Ramadan

I told the children Ramadan was here. ‘Wow it is Ramadan’ said Asim, age 3, excitedly thinking that this might mean we were getting a visitor, preferably coming with children and a whole load of toys. Safiyya, 7, was equally positive, knowing that Eid swiftly follows Ramadan, and that on Eid day you get presents and chocolate cake after going to the mosque. Amaani, 2, was too busy eating to participate in the conversation.

On the subject of fasting, I explained that grownups do not eat or drink during the daytime. Asim’s three year old friend Bilal has also been learning about fasting: ‘I can go faster in Ramadan’, he piped up, thinking it was some kind of competition. It looks like his mother will be spending Ramadan chasing him round their village. A neighbour had asked me if Amaani had to fast. But I only had to mention the word ‘food’ and all the children were instantly clamouring for various items, a mere two hours after breakfast, with chocolate biscuits being a particularly strong favourite.

I attempted to pray with the three children. Safiyya stood close to me and got involved in the words and actions. And at the end she made a lovely dua, or supplication, to God, asking God to make all the nasty people nice and to keep all the nice people nice. Well that would certainly make the world a happier place. Asim was substantially less still and concluded the prayer with a rugby tackle that sent me backwards to the floor. He made a dua too: ‘Thank you Allah for tigers and monkeys’, he said. We don’t get too many of them where we live but I’m glad he was taking a global perspective. And Amaani spent the prayer going round the room with a bucket on her head, proffering us various pretend cups of tea at the same time. Girls learn to multi-task early on it seems. She copied the others at the end: ‘thank you Allah for supper’, she says, short and to the point. Food seems to be on her mind, perhaps she senses it is Ramadan.

After the prayer, Safiyya quickly rushed to colour in another leaf on her prayer tree, a picture of a tree with seven branches representing the days of the week, and five leaves on each branch, one for each possible prayer, given to her by her once-weekly Muslim after-school club. I noticed that many of the leaves were coloured in, the majority representing prayers on days we had not even had yet. ‘Well, I am planning to do them’, she told me. I was happy that she seems to have learnt an important Islamic principle, of having good intentions, but I am not quite sure she is applying it correctly.

We worked on doing various good deeds, starting with Safiyya completing homework accurately and on time. I let Safiyya work independently on her spellings and was pleased when I came back 3 minutes later to find she had made a start on the first word on her list, drawer. I was a little surprised though to read the definition: ‘I am one of these, as I like drawing’. I gently suggested this may not have been what the teacher had in mind and eventually we had to look it up in the dictionary to see who was right. I am pleased to say I won that particular battle. Asim’s good deed involved thinking of something God had made: ‘Allah made us two feet’, he said, ‘because if we had only one we would have to hop’, and off he hopped round the room and that was the end of that. Amaani’s good deed involved not throwing her breakfast on the floor, although I notice a lot of rice seemed to have ended up there after lunch…

And so the children muddle through Ramadan, with various attempts made at (very short-term) fasting, prayer, and good deeds. But they seem to have understood the concept of Eid far more quickly – it is amazing what impact presents and chocolate cake have on little people.

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