My first Ramadan in Ukraine

Ramadan – it’s the name of the 9th month of the Islamic calendar ( Lunar calendar ). In this month – The Holly Quran was revealed by Allah to our beloved Prophet Muhammad ( SAW ) which helps the human society to follow the true path to God. All the Muslims welcomed the month warmly by offering fasting from dawn to dusk and put stressed on prayer. Fasting in this month is one among the five pillars of Islam. During this month doors of heavens are opened and doors of hell are closed.
I am a student, studying Medical Science 2nd year of Zaporozhya State Medical University, Zaporozhye, Ukraine and I from Manipur / N.E. My first Ramadan in Ukraine was one of the most unforgettable event in my life. As I am a Muslim I’ve to follow what’s inside the religion. The 1st of Ramadan fell on the 1st of September that all the Muslims in Ukraine began their fast. I stayed in hostel with two of my Muslim friends also from Manipur. On the eve of Ramadan we go for marketing specially for Ramadan. We bought some kitchen items and some sweets for Iftar. After Maghrib Sallah we started preparing food for dinner and for Suhoor too because our hostel kitchen closed at 12’ o clock . After that we offer Tarawih Sallah and we have it our dinner and started reading books for our next day classes. By 12.30 night we go to bed. We wake up around 3.30 am for having Suhoor and Fajr Sallah and sleep for few hours, after that I go to my classes. During break some of my non – Muslim friends asked me for coffee or sweets etc as they don’t know I am fasting and some are very co-operative, they too don’t eat anything and spent the break with me. Thank God for giving me such kind friends.
After passing some days, we didn’t get time for marketing, at that time we used to have Suhoor – rice with some dry meats ( the meat that my lovely old mother residing in my home – Manipur handover through my friends). At that time my eyes were filled with tears because even though I am staying thousands of miles away from her, still she tried to serve me the food made by her own hand. Oh !!!!. What a lovely mother …… I can’t ever find her, when I search the whole world. And I pray to Allah for her long life, the poor old mother who suffered long and always wants all her Childs to be true Muslim. And some times we used to be lazy or fail to wake up that time we used to fast without having Suhoor.
In the middle of the Ramadan some Iftar party were held in the University by the Muslim students. And in the night of Lai la’al qadar the holy night of the year we pray the whole night, we offered Sallat in Jamaat. In our hostel we have a free space on my floor about 8 meter to 6 meter where we do our Sallah and its very lucky for us. After couple of days Eid ul Fitr comes. On this day we got holyday from our University and offer Eid Sallah in our University gymnastic hall at 7.30 am. After that we prepare some special foods for Eid and invite Muslim and non Muslim friends in our room. We also visited our friends rooms wishing one another for Eid and cerebrate with them happily
The Fast helps in deep personal worship which brings closed to Allah and it cleans the soul and free from harmfull activities. Its also the way of sharing the pains of the poor who even doesn’t have the square of meals a day. Ramadan in Ukraine was not so hard as compared to my native place Manipur. So, I request to all my brothers, sisters in Islam Inshah Allah let’s try to abserve Ramadan in true spirit so that all the year we can be as like as we were in Ramadan.
Zayed Farested – Zaporozhye, Ukraine ( Originally from Imphal- Manipur / N.E. )