Tricky Teen Girl: A Whisper of Peace [Ramadan Story]

A Whisper of Peace

A whisper of peace moving through the land,

Allah will surely run to us if we hold out our hand.

A word of hope, a call to every woman and man,

A light until the end of time, this is al-Islam.

A whisper of peace moving through the land,

Allah will surely run to us but do we understand?

A word of hope, a call to every woman and man,

A light until the end of time, this is al-Islam.

A whisper of peace moving through the land,

Allah will surely run to us if we hold out our hand.

A word of hope, a call to every woman and man,

A light until the end of time,

But is this just a waste of rhyme?

What if we run out of time?

Is this al-Islam?

["A Whisper of Peace", Dawud Wharnsby]

This is what a regular pre-dawn meal looks like in the Moin household:

"Where's the coffee?!" I squeal, opening the kitchen cabinets one after another in a hurry.

"It's right there!" Mama shouts back.

"I--can't--see--it!" I choke back tears. (I'm emotionally attached to coffee.)

"It's right over there next to that side," comes the reply.

I march over to Mama in the adjoining room and pull on her arm. "Come and help me!"

"Wait," she says. "I have to feed Jasir."

"But," I begin to speak.

"No buts," she cuts across what I was going to say. She picks up a date fruit and, removing the seed, walks over to my brother Jasir's bedroom. Going inside, she pokes him awake, inserts the date into his mouth, pokes him again to make him chew and swallow, then returns to the dining room.

(Just for the record, Jasir is thirteen. He just can't be bothered to wake up so early.)

"My coffee," I plead. "I won't be able to function without it."

"Have mine," says Papa, looking up from his oats.

"That's tea, Papa." I shoot him a look, then push past Mama into the kitchen.

"Here it is!" Mama holds out the coffee with glee. "It was right there!"

Wordlessly, I take the coffee from Mama and prepare it at top speed. I have to be quick, or I'll run out of time. We have to finish eating before dawn breaks properly for the fast to be valid. My eighteen year old sister Leena is a pro at this. She wakes up before all of us, has her pre-dawn meal, then goes into her room and prays the pre-dawn prayer while the rest of us are still snoozing away. By the time we are up and eating, she is sitting by the window, watching the sky and listening for the call to prayer to sound, which signals the end of pre-dawn time.

Leena's internal clock is amazing. She pops out of bed like bread from the toaster, whereas I drag myself out, sighing and yawning. As for Jasir, he has to have the covers pulled off him and threats poured on him for him to budge an inch. Anyway, it's summer holidays for all three of us siblings, so it's only Papa who has to go to the office during his fast.

So, what was I talking about? Yes, a typical beginning to a fasting day in our house. There's a scramble to stuff our mouths with all eyes on the clock, then a stumble as the clock's needle hits the time for prayer, then a stampede as our parents and I rush to brush our teeth. Jasir is exempted from this due to his automatic-fast-keeping mode, and Leena has long since attended to her morning hygiene.

The call for prayer rises into the night air. We pray the dawn prayer, then converge in Jasir's room. On fasting days, waking him up is a combined family effort.

"Jasir," says Papa.

"Jasir!" exclaims Mama.

"JASIR!" I yell.

"Inaya!" That's Mama's one-word reprimand for my loudness.

"Nadia!" Papa takes Mama's name jokingly, joining in the noisemaking.

"Aaargh," Jasir groans, turning over in bed.

"Jaaasir, Jaasir, Jaasir," we chant. "Time to get up and pray!"

"There's still time," he moans.

"Time and tide wait for no man," Papa declares. (He likes to say things like that. I think it's a manifestation of reaching middle-age.)

"I'm a boy, not a man," Jasir grumbles.

Mama straightens up and puts her hands on her hips. "Do you want me to call Leena?"

Jasir's eyes pop open and he slides out of bed and onto the floor. He immediately picks himself up and scurries into his bathroom.

The sound of Leena laughing can be heard from her room. (All the doors are open.) "What am I, the household monster?" she jokes. There is no reply needed, because both Jasir and I, being younger than her, live under her rule whenever she ascends the throne. Luckily, she does not spend much time on it, preferring to dedicate her time to polishing her crown instead.

Poor little sixteen-year-old me, sandwiched between Leena and Jasir as the middle child. Papa tries to cheer me up about this by saying that I am the central meaty "kabab" in the "bun-kabab" sandwich made by us three siblings. I don't even want to think about food in this month. Hey, I'm fasting!

Breaking the fast is altogether a much more cheerful affair. I won't mention the food, but I'll mention the look of contentment on everyone's faces. We're happy that we are off from studies this Ramadan, as it falls in summertime in these years. Ramadan is the month when everyone frees themselves up for eating. I mean, worship. I mean, well, breaking the fast after a whole day is fun. I...uh. I don't know what I mean anymore. Maybe it's too close to fast-breaking time. Let me check the clock...Yup. A whole three hours before we can eat again. That's the time when the countdown to food time begins, and my brain goes into free fall, speedily moving towards its one goal: food.

Don't get me wrong, I totally want to work on my spirituality this Ramadan. I have all the gear for it. I downloaded a Ramadan chart to keep track of my worship, and ordered a Ramadan Journal for motivation. There's also that app that has been generating a lot of hype, I'm going to use that too. I am really going to ace this Ramadan.

If only I can work out that little problem...

Dear readers, what's the highlight of Ramadan for you?

Please do vote and comment! :)

This chapter is dedicated to my lovely regular reader striving_muslimah :D Your feedback is always precious to me, and I love seeing you react to my work! Folks, she is an awesome writer, do check out her books.