Ramadan Mubarack!

[berber_wife 90]

This is my first Ramadan with Younes. I will not be fasting since I just finished chemo and have major surgery coming up so I need to keep up my strength. But I am still excited to share this occasion with him.

[bahar 4]

Happy Ramadan to you too and good luck with your surgery ,,,.

[bombyjuly 13]

Great!!!! Like me my husband just got here on June 23 it's his first Ramadan here,I wish u the best in your chemo and surgery,never give up,have faith,I'm a cancer survivor tha happened 10 years ago and I'm alive I didn't need surgery,no chemo,just a touch of god ,so if u believe u will see the

God's glory

Edited June 29, 2014 by bombyjuly

[mounir412 101]

السلام عليكم

ورمضان كريم على الجميع

إن شاء الله

Happy Ramadan

[Mourad's girl 8]

Ramadan Mubarak!

For all the Muslims that are observing Ramadan for the first or second time here in America, how does it compare to observing it in your home country? Better, worse, the same?

May Allah accept your fasting and have mercy on us all. AMINE

[LizzieBee 25]

Ramadan kareem. My husband arrived exactly one month ago today and we're working out all the adjustments for his first Ramadan away from his Egyptian family. So far, we're actually enjoying it a lot even though I'm not Muslim.

[visaqueries 111]

My husband has adjusted nicely to the US, but Ramadan has been much different for him. We have a mosque about 25 minutes from our house, and we try to make it there every Friday. I was in Egypt for Ramadan last year, and I can tell it is very different from being in the US. Here, my husband doesn't hear the call to prayer coming through the loudspeakers, and we just use our cell phones to help us determine when to have Iftar. I am not Muslim, but I am fasting with my husband. The hours here are longer than they are in Egypt, but the time difference has not been that big of a deal. He keeps mentioning that it will be very different when Ramadan is over and the three day feast occurs. I'd like to find a group of people who will be celebrating the feast, but I don't really know where to go for that.

This is the first time in his life that he has been out of Egypt's borders for Ramadan, and I imagine he has a bit of longing to share with his friends and family of like faith. I can understand his unstated longing. Last year, when I was in Egypt, it was amazing to go to the mall and watch everyone get their food at the food court just as the fasting was concluded. It brought a sense of unity, and I loved that feeling. I wish there was that same experience for him here.

[berber_wife 90]

I feel bad for my husband celebrating Ramadan down here in SWFL. There's nothing in the vicinity as far as mosques and he is fasting all alone. I do my best to support him by eating dinner with him (we live with my parents and they serve dinner for themselves at 7 and leave the leftovers for us to eat at 9) and by giving up alcohol (which is something I needed to do for my health anyway). If my health is OK, I'll partially fast next year, although I'll still need to drink water. And next year we plan to be living in NYC with a bigger Muslim community.

Younes believes that Ramadan is a time for personal reflection and for strengthening his relationship with God so he's not too bothered by the lack of social and community opportunities. We do plan to travel to a larger city an hour away for the feast though.

visaqueries: Couldn't you just ask at the mosque about where to go for the feast? That's what we plan to do.

Edited July 8, 2014 by berber_wife

[visaqueries 111]

I think my husband will inquire about the feast. Last night we went to a Mediterranean restaurant for Iftar. They had a buffet for everyone, and as we were standing in line, he began talking in Arabic to an elderly woman. She too was from Cairo...a few blocks away from his family home. She had moved to the US in the seventies, but they remembered similar points of interest. I wondered if she had known his mom, but my husband assured me we (Americans) are a lot more knowledgeable about our neighbors in the Midwest than many people from Cairo are with their neighbors. I know it is just a little step, but I'm always grateful he has the opportunity to not only speak Arabic but feel a bit of his home. He seems a lot less homesick than I am for him .

[sandinista! 1,816]

We usually just make our own 'feast'. We go to prayers in the morning and then come back home and open presents with the kids. Later my family comes over, and we eat a bunch of treats and stay up too late. The next day we'll usually go on an outing, like to the science museum. The main masjid here hosts a big meal on Eid, but it's segregated by gender, and we think that's nonsensical and aren't interested in spending that part of our Eid separate from each other.

The masjid does coordinate a family day at the old amusement park here in Portland that was kind of fun last year. We might do that again if it's not stupid hot outside, like it's been.

[Kerstin + Faisal 6]

Eid mubrak!