1. Tea cake and hot custard for iftar.
2. Ramadan in Adelaide – I was alone for two Ramadans and it was very hard. Daylight savings meant that Isha was late. I really don’t know how Northern Hemisphereans do it when the days are already so long. Work was busy as usual and I lost so much weight that on Eid day my mother threatened to keep me here in Brisbane and not send me back to Adelaide. Husband’s first Tarawih in Adelaide was long and tiring. I think he came home after one in the morning. The next night, the Imam took a vote – 20 rakats or 8 rakats. No guessing what everyone chose. Husband of course had to come home and do the rest (Hanafis are big on the sunnah prayers, man.)
3. Samoosas and phirni – a Ramadan staple. LOVE them. I remember helping mum shape and fold the samoosas as a young ‘un. My sister and I had a separate plate where we would place all our attempts at the perfect triangle – they were most definitely not for guests.
4. The cold winters of my early Ramadans. The days were so much shorter and fasting was a breeze.
5. My first fast. I was about3 or 4 and I was stubborn. No matter how much my mother tried to stop me from fasting, I was adamant (I needed to everything my older sister did). I took one bite of my samoosa at iftar and vomited. I don’t remember much after that. It’s all a bit of blur.
6. Iftars at Holland Park Masjid. Boy, those were fun. The atmosphere, the chaos and the friends.
7. Sehri when I was younger. My mother would wake up long before any of us, she would cook eggs or fry pelone and when everything was ready and only then would she wake us all. She washed the dishes and cleaned up the kitchen while we prayed Qur’an and she was always the last to get to bed. She would also be the first to wake up for the day. I don’t know how she did it – day in day out for that month. May Allah reward her.
8. Laila tul Qadr (Night of Power) – I remember sitting up late into the night, praying extra nafl prayers in the lounge room with my mother and sisters. We’d occasionally take a break together and have a cold glass of water or soft drink before getting right back into it. My father wouldn’t return from the Masjid until long after fajr was over.
So what are some of your memories of Ramadan?
