This year, Ramadan\ncomes at a time when the whole world is facing the COVID-19 pandemic. The\nMuslims in Malaysia are celebrating Ramadan in a way they have never celebrated\nbefore \u2013 in the midst of the Movement Control Order (MCO) and the mosques being\nclosed \u2013 in order to curb the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This means that\nthe Muslims cannot perform the five daily prayers congregationally at the\nmosque \u2013 something that is normally being pursued by Muslims during Ramadan.\nSimilarly, they cannot attend the congregational Tarawih<\/em> prayers at the mosque \u2013 something that the Muslims look\nforward to in the nights of Ramadan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because of the MCO\ntoo, there will be no Ramadan bazaar this year. \nThis is another new normal for the Muslims in Malaysia because these\nbazaars are the place where the majority Muslims get their food and beverages for\nthe iftar<\/em> \u2013 the breaking of the fast\nat sunset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, despite\nthe closing of the mosques, the five daily congregational prayers and the Tarawih<\/em> congregational prayers can still\nbe done at home, with family members. With\nthe minimum participant of two, congregational prayers can be done between a husband\nand wife or a mother and a daughter, in their own home. The beauty of Islam is that no matter where\nthe congregational prayers take place, the mosques or at home, the reward will still\nbe the same. Abdullah ibn Umar reported\nthat the Messenger of Allah p.b.u.h said, \u201cPrayer\nin congregation is better than prayer alone by twenty-seven degrees<\/em>\u201d (Sahih\nBukhari). Therefore, perform these congregational prayers at home with our family\nmembers. Definitely, it is easier to do this during the MCO. Not only can we perform\nthe congregational prayer five times a day, we can also perform it at the prime\ntime \u2013 as soon as the time sets in \u2013 a very commendable act in Islam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Similarly, the\nabsence of Ramadan bazaars should not be an issue for the Muslims. We can\nalways cook our food or order them to be delivered to us. In fact, cooking is a cleaner, healthier and cheaper\nalternative. With the MCO, we also have more time to cook. Yes, we may not have\n\u201cIkan Bakar Kampung Baru\u201d or Roti John<\/em>\nor Air Kathira<\/em> to break the fast\nwith, but we can still have decent food for iftar<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The closing of mosques\nand food bazaars are the \u201clittle\u201d new normal that the Muslims have to face\nduring Ramadan this year. These are considered as \u2018little\u2019 adjustments because there\u2019s\nmore to Ramadan than the congregational prayers and the food bazaars. The main\nobjective of Ramadan is to achieve taqwa<\/em>\nor self-restraint through the highest quality of fasting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fasting in the\nmonth of Ramadan is not just about abstaining from eating and drinking from\ndawn to sunset. A person who is fasting\nis also expected to: (i) guard the eyes from looking at something that is haram<\/em>; (ii) guard the ears from hearing\nbad and cursing words; (iii) abstain from sinful speech; and, (iv)free their\nsoul from harmful impurities such as suspicion, envy, jealousy and the like. Furthermore\na fasting person is encouraged to perform the voluntary prayers (solat sunat<\/em>), recite the Quran, make dua<\/em>s and zikr<\/em> more than the usual. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Socially, a person\nwho is fasting is encouraged to be kind and generous to others, starting with\ntheir family members, neighbours and those who are in need. Giving food for\nothers to break their fast with is a very commendable act. Similarly, giving\nalms (sadaqah<\/em>) especially in the last\ndays of Ramadan is also highly encouraged. Although we are still observing the MCO, we\ncan still arrange these commendable acts \u2013 in cash, food or the kind \u2013 through the\nonline platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All that is mentioned\nin the two previous paragraphs above is actually the benchmark that determines\nthe quality of our fasting. It can still be implemented during this MCO. In\nfact, we can say that the MCO is a blessing in disguise for those who are\nfasting because they will have more time to improve the quality of their\nfasting. I am not saying that we should replace work from home (WFH) with these\nibadah<\/em>. What I am saying is that now that we do not\nhave to go to the office and get caught in traffic jams, we can use that time\nto do all these commendable acts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Perhaps, this\nyear, Ramadan is meant to teach us to improve the quality of our fasting so\nthat we can achieve taqwa<\/em>. It is not\nabout the form but the substance. It\u2019s\nnot about going to the mosque for congregational prayers, but it\u2019s about\npraying together with our family members at home. It\u2019s not about a table full\nof food and beverages during iftar<\/em>, but\nit is about the feeling of gratitude with what we have on the table for iftar<\/em>. If these are the learning\nobjectives of Ramadan this year, are we ready to take the lessons?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This year, Ramadan comes at a time when the whole world is facing the COVID-19 pandemic. The Muslims in Malaysia are celebrating Ramadan in a way they have never celebrated before \u2013 in the midst of the Movement Control Order (MCO) and the mosques being closed \u2013 in order to curb the pandemic. This means…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_analytify_skip_tracking":false,"_wpzoom_pinterest_image_url":"","_wpzoom_pinterest_hidden_image":"0","_wpzoom_pinterest_description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[139],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-new-straits-times","category-139","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27326\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}