Bismillah ir-Rahman ir-Rahim
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Al-hamdulillah
for Ramadan!
~*The Ramadan Chronicles - From Saudi Arabia*~ (Chapter 2)
...Continuation
of Day 5...
Later
that evening I caught a ride with Samera to sit with the family for Iftar. It was a lot of fun afterwards because we all
sat in the kitchen for the longest time sipping tea and making sweets.
Samera
was busy pressing some shredded ingredient into round baking pans and in
between the layers of shredded stuff there was spread across the first layer
different combinations of mixtures.
Baba made a pan with a cheese and shredded coconut mixture. Samera’s were a combination of crushed,
mixed nuts. While all that pressing was
going on, Mom and I sat at the other end of the table stuffing mini-pancakes
with nuts and cheese and pressing the edges of these together to make little
crescent shapes.
Then
it was time to sit and wait for the baking to finish. The little crescents were deep fried and dipped into a sweet
syrup that was a mixture of boiled water, sugar and lemon. The first small batch was taken out to
Baba. There were six on the plate. I came to learn that these were the cheese
and coconut batch, and that they were, apparently, Baba’s favorite.
Back
in the kitchen, the now familiar calling out of my name rang in my ears as
Baba's voice boomed from the sitting room, “Aishah!” (This said with the kind of authority that says, "Come
now!" LOL!!!)
For
some reason, no matter if it is Baba or Mom doing the calling, the summons
always makes me smile.
I marched
out into the sitting room and Baba immediately indicated to me that I was to
take one of the cheese three cheese crescents left on the plate sitting on the
little table beside his chair. I
happily took one and sat down on the sofa beside his chair.
Baba’s
eyes were focused on me as I bit into the crescent. Wow! The delectable taste
that filled my senses was amazing, and my eyes lit up as if to say, “mmm, mmm,
good!”
The
message was clear…the crescents were a hit according to my palate, and the
smile on Baba’s face indicated that he had no doubt I was enjoying my little
treat. When I had finished the first
one, Baba was quick to offer me a second.
Gosh…how could I refuse?
LOL! This made Baba smile
again. When I finished the second
treat, Baba was just as quick to offer me the last one, but I declined.
Al-hamdulillah, he let me off the hook!
However,
a short time later Baba’s serving tray ended up back on the kitchen table. The evening of baking was wrapping itself
up, and I was about to leave the kitchen when I spotted the single crescent
treat sitting dejected on it’s little plate.
How could I leave it behind? And
there I found myself snatching it off the plate and biting into one end, sweet
syrup trickling down my chin. How could
that darn little thing taste so good?
As I
walked back into the sitting room carrying the half-eaten crescent, it happened
that Baba was still sitting in his chair.
He was chatting with mom, who was across the room from him perched on
her lounger with a blanket draped across her shoulders. In the background the satellite transmitted
sounds and images from Mecca played via satellite. The Imam was reciting the taraweeh prayers. SubhanÁllah. I noticed from the corner of my eye (I was just waiting for
this…) that before I could sit down, Baba began to chuckle quietly…as he,
of course, noticed I was eating the previously rejected sweet. He spoke to momma in Arabic and she smiled,
too. Obviously he had shared with her
that I had declined to eat the last sweet before and then, there I was, back
with it in my hand.
Soon
thereafter it was time to go. Mom
loaded me up with some left over stew, fresh pomegranates, eggplants, and, of
course, a tray of sweets.
Al-hamdulillah,
it was a perfect evening.
Day
6 – I let myself get caught up again on my sleep in between salat, did some
laundry and odd things around the apartment and then hitched a ride home with
Samera when she finished duty to hang out with mom for the evening. Little did I know what she had in store for
me! LOL!! My goodness!
We
broke our fast together with dates and water around the table in the
kitchen. Ordinarily it’s after this
that I like to pray Maghrib, but the table was already set up with the plates and
food, so in mom’s house one eats first and then prays Maghrib. I get fussed at for drinking my water and
juice throughout the meal, but I’m just one of those who has to wash things
down now and then.
We
had samoosa, of course…but I had to be careful to conceal that I liked the beef
samoosa from the little shop next to the Broast House better than mom’s. Samera had
picked up some of these the week before and I immediately declared them to be
the best I had ever tasted, and to date, they remain unchallenged. But, of course, I just as happily eat mom’s!
After
eating and praying Maghrib and Isha, we settled in the sitting room to listen
to the tarweeh prayers filling the room via satellite from the mosque in
Mecca. Tea was served, and then the plastic
floor cover, brass urn and bags of nuts appeared from the kitchen. It seemed that mom had a chore for me to do
while we were listening to taraweeh!
Crushing
nuts! (Would you just know, my favorite past time! - She says
tongue-in-cheek.) So there I sat on the
floor crushing, crushing, crushing, almonds, peanuts, pistachios, and walnuts.
What fun! LOL! And all the while the tarwheeh salat played
softly in the background. Imagine my
surprise when I found myself sitting there with tears streaming down my
face…subhanÁllah…the Qu’ran recitation was just so moving…and when the Imam’s
voice began to shake I felt as though I had stopped breathing as I listened.
It
always amazes me how someone who cannot even understand Arabic can still be so
inspired by the melodic sound of recited Qu’ran, and when you sit and listen,
the miracle of the Qu’ran becomes absolutely transparent!
I
got home late, of course, and settled myself in for some sleep. The next leg
of my Ramadan adventure in Saudi Arabia, would begin the following afternoon
when Musarrat and I would venture off to Mecca for a three-day
weekend! InshaÁllah.
The testimony of faith is saying with
conviction,
"Ash hadu an la ilaha illa Allah wa ash hadu anna Muhammadar Rasul Allah."
("I
declare there is no god but Allah and I declare that Muhammad is the Messenger
of Allah.")
The first
part, “There is no true god but God,” means that none has
the right to
be worshipped but God alone, and that God has neither partner nor son.
This testimony
of faith is called the Shahada, a simple formula that should be said
with
conviction in order to convert to Islam.
The testimony
of faith is the most important pillar of Islam.
If
I am right, it is from Allah; if wrong, it is from me.
I
ask Allah Almighty to protect you and me from errors
and
from all that displease Him.
"Al-Hamdu-lillahi
rabbil-alameen"
SISTER
AISHAH'S ISLAMIC JOURNEY