Ramadan in the Balkans

22/06/2013| IslamWeb

Muslims in the Balkans celebrate the days of Ramadan as if they are in a feast that lasts for 29 or 30 days and nights. Streets and shops are adorned with lights, Masaajid (i.e. mosques) are filled with prayers and Athkaar and day to day customs and traditions are changed only to be replaced by the values and manners of Ramadan. The time of cooking and sitting at the table with the family changes. Those fasting quit drinking coffee and eating food till the time of Iftaar (i.e. breaking the fast at sunset). Unveiled women wear modest clothes out of respect for Ramadan. Neighbors exchange food as well as visits and Iftaar invitations. Masaajid are filled with worshippers unlike the other days of the year.

The Grand Mufti of Bosnia, Dr. Mustafa Ceric, said: "Ramadan is a test for our readiness to be patient, and to endure and realize the reality of hunger that is suffered by many people around the world. Moreover, Ramadan visits us every year to purify our souls from the accumulation of heedlessness, negligence and sins." He continued: "Muslims should be happy with their religion and obedience to Allah because whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger, the gates of Paradise are open for him." He added: "Islam teaches us how to live happily and teaches us that whoever declines to remember Allah leads a miserable life. Fasting people should be happy with their success in defeating the pressures, requirements and desires of the body." He also said: "Ramadan is the individual happiness and ʻEed is the collective happiness." The grand mufti mentioned that the second day of 'Eed every year is specified for the martyrs among the sons of Bosnia who died while defending the survival of Bosnia and preventing the enemies from dividing it.

Multi-featured happiness:

Muslims in the Balkans prepare for the blessed month of Ramadan and 'Eed according to the traditions they are accustomed to. These traditions are characterized by delight and dominated by happiness irrespective of material problems and social, economic and political circumstances. Muslims in these days find time for happiness when they forget their sorrows and pain all throughout the year whether they are personal, family-related, popular or national.

The Mufti of Banja Luka, Shaykh Adham Samcic, said: 'Eed is happiness in our hearts, our homes and among our neighbors." Furthermore, Muslims in Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Albania and Macedonia celebrate Ramadan and the blessed 'Eed Al-Fitr in a high spiritual atmosphere that is characterized by tolerance and calling for coexistence" in an environment of harmony, recognition of everyone and observing the right of difference and the duty of respecting the principles and viewpoints of others whoever they are."

Masaajid and places of prayer in the aforementioned countries witness great crowds in the days of Ramadan as Muslims visit them from everywhere whether they are used to praying or usually abandon prayers. This is because witnessing the Taraaweeh prayer in Ramadan is a firm tradition for Muslims in the Balkans. No one abandons it except the sick or travelers.

In the Balkans, people who memorized the Quran lead the worshippers in prayers. Religious lectures increase in the Masaajid to emphasize that "religion is peace, justice is respect, reality is security and the wishes of the soul are the health of the body." The wisdom that Muslims learn from such lectures includes the following: "If faith disappears from the lives of people, peace will disappear among them. If justice is not the basis of judging, the judgment will not be respected by the nation. If the spirit is not full of faith and hope, the soul will deteriorate and determination will weaken and despair will increase. Also, submission, hypocrisy and searching for false individual salvation will prevail. Moreover, it should be known that lying is the origin of sins." Preachers warn against sedition. Allah The Almighty Says (what means): {Fitnah is worse than killing.} [Quran 2:191]. They also call for cooperation and coexistence among the different peoples, nations, cultures, sects and schools. Yards and playgrounds, like the commercial hub in the middle of Sarajevo, witness a great number of people praying as the Mufti of Sarajevo, Shaykh Husayn Samaic, leads the masses.

The following is some of what Muslims learnt in his lectures: "The life of faith is the best choice between the natural happy and quiet life and the other disordered, competitive and exhausting life." "If we have no role in choosing the time of our birth or our parents, then we do have the choice in how we live and think and what we will be like before our death." "Whoever does not respect the thoughts of others and wants to restrict them is violating the laws of nature and the creatures whom Allah Made different. He Called for coexistence, respecting others and preserving Islamic values.”

In Mostar, Muslims pray in thirty-seven different places. The Mufti of Mostar leads the worshippers in prayer in the cultural center of the University of Mostar.

In Zvornik, the Mufti of the Eastern province of Bosnia leads people in prayer in the largest Masjid in the region.
In Zagreb, Croatia, the Mufti, Shaykh Shawqi ʻUmar Bactic, said that Muslims in Croatia receive congratulations from the Grand Mufti in Bosnia, the president of Croatia, Stjepan Mesiو, and Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor for the arrival of the blessed month of Ramadan.

Furthermore, Muslims in Serbia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Macedonia and Albania receive congratulations from senior officials in these countries. Ramadan, for the Mufti and the Imaams of the above mentioned countries, represents an opportunity to deliver messages to Muslims through lectures that call them to return to their religion in terms of learning, understanding and applying it as well as a chance to send a message of peace to non-Muslims in order to recognize the right of Muslims to practice Islam without restriction, harassment, hate, projections or insinuation.
Senior Muslim officials in the Balkans perform the Taraaweeh prayers with the Muslims and exchange congratulations with worshippers (without the interference of guards or security measures) for the advent of the virtuous month or in the morning of ‘Eed day directly after the prayer.

Great enthusiasm from young people:

Masaajid in Bosnia witness an unparalleled attendance of youths and adolescents, especially in the blessed month of Ramadan. This is a glad tiding in a country that is targeted from everywhere. Although Bosnia is a country of multiple sects and ethnicities, whoever wanders in the streets of the cities, especially in Sarajevo, before Iftaar will only see a few people who are not fasting, sitting in cafes and restaurants or smoking. Young people occupy the first rows when performing the five prayers and Taraaweeh. Moreover, their relation to one another is very intimate. This means that it is a collective return and not merely personal religiousness or a state that is related to the virtuous month.

Having Iftaar inside the Masaajid:

Young people and the newly practicing among them are keen on having Iftaar before performing the Maghrib prayer. Afterwards, they go to their homes or collective Iftaar centers that are established by some foundations like Al-Marhamah, which is affiliated to the Islamic Sheikhdom or other charitable foundations including Arabic ones.

Twenty-one year old Raamiz said: "I love performing the obligatory prayers in the Masjid including the Maghrib prayer as we eat three or five dates upon the Athaan to be ready to perform the prayer immediately after the Iqaamah." He added: "After performing the prayer, we go back as guests at one another's homes, at the collective Iftaar centers or as hosts." Young people are keen on arriving early to the Masjid, especially at the time of Ishaaʼ, for performing prayer and reciting the Quran." Twenty-one year old ʻAamir said: "Voluntary prayers are better at home but voluntary prayers, reciting the Quran in the Masjid, taking frequent steps to it and staying there are considered by the youth as one of the aspects of maintaining the Masaajid." Furthermore, young people are keen on quiet and not wasting time in idle talk inside Masaajid, especially upon delivering short lectures that are given by preachers before the Ishaaʼ and Taraaweeh prayers.

Lectures and activities:

Every year in the Masaajid of Bosnia, lectures and activities are organized. Young people and whoever could attend take part in these activities especially between Thuhr and 'Asr and 'Asr and Maghrib. Quran is recited alternately, that is to say that one of them reads an agreed upon amount of the Quran and then another follows. Usually among the attendants, there is a person who memorized the Quran or is skillful at one or more type of recitation to correct pronunciation and recitation.

Before Ishaa', religious lectures are given that remind the performers of prayer of the virtues of the month of Ramadan and the necessity of utilizing it to support the basics of the spiritual structure and strengthen the relation with Allah The Almighty. Young people love these lectures. Twenty-four year old Almir said: "These lectures comfort the soul and bring about happiness. When I listen to them, I forget all my concerns and life, with its sweet and bitter aspects, seems to me as something that does not deserve killing oneself in its pursuit. Instead, one should live according to his potential and remember that the Hereafter and all that which it contains is the centre of the real life of man. The life of this world is but a stage to win what is there." These lectures played a role in improving the religiousness of many people whether in Ramadan or outside Ramadan.

Ramadan talk:

In Sarajevo, a new piece of writing about Ramadan was recently celebrated. It was added to the Ramadan library that is still showing noble cultural and human manifestations. For many people, it became an occasion for learning through the cultural nights of Ramadan in which thoughts are expressed and merged.

The book "Ramadan Talk" was written by Adham Mula Abdic and Rida Begh Kabyatanovic and presented to people by Samir Sadiqovic. The book emerged as one of the topics that were discussed in the conversations of Ramadan this year in Bosnia. The book, in addition to the worship and spiritual aspects of Ramadan, gathers the experiences of a huge number of believers in Ramadan, how they fasted and their feelings in this noble month in which the souls of believers are elevated and superior wishes and divine grants prevail over whatever is mortal and earthly. In addition, thoughts and minds become clearer for they were screened by previous months. Man spends his day thinking of the Hereafter and noble values so he becomes very close to Allah The Exalted. The author quoted some of those whom he asked saying: "There is no other month in which I feel the depth of faith, the sweetness of worship and the happiness for being a Muslim like in Ramadan."

Another said: "In Ramadan, I glorify the Symbols of Allah The Almighty and avoid His prohibitions more than in other months. I feel that Allah The Exalted Is very close to me so I fear Him more than in any past time. There is no month in which I remember Allah The Almighty and recite the Quran like in Ramadan."