We Hope You Had a Blessed Eid!

In his elementary school years, Fayez, like many other kids, wanted to participate in Ramadan seeing his parents and others around him fasting. He started small, fasting for segments of the day. So when he hit double digits in age, he was ready to begin fasting the entire month.

Like Fayez, his youngest daughter sparked an interest in fasting this year for Ramadan. Aziza is seven years old, and insisted on being a part of the suhoor and iftar, the morning and evening Ramadan meals and begin by fasting a half day, she said. The first morning, a Saturday, Fayez forgot to wake her up, which she was not happy about. The next morning, she woke up at 5:30 a.m. sharp, enjoyed the suhoor meal, and went back to sleep. When she woke up at 8:30 a.m., she decided she was hungry already! And would instead fast between her meals, no snacks allowed. It’s a process. We’ll get there.

The feeling of community in Ramadan drives Muslims to come together as family, neighbors, and friends to pray, worship, and self-reflect. Friends and family who may not often see each other during the year start gathering every night of Ramadan at their local mosque to pray.

At the end of Ramadan, there’s a huge celebration called Eid that Muslims look forward to. Uncles, aunts, and older family friends hand kids gifts and eidi, a small amount of money for the kids to enjoy.

As Fayez grew older, Ramadan became an annual boot camp for him to strive to grow in patience and kindness. In rejecting the instinctual need for food and sitting with the temporary discomfort of hunger and thirst, he realized he was strong enough to do any difficult thing. With each Ramadan he set goals for self-betterment and inner tranquility.

He also focuses on gratitude and consciousness of the Creator. Those who fast know that when the sun goes down, water never tasted so sweet and food never tasted so fulfilling. In most faiths, you acknowledge that food comes from a higher power. When you stay away from food, you realize just what a blessing it is. That in turn results in eating and consuming resources in general with mindfulness and gratitude. Speaking of gratitude, Ramadan ended and Fayez celebrated Eid with his family on May 2nd, they now can eat and hydrate – mindfully and with gratitude, of course.

We hope you had a blessed Eid. Eid Mubarak