Important topic about Ramadan month

(This is an actual topic about Ramadan month which was given in a grade one class)

Arif Nelson gave this presentation about Ramadan to his grade one class at Bottenfield Elementary School in Champaign. It was followed by a question and answer session.

Each child was also given a date to sample. In all, Arif's presentation lasted approximately 40 minutes and was well received by the teacher and all the students, Alhamdulillah. Arif's father, Faruq Nelson has allowed Sound Vision to use this presentation as a sample for other students or parents who would like to do the same.

Arif's Presentation (January 8, 1999)

Today is the twentieth day of topic about Ramadan month, the fasting month for Muslims.

Muslims are the people who follow the religion of Islam, which is the fastest growing religion in America and the world. Ramadan is the month when our holy book the Quran was first revealed to the Prophet Muhammad over 1400 years ago.

At the end of this presentation, I will recite a small part of the Quran so you can hear what it sounds like.

Since the Muslim calendar is based on the moon instead of the sun, Ramadan doesn't happen at the same time every year. This year Ramadan is in winter, when days are short and nights are long. But other years Ramadan can be in the fall, summer, or spring.

Muslims fast every day during the month of Ramadan. When Muslims fast, we don't eat or drink anything at all from dawn until sundown. While we are fasting we shouldn't complain about being hungry or thirsty, and we should avoid getting angry or irritated with people. I'm not old enough to fast the whole day yet, but I sometimes try to practice fasting part of the day.

At the end of each day, we break our fast at a special meal called Iftar. Many Muslims like to start their Iftar by eating dates, because that was the custom of Prophet Muhammad.

Since Muslims come from just about every place in the world, different families have different things they like to eat during their Iftar. My family especially likes Malaysian, Indian, and Arab food.

After we eat, my whole family prays our evening prayer together. Later in the evening, we sometimes go to the Masjid for the night prayer and some special extra prayers.

In about ten more days, Ramadan will be over and then there will be a big festival called Eid al-Fitr. That's Arabic for "the festival of breaking the fast."

Since my mom is from Malaysia, my family also calls this festival Hari Raya, which in the Malaysian language means "the great day." On that day, I don't come to school. My sister and I get presents and money from my mom and dad.

Everybody in my family wears our best clothes and goes for special prayers at our Masjid. Afterwards we go to visit our friends. We ask everybody we meet to forgive us for any bad things we did during the past year.

We also give money to poor Muslims who need to buy food and new clothes so they can enjoy the festival, too.

Before I end my presentation, I am going to recite a part of the Quran called Surah al-Qadr. This surah talks about how the Quran was first revealed on a special night in Ramadan called the Night of Power.

Bismillah....

I hope you liked this presentation. Thank you.