Suhur in Masjid (taken by: Rizki)

It would be my first Ramadan here after I used to spend my Ramadan time just in my home country, Indonesia. It would be my first Taraweeh, and experiencing all Ramadan activity here, that is not exactly same as my Ramadan in my home country  , where I could find easily free iftar, ta'jil, short lecture before iftar and performing Taraweeh with a lot of Jamaah as well as performing all of Ramadan activities in a since most of people do the same. It becomes a special experience as I live in a country where Muslin is not a major population. Spending the daytime longer than in tropical country, which is around 17 hours in that you have to survive during this summer season will be an unforgotten experience as well. It would be challenging as you have to do the regular work in the lab even doing the seminar presentation in the Maghrib time when you have to break fasting first, as they don't consider the prayer time.

But, now I am very grateful being here. I even could get a better Ramadan here since I thought that everywhere you experience Ramadan there are a lot of favors from Allah. All values we get are dependent on how much graces we consciously have thanked to Allah.

As far as fourth day Ramadan, I found myself enjoy this kind of Ramadan in Sendai. It has been very nice when accidentally Me and my friends decided to stay whole night in Masjid everyday start from Taraweeh until after shubuh prayer just at the day before Ramadan. I never do it even in Indonesia! When I was in Indonesia, somehow, I always have a number of reasons to not spend a lot of time in Masjid except for Taraweeh and obligatory prayer during Ramadan. But again, I do it here! Fyi, We have two places where we perform Taraweeh prayer, which are Masjid and University dormitory. I can easily access that two places by bicycle within 7-10 minutes. And at that time, I decided to regularly pray Taraweeh in Masjid. It was a grateful that we have one masjid here so that we can still have Jamaah in Masjid during all the time here.

This year, the ICCS (Islamic Cultural Centre of Sendai) committee again invite syaikh Usman from Pakistan as a leader (imam) for Taraweeh and daily prayers during Ramadhan . The Taraweeh will be performed by 1 Juz recitation, started at 9 PM and finished at around 10.45 PM with a short lecture in the middle of Taraweeh. Even in Japan, I have experienced such kind of special Taraweeh even more than that I did in Indonesia!

By the way, somehow what I feel here is that I have been able to manage my time better. There is a few of distraction during my day. That is not like I used to do in my home country, where I have a lot of activities as a distraction. Because, a lot of things we can do, including a lot of entertainments. Easily we can go somewhere with unnecessary intention and so many waste activities can be done. Being here, because there are just limited number of people by which we can be so close each other as well as limited and scheduled time. I feel that I can be more efficiently using all the time I have here. Just for academic purpose and community activities, including Indonesian community, Muslim community, some international communities, and for sport activities. FYI, every day, during a normal day, I am supposed to do my research work in the lab during daytime and going back at around 6-9 PM, then doing Isya prayer in Masjid, taking a dinner, and sleeping.  And do the same daily activity every weekday. Then, doing community activity on Saturday and Sunday. For other holidays, I still can refresh my mind by going somewhere that I want. For me by just taking a photo of some beautiful place or playing futsal is a very nice break time after getting work during weekdays. Even, in my case, I can do on weekdays because I don’t have a lot of class during my Master program here and I can manage my lab schedule by myself independently.

During this Ramadan, it has been more scheduled since I should not exceed my work time because I have to go to masjid before 9 PM to perform Jamaah Taraweeh (or Isya Prayer at normal day). For Iftar (breaking fasting), I did not worry so much, because there has been always an iftar in Masjid or from some brother who brings more food in Campus. We can share each other and eat together. It was kind of experience that basically I could find it in Indonesia but feels like more special. What about eating for sahur (dawn meal) ? Is there foods that you can get in Masjid? Yes, there is! We were always getting the food because it has been scheduled and managed as well. For daily Iftar and sahur every country community (Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Africa, Japanese and Malaysia) are responsible to prepare the food in each day. Then we can taste all of the food coming from different countries. It has been also very nice experiences being here.

Moreover, we still have four big Iftar Party every Sunday. Each country which are Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Africa and Malaysia are responsible serving the Iftar in each Sunday during Ramadan. It has been kind of events where all of the muslim in Sendai and surrounding area come together and meet each other in one place! I could see the faces of Sendai Muslim on that day, and it was very nice at all! And the last featured (but not least) Ramadan activity here during Ramadan is making and eating Iftar together (or in Indonesian we call it “Bukber”) with Indonesian Muslim Community (KMIS) every Saturday. It would be an opportunity for us Indonesian Muslim to keep in touch each other and to strengthen our brotherhoods or ukhuwah Islamiyah during our journey in Japan, being far from our home country Indonesia.

Finally, I would say that during this my first Ramadan, I am definitely grateful and glad experiencing Ramadan even tough being far from my families. I still can meet very kind people and a lot of brothers who are reminding to a goodness each other. Can’t wait for another story during this Ramadan, including the story about Eidul Fitr here!

Hope this Ramadan, we can get Allah’s blessing and be a better person in the following month. May Allah always guide us on the straight path.