We were so pleased to welcome Mr Chaudary to the Junior Department this week to hear all about Ramadan. He even had a co-presenter, Abdullah, who did an excellent job at speaking in front of his peers. Mr Chaudary kindly presented a further two times, again with some excellent co-presenters Bilal (Y2) and Rayyan (Y6). Abdullah explained that; “I told everybody about Ramadan and there were quizzes. When people didn’t know Mr Chaudry asked me to tell. I liked doing it because it was fun and it helped my friends understand what is Ramadan.”
Ramadan is the most celebrated month in the Islamic year. It was the month that the Quran was brought down to prophet Muhammad (pbuh) over 1400 years ago and when Muslims were told to fast, as one of the five pillars of their faith. Muslims make up approximately 24% of the world’s population, (approximately 6% of the UK population) and they do not eat or drink from sunrise to sunset – not even water! At the moment, the fast starts at just after 4 am and ends after 8 pm – roughly 16 hours – and increasing! This is even longer in some countries such as Denmark and Sweden, and some places also do not have a sunset at all such as parts of Iceland and Finland. Muslims would also attempt to reduce any bad habits and increase their good deeds such as helping other people and giving to charity – in fact, a study in 2018 found that in Ramadan each year, Muslims in Britain give an estimated £100m to charities. Ramadan is a beautiful month and starts and ends by the sighting of the new moon, following the lunar calendar. For me, personally, this year has been tough as I have not been able to visit the mosque as frequently as I have done in the past, but it has been very important to appreciate all that we have been given considering all we have been through in the past year as a nation.
May we continue to appreciate everything we have and look for the blessings within our losses. Amen
