Ramadan Kareem!

Alhumdullilah the kids and I managed to distribute a small gesture to celebrate the beginning of the month to our extended family and neighbours recently. Although it took us about 3 hours and some wrong addresses, we enjoyed getting to see our loved ones albeit briefly.

Ramadan is the month in which Muslims fast daily from the start of the early morning prayer (before sunrise) to sunset. It is the month in which the Quran (the holy book for Muslims) was revealed and considered a very blessed time. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) used to break open his fast by eating a date. Our family loveees dates! Especially Palestinian dates.

Growing up i was used to small, rather dry dates (sorry mum!) but once i discovered big, juicy medjool dates I can’t eat enough of them! They are full of energy and are ideal for the boost needed at the end of a days long fast, especially in Scotland where ours can last around 18 hours!

So as a joint family effort, we packed and distributed bags of dates. I used bright blue paper bags and as a keepsake, I designed some A7 sized cards with a print out of some duas (prayers) recommended by the Prophet (peace be upon him) especially during Ramadan. If you are interested in the details of why I chose these duas in particular head over to the Reviving Souls site ran by one of my teachers, Shaykh Amin Buxton (Allah preserve and increase him). You will find the dua in the resources tab under the heading Ramadan.

I printed the dua onto pearlescent paper and backed it onto grey pearlescent card so it was stiffer. My printer has difficulty printing onto very thick card so that’s why i did this.

I also printed labels to close the bags but you could just use some nice washi tape.

There is still time if you want to share dates with your family and friends. To help you out you can download a pdf of eight A7 sized duas below.

A full sized A4 version is also available below:

Ramadan Mubarak to everyone!