Eidekum Mubarak!!!

Eid mubarak everybody!!
Ramadan came to an end this weekend. On the day after Ramadan there is a celebration called "Eid al Fitr." The celebration of the breaking of the month-long fast. For my last futoor the night before Eid, my university held a futoor dinner for all the students at a nice cafe called Diva's just off the Gulf. It was a lot of fun and a lot of people showed up for the event. It was cool to see my classmates outside the context of the school. I had a lot of kanafa for dessert. Yum! I am helplessly addicted to kanafa. It is a dessert made out of cheese! yes! cheese!!

Anyway, I went with Dina and Heba and Kara and we also talked with Nizar and my friend Fatma who is on my soccer team. She is a lot of fun and we always have great conversations. Nizar confirmed for us the coming of Eid the next day which is dictated for Kuwaitis by the sighting of the moon in Saudi Arabia. After we finished our futoor, we went to Al-Rashed mosque where I had done Taraweeh before and went to pray our last Taraweeh prayer. However we got so lost for some reason and so we missed it. But we listened to it over the radio in the car as we tried to figure out where we were. Then we finally got back to civilization an hour later. It was actually a fun experience to get lost with my friends. We were laughing the whole time. Then we went shopping for Eid at Marina Mall. It was sooo packed. There were tons of people looking for their Eid outfits. We ate at chocolate bar and then went home. I wanted to pray the special Eid prayer that is done in the morning on the first day of Eid so Dina sent me the information about it:

Assalamu Alaikom Sister!

Here is all the info I found about Salat Al-Eid:

1. It's a Sunnah.

2. It's 2 rak'at long.

3. It has no athan or iqama, unlike the five prayers.

4. Before going to pray, you must eat something. It is Sunnah to eat an odd number of dates.

5. It is Sunnah to wash up and dress in clean clothes--basically look your best in a modest way.

6. The Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) used to walk to the masjid in one path and return from a different path. The main point is that walking (if you are able to) is better than riding.

7. While waiting for the prayer to begin and on your way to the masjid, it is Sunnah to say:

"Allahu Akbar (7 times), Allahu Akbaru Kabeeraan, wal Hamdulillahi katheeraan, wa subHan Allah bukratan wa aseelaan, la ilaha illa Allah waHdah, a'azza jundah, wa sadaqa 'abdah, wa hazama al aHzab waHdah, laa ilaha illa Allah..." Repeat it over and over until the prayer starts.

8. The prayer: In the first rak'a, the Imam will do 7 "Allahu Akbar" before reading from the Qur'an. And 5 "Allahu Akbar" in the second rak'a. These are called takbeeraat (i.e. saying Allahu Akbar and raising your hand). You repeat after the Imam "Allahu Akbar".

Enjoy the prayers!

In the morning around 5:45 the mosques began calling out "Allahu Akbar" and other praises to Allah. It was beautiful. It went on for like 15 minutes. It was so nice to walk to the mosque in the early morning for the first time. It was a nice feeling seeing everyone up early and walking to the mosque and hearing the praises through the loudspeakers of all the mosques in the community. The sky looked amazing. Masha Allah. I was going to go to the Rashed Mosque which is a beautiful mosque and Alafasy was doing the Takbeer there. But then I thought to myself that it would be best for me to go just to a simple mosque and just focus on the salat, not on where it is or who is leading it. It was very nice and felt just as good to share in prayer with others here as it did to share in prayer at the Grand Mosque. Cuz when u really go under the veil of Allah, and commune with him in prayer, u forget where u r, u just feel u are with Allah and no other detail becomes important at that point. Just worship of him. Just hearing his word and receiving it and praising Him and lifting up His name.

Then after the prayer, I went back home to watch the Eid prayer done in Mecca, Saudi Arabia on live TV. It was amazing. So many people were in Mecca. Even the King was at the mosque praying too. Then I took a nap and then a friend brought over some Kanafa. It was just what I was wishing for!! :) I got many nice txt messages from my friends with Eid greetings. I sent some of my own and then went with my friends to the local public market to look at things and go to the stores. Then we had Zubaidy and Raw kibbeh for dinner and then we had some Arabic coffee and went back home.

It was a very nice Eid. I can't believe Ramadaan is over. The memories I have from this month will last a lifetime.