Ramadhan, the Blessed month in the Muslim calendar has passed us by. In its place the month of Syawwal is upon us. I hope that the month of Ramadhan has brought us numerous benefits and that we have seized the opportunity to appreciate its meaning – for, the month of Ramadhan can educate us in many ways. We should have learnt a bit more about what it means to live as Muslims in general; How to control our patience, hunger, thirst, anger, disappointment, frustration etc and to replace this with varying degrees of understanding, compassion and love. Indeed as a Blessed month, Allah’s Blessings were upon us throughout the month so that we could submit to Him (shubhanahuwataala) and perform our ibadah with ease and perfection. Alhamdulillah for that. Indeed I hope that most of us have derived tremendous benefit from Ramadhan to enable us to continue worshipping the AlMighty until the next Ramadhan is upon us again. Insya Allah we make du’a that we will be able to experience yet another Ramadhan next year, by Allah’s Generosity.
Syawwal is no less an Honourable and a Blessed month for it brings with it the Eid-ul-Fitri. It marks the end of Ramadhan and by custom; Malaysians celebrate it with much rejoicing. In Malaysia, open houses are held throughout the month of syawwal. It is a time to get together, renew ties, to seek forgiveness, to be with family and friends and most importantly, to ‘balik kampung’. Being in the USA however, we have to rely a lot more on being with peer groups, friends and colleagues to celebrate this event. Open houses are done, but not on such a big scale due to constraints in space, preparations and cooking. Then there is the distance factor. And of course, as we know, not all of us are financially sound.
Still, MSD Chicago has attempted to provide the students in the Midwest with the opportunity to ‘balik kampung’ on Oct. 4th – the ‘kampung’ being Hibbard Road in Wilmette for the Raya celebration. The weather was exceptionally beautiful and sunny that day, by the Grace of Allah and students came in their finest traditional costumes – colourful kurungs, kebayas, kebarungs, baju melayus and songkoks. The setting was outdoors – complete with a canopy, and long tables on which our Malaysian Raya delicacies were arranged. The menu consisted of nasi impit, pulut kuning, rendang, kuah kacang, nasi dagang, nasi minyak, ayam masak merah, mee bandung and assam laksa. There were cookies, kerepek and even freshly made dodol, painstakingly made by the Malaysian community! The food was 100 percent home-cooked, by the MSD officers, family and friends; for where can you find a ready-made spread of Malaysian Raya food in Chicago?
I hope that the students, totaling to almost 300, who traveled all the way to Wilmette (from as far as Minnesota and Nebraska, to as near as De Kalb, Evanston and Chicago) for this occasion had a wonderful time meeting friends and strengthening their relationship with MSD officers and their families. Also that the ambience and the food served was to their taste and satisfaction. I also hope that all of you arrived home safely by Sunday evening to enable you to attend the Monday classes. Truly we appreciate the sacrifices you have made in making your way here and being with us for this year’s Hari Raya. It certainly made our Raya more beautiful and meaningful!
I understand that some students could not make it to the Raya celebration hosted by MSD Chicago because of their hectic schedules, exams or the date coincided with MSA Raya activities. We missed your presence, of course, but rest assured there will be other opportunities in future. On behalf of MSD Chicago, I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all of you, students in the Midwest region who have continued to support programs conducted by MSD Chicago and hope that this positive attitude will persist in the years to come.
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts and Selamat Hari Raya, Maaf Zahir Batin.
