ramadan for muslims

We all know that Malaysia is a multi-cultural and racial country. In this April, it is the annual Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. Although I grew up in Malaysia, I still don't know much about the cultural customs and religions of other races. Therefore, before writing this article, I searched for information on the Internet and did my homework. Today, I will tell you about Ramadan. Disclaimer in advance: Because religion is mostly a sensitive topic and in order to respect all ethnic groups and religious beliefs, this article is only an objective description of cultural customs matters, so no subjective comments and opinions are accepted. If there is any wrong information, please correct it, please read it as a purely knowledge-increasing article~

First, Islam is a religion and Muslims are followers of Islam. Every year Muslims have an important festival that is the month-long fasting month (Ramadan). Ramadan does not have a fixed date like other festivals, but is determined according to the Islamic calendar, and the beginning and end are defined by seeing the new moon, so the date of Ramadan changes every year. During Ramadan, Muslims will abstain from food, drink and sex in order to practice religious precepts through self-restraint. The purpose of fasting (puasa) is to get rid of desires, to purify the body and mind to be reborn, and to experience the hunger and poverty of the poor and cherish food. Of course, don't get me wrong, it's not that they really don't eat or drink for a month, but they don't eat or drink between sunrise and sunset. Therefore, they can only eat before 5:30 in the morning, and can only eat after about 7:30 in the evening.

All Muslims are required to fast except children, the elderly, the sick, pregnant women and menstruating women. It is also not allowed to take medicines during Ramadan because they cannot eat or drink, so patients who need medicines can directly avoid fasting. However, the sick and menstruating women need to make up for the missing fasting days (ganti puasa) before next year's Ramadan, otherwise they must make up for it in the form of charitable donations (fiyah).

After a month-long fast, they will usher in Hari Raya Aidilfitri. For a long time, the myth of Malaysian Chinese has always thought that Hari Raya is the New Year of the Malay compatriots, but after this understanding, I also realized that Hari Raya is only to celebrate the end of Ramadan. On the day of Eid al-Fitr, Muslims will dress up (usually a family of the same color) and then go to the mosque in the morning to participate in "receptions" and celebrations to congratulate the successful completion of the "fast". After praying in the mosque, they will also go to the cemetery to mourn and commemorate their deceased relatives. They will also distribute duit raya to children on the same day (in fact, this duit raya seems to be just a Malaysian name), the interesting thing is that duit raya seems to be a custom only found in Malaysia and Singapore, and Muslims in other countries No, it is estimated that it was influenced by the custom of Chinese red envelopes.

In fact, learning more about the culture and customs of other ethnic groups is not only an interesting and interesting thing, but also promotes harmonious coexistence between people. Mutual respect and understanding, less prejudice and discrimination, the world will be a better place.