? After all, there are some people called Ramadan, no?

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. Muslims refrain from eating, drinking, sexual conduct and indulging in anything that is ill-natured from dawn to dusk during Ramadan.

How often have I been posed those questions? During my childhood days, I used to protest to my mum, arguing that “if you don’t drink, you’ll die!”

Photo caption: Students at Lehigh University celebrating Iftar.

My mum’s religious explanation of how fasting in Ramadan is the fourth tenet in the Islamic pillars of faith, seemed less attractive than the joyous festivity called Eid or Hari Raya Puasa that comes after Ramadan. To children, Eid brings the notion of new clothes, delicious food and the much anticipated duit raya (money placed inside small green envelopes and given as gifts).

In my teenage years, Ramadan also served as a time where I could practice a bit of weight management. Tsk tsk tsk…. (*blush) I was just being the superficial teen who was more concerned about being slim and popular just like those wafer thin models in magazines or TV.

Of course maturity sets in and my conviction for continuing to puasa (fast) even in the thick of winter in the Himalayan mountains is grounded on a melange of religious, medical and philosophical reasons. Although fasting is widely believed to be beneficial to one’s health, it is mainly a method of self-purification and self-restraint. Removing oneself from worldly comforts (albeit for a month), one focuses on his or her purpose in life by constantly being aware of the presence of God.

The sick, the elderly, travellers on a journey and women who are menstruating, pregnant or nursing are allowed to break the fast and make up an equal number of days later in the year if they are healthy and able. Children start to fast upon puberty although many start earlier.

Malay kids start with puasa yok yok – sort of a beginner’s guide to fasting where one would fast for a few hours a day (“wake up, open the rice pot!”). My mum used to tell me that it was alright to break my fast at sometimes 10 am and assured the then 7 year old me that, with time and practice, I would be able to fast a full day.

So in the Ramadan Routine, you’d start with:

Sahur: The meal consumed early in the morning before sunrise. Muslims are encouraged to take the sahur meal so that we get sufficient energy to last the day.

Sawm: Fasting

Iftar: The evening meal at break fast when the sun sets.

Terawih: The special nightly prayers one performs.

Ramadan. A time when Muslims learn the value of patience, modesty and spirituality through abstinence and performing of good deeds. A time to ask forgiveness for past wrongdoings, pray for guidance and assistance in refraining from everyday evils. A time for self-reflection.

Photo caption: Ramadan Bazaar in Whitehall, Pennsylvania.

You, too, can be part of the Ramadan celebration. Join the queue at the mosque to get your free and delicious Bubur Masjid (mosque’s porridge). Organise a simple Iftar with your Muslim friends (it’s not the spread but the company that counts!). Savour the smell and soak in the atmosphere at the Ramadan Bazaar in Geylang.* And if you really want, you could try fasting or start with a bit of puasa yok yok – just to experience what your Muslim friends go through during Ramadan.

Many tourists equate Ramadan with the Ramadan Bazaar (stalls selling arrays of mouth-watering food). I too was ‘guilty’ of eagerly trooping down to the Ramadan Bazaar in New York City… However, Ramadan is more than just eating after fasting the whole day. It is a time of sharing. Food tastes better when shared. Iftar is more fun when one eats with others. A small donation to the poor gives a priceless warm glow in the heart.

You, too, can be part of the Ramadan celebration. Join the queue at the mosque to get your free and delicious Bubur Masjid (mosque’s porridge). Organise a simple Iftar with your Muslim friends (it’s not the spread but the company that counts!). Savour the smell and soak in the atmosphere at the Ramadan Bazaar in Geylang.* And if you really want, you could try fasting or start with a bit of puasa yok yok – just to experience what your Muslim friends go through during Ramadan.

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