Eid in New York, 2005 ~ Sister Iffat
Assalamualikum Wa Rahmahtullah Wa Barakahtuh,
In America, every year the beginning of Ramadan and the day of Eid always becomes confusing because there is always a BIG debate on what day Eid is. For many of us, it becomes very difficult because often we are not sharing the day together and moreover, we are not sure out of the debate, which day we should follow. Also, s ince Eid hasn't yet been approved as an official holiday in here, many don't get to celebrate Eid as joyfully because of obligatory job and/or going to school becomes the obstacle for the celebration, especially for the second generation, who hasn't seen Eid in predominantly Muslim countries where Eid is a national holiday and is celebrated hugely. So, for them it is a challenge to maintain Islamic holidays and traditions in a predominantly non-Muslim environment and the debate makes it harder for the children to understand the joy of Eid. Well this time, i t was indeed a wonderful Eid because the debate was not there. After so many years, once again, muslims in America celebrated Eid together .
The drama with the debate and the confusion was not there this time because "moon was sighted"....ahhhhhhh... that reminds of the days in Bangladesh. The "moon sighting" day is another joyful day: the preparation and excitement of Eid or Ramadan, seeing the "moon" and then greeting each other, the sharing of the excitemnt... ALL... this joy is beyond words. After I came here, I have never experienced that anymore. Ofcourse, the preparation, the excitement before the actual day still gives me that tingling joy. My Eid also started with sending Eid greetings via e-mail, phone and textmessages. But I really miss the day of "Moon sighting". It seems like a memory of a much distant past. Sighting the moon, reciting du'a and then taking steps to prepare for THE DAY... sadly, children in here do not get to experience that.
This Ramadan, too, went really fast for me. Usually in every Ramadan, I either invite people over for Iftar or go to someone else's house for Iftar... This Ramadan, none of that happened. It's true for so many other sisters, too. All of us were so busy with midterms and term papers. The due date for all of those just had to be during Ramadan and before we found any "time" to share our Ramadan together, it was Eid. Very sad. It i s a TRUE JOY when we share our Ramadan with others. This time, I didn't even get to break my fast in college with other sisters. I was able to do iftar there may be for two-three days only. However, I made effort to go to Taraweeh and dragged other sisters along as well. That felt wonderful.
Well, because of that crazy busy schedule, I didn't get to go for Eid shopping before Eid. My mother has been asking me to do that for a while, I just never found the time. Well, finally I did Eid shopping... want to know when?... after Eid day. Eid was on Thursday. Friday, my mother and I went for Jumu'ah and from there, we went shopping. I had taken off from work for Eid. This is probably the second time I am taking off from work for Eid. I should do it more often. I should really allow myself to celebrate. I didn't go to class on Thursday either and I always go to classes even on Eid. Anyway, since we went shopping after Eid day, I really didn't have much time to go to stores after stores to choose, I went to one store, bought stuffs and came out. That store was in a predominantly South-Asian community and they had Eid sale. :) I bought something for myself. But I found my true joy of Eid in something else. This time, I had bought Eid gifts (clothes) actually for every members of my family. And then, spent time with my family only; I didn't go anywhere. My brother lives out of state. My sister is married and lives out of state, too. Every one came together for Eid. So, I decided to have Eid with my family. I've heard people say that "often you understand the value of something when it is no longer with you or near you". That's exactly how I feel. In every Eid (when my family was together), I have always been busy with spending time with other sisters but now when my whole family is no longer together I miss them so much. Now, there is nothing more joyful to me than spending time with family. My father passed away two years ago(May Allah(swt) grant him Jannah, Ameen). We also went to visit my Father's grave. It truly was a Eid with family. However, I did make efforts to spend Eid with other sisters but somehow that didn't work. Well, we made plans for later though. My brother also connected Bangla TV and there was Eid Special programs that really created the Eid atmosphere at home.
Even at work, "Eid" was different this time. I work with all non-muslims. This year, one of my staffs is a Muslim; she, too, is from Bangladesh. I have always told my non-muslim co-workers about Ramadan and EId. Often I share it with my students, too (I teach in an after school). Telling them about it and actually sharing Eid and Ramadan with someone is really different. After all these years, at my workplace, I had someone to share Eid and Ramadan with. It felt different, wonderfully different.
I even put Mehendi on my hands on Friday (after Eid day). On Saturday, when a couple of guests came, I put Mehendi on two girls. They really liked it. It is such a joyl to SHARE joy. Well, it seems like my "Eid" happened after the actual day of "Eid" but it sure was one great Eid. Here in America, we really try to create the Eid atmosphere. Ofcourse, going to Eid Jamah and then, greeting "Eid mubarak" to each other marks the day as the beginning of a wonderful day. But then, while travelling from Masjid to home and someitmes taking exams on the Eid day does not really differ the day from any other day. Alhumdulillah, we(Muslims) here in America, truly TRY to celebrate.
For so many years, it has bothered me to take exams on Eid day... sometimes when I wanted to take off, I saw my friends going for the exam, so I ended up taking the exam instead of requesting the teacher to be excused for that day and vice versa. Well, o ne of the highlights of this Eid was: Last year, in one of sociology classes we had to do a presentation... we were asked to present something from Asian cultures... I chose "Celebration of Eid for South Asians in America".... my presentation was great, Alhumdulillah... I presented personal experiences of Eid here and in Bangladesh... showed the comparison.... mainly what I presented was that Eid is not fully celebrated here (explained the reasons as well). Many students including the professor said that they did not know what Eid was... moreover, they never realized that Eid is such a BIG day for us. So the professor told me that if she gets to know when Eid is she will excuse all her Muslim students to celebrate the day. Before this Eid, I e-mailed that professor to let her know that Eid was coming and she said she will announce it in all her classes and excuse her Muslims students to celebrate. I was so happy to hear that... change starts small, you know. I said to myself that my presentation served a purpose, it was worth the hard work. My niece, too, was excused from her first grade class.
But after all, Eid didn't seem complete to me. I thought of the earthquake in Pakistan and thought of what Eid is for them now. I didn't know how to comfort myself. Then I said to myself, how could I still think of ME. I know there are ways I can extent helping hands for THEM. I searched online to see where I can send clothes and money for them. I felt so guilty of having too many clothes and still buying new clothes. I couldn't put my Eid clothes on until I put some clothes away for an organization that is sending those to Pakistan.
Eid Al-Fitr is the celebration that comes at the end of Ramadan as a matter of thanks and gratitude to Allah(swt) for all the good things we have received with and to share with everyone. I am truly thankful to Allah(swt) for the countless blessings that He bestowed upon me and for a wonderful Eid this year that I got to fully celebrate with FAMILY.
Thanks for reading.
Ma Salamah,
Iffat (your sister in Islam)
In America, every year the beginning of Ramadan and the day of Eid always becomes confusing because there is always a BIG debate on what day Eid is. For many of us, it becomes very difficult because often we are not sharing the day together and moreover, we are not sure out of the debate, which day we should follow. Also, s ince Eid hasn't yet been approved as an official holiday in here, many don't get to celebrate Eid as joyfully because of obligatory job and/or going to school becomes the obstacle for the celebration, especially for the second generation, who hasn't seen Eid in predominantly Muslim countries where Eid is a national holiday and is celebrated hugely. So, for them it is a challenge to maintain Islamic holidays and traditions in a predominantly non-Muslim environment and the debate makes it harder for the children to understand the joy of Eid. Well this time, i t was indeed a wonderful Eid because the debate was not there. After so many years, once again, muslims in America celebrated Eid together .
The drama with the debate and the confusion was not there this time because "moon was sighted"....ahhhhhhh... that reminds of the days in Bangladesh. The "moon sighting" day is another joyful day: the preparation and excitement of Eid or Ramadan, seeing the "moon" and then greeting each other, the sharing of the excitemnt... ALL... this joy is beyond words. After I came here, I have never experienced that anymore. Ofcourse, the preparation, the excitement before the actual day still gives me that tingling joy. My Eid also started with sending Eid greetings via e-mail, phone and textmessages. But I really miss the day of "Moon sighting". It seems like a memory of a much distant past. Sighting the moon, reciting du'a and then taking steps to prepare for THE DAY... sadly, children in here do not get to experience that.
This Ramadan, too, went really fast for me. Usually in every Ramadan, I either invite people over for Iftar or go to someone else's house for Iftar... This Ramadan, none of that happened. It's true for so many other sisters, too. All of us were so busy with midterms and term papers. The due date for all of those just had to be during Ramadan and before we found any "time" to share our Ramadan together, it was Eid. Very sad. It i s a TRUE JOY when we share our Ramadan with others. This time, I didn't even get to break my fast in college with other sisters. I was able to do iftar there may be for two-three days only. However, I made effort to go to Taraweeh and dragged other sisters along as well. That felt wonderful.
Well, because of that crazy busy schedule, I didn't get to go for Eid shopping before Eid. My mother has been asking me to do that for a while, I just never found the time. Well, finally I did Eid shopping... want to know when?... after Eid day. Eid was on Thursday. Friday, my mother and I went for Jumu'ah and from there, we went shopping. I had taken off from work for Eid. This is probably the second time I am taking off from work for Eid. I should do it more often. I should really allow myself to celebrate. I didn't go to class on Thursday either and I always go to classes even on Eid. Anyway, since we went shopping after Eid day, I really didn't have much time to go to stores after stores to choose, I went to one store, bought stuffs and came out. That store was in a predominantly South-Asian community and they had Eid sale. :) I bought something for myself. But I found my true joy of Eid in something else. This time, I had bought Eid gifts (clothes) actually for every members of my family. And then, spent time with my family only; I didn't go anywhere. My brother lives out of state. My sister is married and lives out of state, too. Every one came together for Eid. So, I decided to have Eid with my family. I've heard people say that "often you understand the value of something when it is no longer with you or near you". That's exactly how I feel. In every Eid (when my family was together), I have always been busy with spending time with other sisters but now when my whole family is no longer together I miss them so much. Now, there is nothing more joyful to me than spending time with family. My father passed away two years ago(May Allah(swt) grant him Jannah, Ameen). We also went to visit my Father's grave. It truly was a Eid with family. However, I did make efforts to spend Eid with other sisters but somehow that didn't work. Well, we made plans for later though. My brother also connected Bangla TV and there was Eid Special programs that really created the Eid atmosphere at home.
Even at work, "Eid" was different this time. I work with all non-muslims. This year, one of my staffs is a Muslim; she, too, is from Bangladesh. I have always told my non-muslim co-workers about Ramadan and EId. Often I share it with my students, too (I teach in an after school). Telling them about it and actually sharing Eid and Ramadan with someone is really different. After all these years, at my workplace, I had someone to share Eid and Ramadan with. It felt different, wonderfully different.
I even put Mehendi on my hands on Friday (after Eid day). On Saturday, when a couple of guests came, I put Mehendi on two girls. They really liked it. It is such a joyl to SHARE joy. Well, it seems like my "Eid" happened after the actual day of "Eid" but it sure was one great Eid. Here in America, we really try to create the Eid atmosphere. Ofcourse, going to Eid Jamah and then, greeting "Eid mubarak" to each other marks the day as the beginning of a wonderful day. But then, while travelling from Masjid to home and someitmes taking exams on the Eid day does not really differ the day from any other day. Alhumdulillah, we(Muslims) here in America, truly TRY to celebrate.
For so many years, it has bothered me to take exams on Eid day... sometimes when I wanted to take off, I saw my friends going for the exam, so I ended up taking the exam instead of requesting the teacher to be excused for that day and vice versa. Well, o ne of the highlights of this Eid was: Last year, in one of sociology classes we had to do a presentation... we were asked to present something from Asian cultures... I chose "Celebration of Eid for South Asians in America".... my presentation was great, Alhumdulillah... I presented personal experiences of Eid here and in Bangladesh... showed the comparison.... mainly what I presented was that Eid is not fully celebrated here (explained the reasons as well). Many students including the professor said that they did not know what Eid was... moreover, they never realized that Eid is such a BIG day for us. So the professor told me that if she gets to know when Eid is she will excuse all her Muslim students to celebrate the day. Before this Eid, I e-mailed that professor to let her know that Eid was coming and she said she will announce it in all her classes and excuse her Muslims students to celebrate. I was so happy to hear that... change starts small, you know. I said to myself that my presentation served a purpose, it was worth the hard work. My niece, too, was excused from her first grade class.
But after all, Eid didn't seem complete to me. I thought of the earthquake in Pakistan and thought of what Eid is for them now. I didn't know how to comfort myself. Then I said to myself, how could I still think of ME. I know there are ways I can extent helping hands for THEM. I searched online to see where I can send clothes and money for them. I felt so guilty of having too many clothes and still buying new clothes. I couldn't put my Eid clothes on until I put some clothes away for an organization that is sending those to Pakistan.
Eid Al-Fitr is the celebration that comes at the end of Ramadan as a matter of thanks and gratitude to Allah(swt) for all the good things we have received with and to share with everyone. I am truly thankful to Allah(swt) for the countless blessings that He bestowed upon me and for a wonderful Eid this year that I got to fully celebrate with FAMILY.
Thanks for reading.
Ma Salamah,
Iffat (your sister in Islam)
posted by Shaz at 2:37 PM
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