The Anxiety of Rituals

By Diana Rahim Rituals have always been a fraught topic for me. For a long time I associated them with a vacuous, rigid religiosity I found unfulfilling; the Islam of my childhood often taught through fear and rigid enforcement of rituals to ensure compliance. Even as a child I was aware that adults knew rituals were simply not…

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Chasing the Perfect Ramadhan

By Zarifah Anuar As a child, Ramadhan was presented to me as a special, sacred month. Fasting was supposed to not only help us gain an insight into the lives of the poor, but to also test one’s faith and connection to God. Ramadhan to me wasn’t merely a month of fasting and prayer –…

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Fasting – A Test of One’s Mettle

By Farheen Ferdhouse Fasting is expected of every practicing Muslim during the holy month of Ramadhan. It is that time of the year where we get to seek the pleasure of God (our creator), by performing extra prayers on top of our obligatory prayers coupled with the act of abstaining from eating and drinking for…

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Ritualism in Religion – Some Thoughts

By Nurul Fadiah Johari It is the time of the year again when Muslims are promised with the reward of a thousand nights, when Satan is locked up, thus putting Muslims on a rewards spree. For some, Ramadan is the time to stock up on religious rewards; it becomes an obsession to perform rituals due…

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Balancing Routine and Rituals

By anonymous Here’s how an evening is like for me during Ramadhan: 5.00pm: Leave work, fetch mom, visit bazaar (any bazaar), buy kueh (cheap cheap, 1 packet $1), buy rice, buy noodles 5.30pm: Feel guilty for buying so much food 6.00pm: Reach home and wait… 6.30pm: Still waiting… 6.45pm: Dad comes home and we brace…

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Rituals

In this month of Ramadan, we will be launching a blog series on “Rituals”. Ramadan is usually a time when Muslims engage in rituals such as fasting, nightly prayers, dzikir, ngaji (reciting the Quran) and more. This blog series will share stories from Muslims in Singapore on their experiences and thoughts on these rituals and…

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