'Taqaballahu minna wa mimkum' (may Allah accept from us and you)
With Saturday 19th September being the 29th of Ramadhan, Eid (Eid being Hari Raya - as in Aidil Fitri - "Aid" = Eid) this year would have been either on Sunday or Monday. Planning wise, we've informed the boys' school that they will not be attending on Monday and the preparation for Eid had been well underway since the weekend before with some shoppings and planning.
By the afternoon of Saturday, we found out that it has been confirmed that Hari Raya Aidil Fitri in Malaysia will fall on Sunday and while the date for London was yet unknown, we've 'started our celebration' by calling home and interrupting our families back home in their busy 'malam raya' activities.
While the National TV will not be announcing it like the announcement by "Pemegang Mohor Besar Raja-Raja" back home, there are a number of avenues to find out. The question was, which would be the fastest way to find out. We had planned to check the Islam Channel and Peace TV after Maghrib and at the same time, the ICCUK website mentioned that they will announce it on the site after 6pm.
So, with the rendang, lemang, nasi impit, sate's ingredients were prepared, we had the kids checking the website and finally, there it was;
Eid this year is on Sunday, 20th September. Preparation suddenly took higher urgency and alhamdulillah, by 2am, both of us finally went to bed with almost everything ready for the big day. All the above (and more) were all homemade and we purposely made a big do of it as we don't want the kids to miss the experience eventhough we are in an environment where Eid (and other Islamic events) are goes generally unnoticed by the wider population.
As always, one of the key thing on Eid is the prayer in the morning and that was central in our planning for the day. Note the Eid Prayers' times above. As has been the case of the last so many year, to accommodate the huge number of muslims in London, the Regents Park mosque and many others as well have a few Eid Prayer sessions. At the Regents Park mosque, it's 5 times. At the mosque near our place, it's 3 times for example.
We ended up going to the Regents Park mosque and joined the 3rd session at 10am. Alhamdulillah, the day was very beautiful and it was such a blessing to be able to go there with the whole family joining thousands of other muslim brothers and sisters from all over the world. The spirit of brotherhood centred around the common belief in Allah and His Messenger felt so strong and beautiful as people from various backgrounds gathered together. As I was making my way amongst the crowd, the comment made by Malcolm X in his biography about his experience during Haj came to mine; something around the whitest or white and the bluest of blue eyes sharing their spaces and meals with him. Subhanallah.....
We left the mosque at just before 11am as the next group was coming for the 11am session. The earlier plan to go to the Malaysia High Commission was abandoned as we headed home for our Hari Raya meal. Throughout the days, we had a few friends came over....that's how our Raya went this year. Alone in this foreign land far from home.....but together where home always is, wherever we are....Alhamdulillah.
Eid Mubarak everyone....Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri, Maaf Zahir Batin.
