Ramadhan, the month in
which all adult Moslems will practice fasting for all day long, approximately 12
hours for most countries like Indonesia and Malaysia, has finally come. Ramadhan
falls in the ninth month of Islamic calendar and the onset of this month is
vary, depending on the position of the moon. This year, 2017, Ramadhan begins
on 27th May.
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| Ramadhan has come via http://media1.santabanta.com |
We, the Moslems, usually
will mark this month as an onset of intense prayer as well as religious
devotion. In this occasion, we will usually spend most of our day praying or reciting
holy Quran. But, do we know that there is a lot of things that we can do in
this month that can be nice add-ons to our devotion to the Creator. These
activities not only good for us, if done, but also reflects the value taught in
holy Quran (in my humble opinion).
Numero uno
It’s time for cleaning
Yeah, Ramadhan days may seems longer for us than other days. It is
actually psychologically explainable. In ramadhan, we would (always) think the
time of “break-fasting” and as we keep thinking the same thing over and over,
we would see that the time runs so slow. To distract our attention from such
thing, cleaning our house might be nice thing to do.
I mean, look around your room. Is there any shock laying on the floor
for more than a week? Or are there clothes kept in the basket prior this week
that need ironing now? Or are you sure that your room is dust-free or spiders’
web-free?
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| Washing all those clothes residing peacefully in your basket via http://4.bp.blogspot.com |
If the answer is a big NO, then it is time for you to move your lazy
butt and start to get what should have done done. After spending hours of
cleaning, not only the satisfaction that you will get, you will also start to realize
that the hours are not running as slow as before when you were doing nothing.
Number two
Read your books bruh!
Yes, reading, is still considered as “odd” thing to do in Indonesia. Not
only beacuse we do not willingly spend our money on books but also because we
are not encouraged to do so. Though, there has been a lot of slogan, program,
notice, or whatsoever put by our government telling the benefits of reading and
also the need to grow it as a habit but it seems not enough. We, Indonesia,
still think that reading is wasting of time and also boring to do.
Then, why we do not make this month as a mark to change our perspective
of reading. Doesn’t the first verse of holy Quran also encourage us to read, I
do not need to cite the verse because I know that we all know that we know what
the verse is.
If you think that reading is boring, it may be because we read a heavy
topic book or read a book that doesn’t excite us. So, to make yourselves find
reading interesting, why don’t you start by reading a book that interest you
and also has few pages? Afterwards, as you grow loving to immerse yourself in
reading, you can move on more heavy topic and more-page books.
Number three
It’s writing everyone!
If reading is regarded as
and “odd” thing to do, may be the right term to describe how writing is
regarded in our society is as “bizarre”. Yeah, you can cringe and not agree
with me but the fact say the same. I mean, let see how our school system put writing
as inconsequential subject to learn by giving the students a very few hours to
practice in the class.
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| Writing, immerse yourself on it and you are working of "eternity" via http://images.wallpino.com |
While we cannot wholly
depend ourselves to or blame on our educational system (I don’t know why I am
talking about it), we can overcome this problem by ourselves. Practicing is the
answer and practicing in Ramadhan might be a good kick start for it. Let’s set
aside our time for at least one or one and a half hour per day to start
thinking what we are going to write.
You do not need to write
a full page with thousands of words as a start. Just start to write two or
three paragraphs. If you can’t start it by writing argumentative text, which is
hard because it requires you to put your opinions, you can start it by writing
a recount text. It is way easier because it merely needs you to write your
experience or something that you had experienced before.
Number Four
Taking part as a volunteer
If reading or writing doesn’t
interest you enough, then this activity could be another add-on that you can do
on Ramadhan. Volunteering to help people a nice thing to do because it is
glorifying our sense of caring to those being unfortunate and needy.
Taking part on local voluntary
can be a good start. Try to look for information about it on your local area.
And, if you can’t find what you want, you can try this site https://www.volunteerworld.com or any
other sites by typing “Volunteer Indonesia Program”. And as you find voluntary
program that suits you the best, then start to join it.
Taking part in voluntary
will give you an insight of social awareness as well as an opportunity to meet
with wide range of new people. You can shape your organizational skill, and
also your network. And who knows you will also meet your right one in the voluntary
program you are joining in.
In the fifth place is…
Helping your mom
Look at how your mom has
prepared food for sahur (eating before fasting, usually done before Fajr pray)
at 2.00 A.M. and washed the dishes after that. She is tired but she never tells
you. But, it is not a reason for you to not care about your mom. Why don’t you
help your mom preparing food for break-fasting to kill the time.
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| Helping mom can be a satisfying experience via https://st.depositphotos.com |
Starting today, you can
help her cut the cucumber or cabbage, or you help her clean those dirty plate.
Just don’t ask her whether she needs help or not! I mean, she might say no. If
you want to help her, just do so!
And the last one is…
Selling “Ta’jil”
Ta’jil is term used to
refer to food consumed while break-fasting. Many people will prepare their own
ta’jil during Ramadhan. But for those who are busy, preparing food seems to be
impossible thing to do. Those people are potential customers for ta’jil
sellers.
Ta’jil are widely
available during Ramadhan. Usually, the sellers will start sell the food three
or four hours before the break-fasting. And if you are having all time in the
world and are confused how you would spend it, may be it can be the best thing you
can do.
Selling Ta’jil doesn’t requires
a lot money or time to start. You just make your own food like kolak pisang
(sweet banana soup) or gorengan (deep-fried food made from tofu, vegetables, or
banana) and sell it in front of your house. While selling tajil can surely kill
the time while waiting the break-fasting, it can also help fill your pocket so
that in Ied-Fitri you will have a lot of money to share with your cousins or
relatives.
Well, that the
alternative add-ons that you can do besides praying or reciting holy Quran.
While reciting holy Quran is about learning the value of it, doing these
activities can be a real implementation of what we learn from it. Because the
real essence of Ramadhan is not all about of our intense devotion to our
Creator but also our willingness to improve our self-quality and our relation
to other people.
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