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Kalendar Hijriah
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My First Ramadan
Bismillah..
The First Unforgettable Experience...
It was around the last days of Sha`ban (the eighth month of the Hijri calendar), and I was speaking with my Muslim friends about Ramadan and fasting. I had already read of the importance and benefits of fasting, and I really wanted to live this experience.
I was very anxious, though. I kept thinking that it might be difficult for me to abstain from food and water during the daytime for a whole month! My best friend gave me advice on how to fast and be able to make it for the whole day.
Then Ramadan arrived! I remember myself waking up very early to eat my sahur (the meal before fasting). I remembered my friend's advice to drink much water. I ate and then I performed the Fajr Prayer. It felt different from the other times. It was something I can't explain, I was actually really living the prayer, it just felt great!
Later that day I went to the university. I was anxious that if I saw the other students eating or drinking water, it would make me thirsty and hungry. Anyway, I felt confident and went on. During that day I didn't really feel very hungry or thirsty, al-hamdu lillah. It wasn't as hard as I first thought it would be. I actually felt better and I felt my stomach clean.
During the next days along with my medical studies, I studied a lot about Islam. I was reading the Qur'an and Hadith, I was talking with my friends. It was a great opportunity to widen my knowledge of Islam.
My mother was not very pleased with my fasting and she kept telling me that I would not make it and that it would harm me. Al-hamdu lillah, she was wrong! I had a problem with my stomach before Ramadan and it was cured just because of my fasting!
Another good opportunity the holy month gave me was that I met more Muslims in my community. I met many students I hadn't known of before, and they were really pleased to welcome me as a new Muslim in their company. We had iftar (meal to break the fast) together some days and we spoke on a variety of things. How great it was!
When Ramadan was slowly coming to its end, I actually got used to fasting and it was something I knew I would miss later. The last night before `Eid, I was feeling a different person — a better person.
I woke up very early next day and went to the mosque for the `Eid Prayer. It was more crowded than I had ever seen it before, and I realized that Muslims in my community aren't as few as I first thought. The prayer finished and I went with my friends to eat breakfast in the university cafeteria. How strange it seemed to me to eat at that time!
I missed that period until now that Ramadan has begun once again. This is my second Ramadan and it is so the same and yet so different from my previous one! The first Ramadan is really an experience never forgotten!
