Ramadhan Mubarak

Tomorrow marks the 1st day of Ramadhan 1426 Hijrah. Tonight, Muslims in Singapore will commence our tarawih prayers. How fast time flies. This year will be the 2nd year, we fast without my father. Only 3 Ramadhan back, we had our iftar together. None of us knew that Ramadhan 1424 would be his last Ramadhan with us. It is times like this that memories start flooding back. We have to move on with life but the sense of something is missing still prevails.

I have many hopes for this Ramadhan. Like most Muslims here, I hope that my Ramadhan this year will be better than the previous ones. I hope that my family can perform the tarawih prayers more frequently together. I hope that I will have the discipline to read the Quran every day - at least 10 verses. I hope to instill in my children the lessons that we can learn from Ramadhan.

It is indeed heartwarming to sense the excitement in my children as they become aware that Ramadhan is approaching. My children are NOT forced to fast - but I encouraged them to try and experience Ramadhan the way adults do. I believe that in order to educate our children on the ways of Islam, the teaching of Ramadhan has to be taught way before Ramadhan comes. I am glad my children know that Ramadhan means waking up early for Sahur, breaking fast at Maghrib and performing solat tarawih. I am glad they know that fasting means feeling hungry and thirsty. Everyone who fast will definitely feel hungry and thirsty.

I do tell them that they are not required to fast the whole day and they can have access to food any time they want. And it is usually me who underestimate the willpower of my children. So I find it amazing that my children, at the age of 4 have the willpower to fast the whole day. When I was young, I never could fast the whole day. I only started to fast the whole day maybe a year or two before I reached puberty.

Some people may say that to train a child to fast is akin to child abuse. I agree with this only if there was coercion. If the child was threatened and punished for not fasting - then yes, it could be considered child abuse. But if the child was already taught about Ramadhan and the child want to do it on her own, I'd say Alhamdullilah.

Fasting is one of the pillars of faith in Islam. Just like Solat, we, parents are required to teach our children to start praying before they reached puberty so that the act of solat becomes a part of their daily rituals. Similarly with fasting, I believe as parents we should train our children as early as possible so they know and appreciate the meaning of Ramadhan.

Ramadhan comes only once a year, only 29 days. I hope that I'll be able to fulfill what I aim for this year. Insya'allah. And to my dear Muslim friends, Ramadhan Mubarak!