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Andhra Pradesh, Argentina, biryani, Eid Mubarak, eid ul-fitr, fasting, haleem, holy book, Hyderabad, Iftar, India, Islam, Islam around the world, Istanbul, Mecca, Medina, mosque, Muslims, Nalgonda, Palestine, prayer, Quran, Ramadan, ramazan, Ramzan, religion, Sewiyah, Singapore, Sudan, Turkey Jordan, United States

A Very Belated Eid Mubarak

We’re back! Ilana and I have resumed classes at APRS boys’ school in Nalgonda, after an extended break for Ramzan and exams. We spent the past three days there, and after a one-day break we’ll be heading there again for the weekend. To introduce the photo slideshow project (see the photos from the first stage on Flickr) Ilana brought her Vizag and Vijayawada slideshows to share with the boys, and I created one of images of Islam around the world. A few of the photos came from my own collection from Palestine and Jordan, while the rest I found online, such as these photos from Ramadan in Sudan and Turkey:

Photo by Vit Hassan, taken in Northern Sudan

Photo by Vit Hassan, taken in Northern Sudan

Photo by Erik N., taken in Istanbul

The boys were especially excited to see photos of Saudi Arabia, being the site of two holiest cities in Islam, Mecca and Medina. But they were surprised by the range of other countries I showed pictures from, as they searched our class globe for Singapore, Argentina, and the United States.

That evening for homework each member of the class wrote a description of how they celebrate Ramzan (or Ramadan) here in India. Although Ilana and I were around to taste haleem (well, Ilana did anyway–I’m vegetarian), talk to people about the experience of fasting, and even take advantage of some holiday sales, what better way to introduce the full experience than with the writings of our boys? We were quite pleased with the detail of their descriptions, and we hope you enjoy and learn from them!

Bari

Our Ramzan.

By Bari

We are Muslims. In the ramzan Muslims will be Raza! Raza means we are not eat food and drinking water with 5 am to 6:30 pm. We eat food at 5 am that is (saher) and to Namaz to pray and read Quran. 6:30 pm in the raza we will do IFTAR. Iftar means we will eat (khajoor) means dates and some fruits this is called IFTAR.

Quran is our holy book. Its come to Ramaz month. It is the gift of God. We will give respect to Quran. We will leave Raza on 30 days. After 30 days we will do one festival that festival name is EID-UL-FITUR means we will go to EID-GHA and pray the Namaz. This namaz is read at 7:30 am. Namaz is over we will give to shake hand and hugging and say each other (EID MUBARAK) we will go to our home and eat food and drink sheer korma. Sheer korma is very famous in ramazan. Sheer koroma means the milk and shewiya means like a (magi, noodles) we will got our relatives house and we will do salam and say EID Mubarak. This is called our Ramazan festival.

Siraj

Eid-ul-Fitr, My story

By Siraj

Ramzan Festival

I will wake up on the festival at 5:00 am and go to brought the milk for Sewiyah. I brought 15 litres of milk for the Sewiyah. After that I will take a bath a have fresh. And wear the new clothes. We take the Itar (spray) on the new clothes. It was scent like a spray. After we will go to the (Eid-gah) the big mosque for the prayer. After the prayer we will back to home.

There was a my favourite and special sweet of the (Eid) festival was Sewiyah. I take one cup and drink it. My mom was cooking the Sewiyah very special. In the ramzan the Sewiyah was very special. After the drinking sewiyah we eat food of chicken biryani and curd. After we will go to meet the relatives. We shake hands and say (EID MUBARAK) to each other. After we meet our friends and enjoy. We will take (Eidi). The EIDI the gift to the childrens the relatives and parents gives. My father give me 150 rupees of (EIDI). We will enjoy the lot of the ice-creams, cakes, and burgur. After the enjoying I will get back home and eat the chicken biryani and go to the sleep.

28
Oct

tms@themodernstory.com

Daily Updates, Photo Stories, Student Writing

hindu temple, Hyderabad, India, Islam, Lebanon, mosque, Muslim artists, religion in India, Student Writing, The Modern Story, World Faith

Islam and India: Student writings on world faiths and recent floods

The boys pose in front of their mosque nearest their boarding school

I asked the students to write about a special memory they had. Munna, a student whose group project was on religion, misinterpreted the assignment and wrote to me: Religion is like memory (for) anyone who cannot see with his eyes, he sees with his mind.

A temple near The Modern Story's fellows' apartment in Abids

When asked, ‘If there was one thing you would change about the world,’ Krrish responded: I would convert the whole world to Islam. I asked him what he would do if he met someone who believed in a different religion and did not want to be converted. He said, ‘I would respect him. But I would tell him how he was living was wrong.’ In response, Krrish will be exploring how the diversity of religions in India relates to him by working on fictional conversations, a dialogue, that he would imagine to take place between himself and people of different faiths that he meets. His responses reminded me a lot of the delicate discussions I took part in with World Faith in Lebanon following the 2006 war. Arbani, an energetic small 9th grader, will be exploring religion through a graphic novel he is working on. He is a visually oriented student who cannot wait to draw and is always sketching something in his notebook. He will be exploring religious tensions in his community, Hyderabad, and India through a series of illustrated stories that I hope to be posting soon.

Near APRS Boys boarding school in Nalgonda outside Hyderabad, India

A Hindu temple near the Muslim APRS Boys school

Another student, Khasim, wrote a poem about the afternoon sunlight near the mosque where he prays:

Afternoon comes
it goes
to the river to ride on buffaloes
to the big animals
and enjoys them all
This way the afternoon, like a crow, enjoys the whole day.

Both religion and issues related to health including dengue, malaria and the recent floods seem to be issues that concern the students on a daily basis. Nadeem, for example, wrote about those Indians that have had to deal with the heavy rains this summer:

Mud in our homes
Mud in our beds
Mud in our bones
Where do we eat.
Where do we sleep.

Sajjid, a student that has a lot of experience with cameras and has been patiently waiting his turn to show his skills, wrote the following about the floods in Andhra Pasha.

There is a man
in the water
in the (midst) of his poverty
floating on the flood
There is a man
by the water
eating all the money.

One theme students will be exploring this semester is health. This is a photo of one of Hyderabad's most famous hospitals: Osmania

Arshan had one of the most poignant insights into the crossroads between religion and the floods in Andhra Pasha in his letter to the Chief Minister:

“Look at how the people are before the flood. Look at how they collect money to help. People go to the Mosque, the Temple, the Church and they all come away with money to give to people of the flood.”