The fast begins in the morning just before sunrise, at Imsak, and is broken at Maghrib which falls at sunset. Fasting during the month of Ramadhan is one of the five pillars of Islam and an obligation for devout Muslims. The first day of fasting was not too difficult at all. It seemed not a problem to get up at around four fifteen in the morning to cook and eat before Subuh (dawn prayer), and a fairly importance Sahur guaranteed starving off any feeling of hunger until well into the day. Tiredness and lack of energy in during the early afternoon together with a hint of thirst, but apart from that I did not think too much about the effects of fasting. However, by about six in the evening, I was really beginning to feel hungry and tired. As I made my way to Masjid Jame' Kajang for fast-breaking and Maghrib (sunset prayer), I was beginning to look forward to taking some food, and even more to having a drink. During the last half hour before the Azhan (call to prayer), I found it is very hard to make postitive conversations with the people in the mosque who were offering me motivation. In fact any kind of concentration had become very difficult at that time. Yet, the hardest ordeal of the day was yet to come, and that was, without a shadow of uncertain facts, ‘sitting in front’ of the great quantities supply of food and drink for the last 10 minutes before the Azhan. The smell of food seemed to gain inside every pore in my skin, my stomach rumbled endlessly and a piercing headache pumped away behind my eyes.
On the third day of fasting, I went to Kuantan, Pahang to further my studies in Civil Engineering of Construction Safety courses in Poly-Tech Mara College. It is my first time fasting here. I had my experiences here fast-breaking with my new friends. We bought the foods and drinks at the bazaar near our college. It is quite difficult to chose the foods as I did not know about their foods in Kuantan. It is hard to familiarize myself here to make myself feel comfortable as this is my first time been away from my family because I am the only child in my family. We had our group orientation by kept ourself from eating and drinking as it is on Ramadhan's month. Alhamdulillah, our orientation running smoothly with led by the facilitator of senior in this college.
After a month we had fasting here, all of the students are permitted to went back to their home. I went back to my home two days before the Hari Raya Celebrations. My parents pick me up at college by car and went back to Kajang, Selangor. I was quite excited to met with my parents as i did not see them for a month. Since there are two days before the Hari Raya Celebrations, my parents and I took the oppoturnity to go to the shopping mall to buy some clothes for Hari Raya Celebrations. I have bought two pairs of dress for me to wear it for Hari Raya. After that, I went to Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman to find scarves and accessories. There are a lot of people want to buy all the preparations for the celebrations of the feast. There are some merchants give discounts to attract customers to buy goods they sell in conjunction with Hari Raya celebrations which will take place in two days more. The customers make bargaining with traders so that they can buy the goods they want at a price that is cheaper.
A day before Eid, I accompanied my mother to go to a place that sells goods to be cooked. There are a lot of people busy buying all wet goods such as fish, chicken and vegetables. My mother bought ' rice Sampit ' to be the main course in conjunction with the feast that will appear. After that, we went to a store that sells a variety of decorations to decorate our house. On the eve of the feast, I helped my mother cook rendang, peanut sauce and 'ketupat'. My dad was burning 'lemang' in front of the house for a meal in the morning feast. In fact, my parents and I also cooperate in installing lights around the house and colorful lights. We also glad to saw children playing fireworks in front of our house.
On Eid Day, many Malaysians visit their Muslim friends to share their joy. They receive warm generous reception and are entertained to a feast of specially prepared food. Boys and girls wear new clothes and shoes. Girls wear jewellery and boys wear new 'songkok'. On the morning of the feast, my parents and I prepare to go to the mosque to perform Eid prayers. Many people went to the mosque with their family by wearing their new clothes. After Eid prayers, we went back to our house to prepare the dish as a meal to our relatives who will come to our house on that day. In conjunction with the Eid Day, my family and I gathered for the session's greetings to eliminate the resentment of each other. After that, we heard the sound of the children who were going to come celebrate with us as they also want to collect their 'duit raya' as our tradition. My family is very happy to saw the behavior of the children who was to come home to celebrate Eid Day. In the afternoon, our relatives started visiting our house to enliven the atmosphere at our house as well as to strengthen relationships among us.
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