1st day of Ramadhan and Farmers Market @ The Grove

Well, yesterday was the 1st day of Ramadhan. For me, this is the first experience ever of fasting in oversea. Not new for dear Hubby as he spent 4 years here during his student years in Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee. Coincidentally, yesterday was also Labor Day here in the States. So, dear Hubby was not working. We decided to go to Farmers Market.

There are lots of Farmers Market here in LA. But the one that we went to was the original Farmers Market, established in 1934. Today, there is a big shopping complex named The Grove situated next to the market. So, it's a combination of the old and the new. Dozens of all types of restaurants in the market..u name it, u got it..but of course it wasn't suitable for us Muslims. There were also poultry stores (which are NOT OK too, because the meat sits just next to u-know-what..yeuwkk), and vege stores. There's one candy store which sell all types of nuts, and corns, and all the sweet things, and Abang and Adik were in heaven! Hehe..

In front of the historical clock.

Inside Farmers Market

The Grove is a really modern shopping centers. Almost all the well-known brands are there..such as Coach, Victoria Secrets, Banana Republic etc. A 3 stories Barnes & Nobles is also there. You would have a great time shopping here, provided u have lots in cash lah..(which I didn't have, so no shopping..huhuhu). Another attraction here is a little train that goes along a railroad around The Grove. When I was here last year, me & dear Hubby thought Harith would surely have a great time there, since that kid is really gaga about train. But poor Harith, it's in the process of a face-lift and will only be back on November. *sigh* He was so looking forward to it, because he saw my pic with the train, last year.

A beautiful fountain in the middle of The Grove.

Victoria Secret Boutique

At about 3p.m., we went home. Need to prepare for breaking fast. Dropped by an Iranian store (Shayyan International) to get some supplies.

So, here's a little something about Ramadhan that I've googled.

The Meaning of Ramadhan

Ramadhan is a special month of the year for over one billion Muslims throughout the world. It is a time for inner reflection, devotion to God, and self-control. Muslims think of it as a kind of tune-up for their spiritual lives. For Muslims, Ramadhan is a "month of blessings" marked by prayer, fasting and charity.Fasting is one of the five pillars of Islam. The others are: belief & testimony in The One God (Shahaadah); prayer (Salah) - five times a day at its appointed times; alms -giving (Zakat) – approx. 2.5% of fixed assets annually; and pilgrimage (Hajj) to Makkah (also spelled Mecca) at least once in a lifetime.The third "pillar" or religious obligation of Islam, fasting has many special benefits. Among these, the most important is that it is a means of learning self-control. Due to the lack of preoccupation with the satisfaction of bodily appetites during the daylight hours of fasting, a measure of ascendancy is given to one's spiritual nature, which becomes a means of coming closer to God. Ramadhan is also a time of intensive worship, reading of the Qur'an, giving charity, purifying one's behavior, and doing good deeds.

As a secondary goal, fasting is a way of experiencing hunger and developing sympathy for the less fortunate and learning thankfulness & appreciation for all of God's bounties. Fasting is also beneficial to the health and provides a break in the cycle of rigid habits or overindulgence.
When the fast ends (the first day of the tenth month of the Islamic calendar –Shawwal) it is celebrated for three days in a holiday called 'Eid-ul-Fitr (the Feast of Fast Breaking). Gifts are exchanged. Friends and family gather to pray in congregation and for large (in the number of attendees) meals. In some cities fairs are held to celebrate the end of the Fast of Ramadhan.

From Dawn to Sunset

The daily period of fasting starts at the breaking of dawn and ends at the setting of the sun. In between -- that is, during the daylight hours -- Muslims totally abstain from food, drink, smoking, and sexual relations. The usual practice is to have a pre-fast meal (suhoor) before dawn and a post/break-fast meal (iftar) after sunset.
Islam follows a lunar calendar which means that the months of the year are measured according to the revolutions of the moon around the earth (each month begins with the sighting of the new moon).

One may eat and drink at any time during the night "until you can plainly distinguish a white thread from a black thread by the daylight: then keep the fast until night." [2:187]
The good that is acquired through the fast can be destroyed by five things –the telling of a lie, slander, denouncing someone behind their back, a false oath, greed or covetousness.

Devotion to God

The last ten days of Ramadhan are a time of special spiritual power as everyone tries to come closer to God through devotions and good deeds. The night on which the first verses of the Qur'an were revealed to the Prophet, known as the Night of Power (Lailat ul-Qadr), is generally taken to be the 27th night of the month. The Qur'an states that this night is better than a thousand months. Therefore many Muslims spend the entire night in prayer.During the month, Muslims try to read as much of the Qur'an as they can. Most try to read the whole book at least once. Some spend part of their day listening to the recitation of the Qur'an in a Mosque (Masjid).

Preservation of Qur’an

During this month Huffath (Muslims who have memorised the entire Holy Qur’an) recite a thirtieth of the Qur’an, word for word and accent for accent in congregational prayers on a daily basis after the night prayer, which is approximately an hour and a half after sunset, for the duration of the month (approx. 30 consecutive days), until they have completed the whole Qur’an.Muslims believe this is one of the ways in which the Qur’an has remained intact since revelation more than 1400 years ago.Food in RamadhanSince Ramadhan is a special time; Muslims in many parts of the world prepare certain favorite foods during this month.It is a common practice for Muslims to break their fast at sunset with dates (from a palm tree), following the custom of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). This is followed by the sunset prayer, which is followed by iftar –The actual break-fast meal. Since Ramadhan emphasizes community aspects and since everyone eats iftar at the same time, Muslims often invite one another to share in the Ramadhan evening meal, the breaking of the fast “break-fast.”Some Muslims find that they eat less when breaking their fast during Ramadhan than at other times due to stomach contraction. However, as a rule, most Muslims experience little fatigue during the day since the body becomes used to the altered routine during the first week of Ramadhan.

May our act of fasting is blessed and accepted by Allah The Almighty.

Dear God, please help us to devote our ibadah to you, please make it easier for our little family, being in a foreign country and miles away from home. Amin.