GOODBYE RAMADAN, WELCOME SYAWAL

My first ramadan in jordan has almost come to an end , in 2/3 days time syawal is coming, leaving me with 1001 experiences/challenges/happiness/sadness..................

It feels like only yesterday was my first ramadan...time surely passes by extremely fast nowadays.....
List of things/actions encountered here in jordan during ramadan.....

• almost all muslims are excited/happy welcoming ramadan..can be seen from 'ramadan mubarak' banners
• mosques(every corner ) full of jamaah every night during early ramadan and only 3 saff left last night(same like in malaysia), maybe they had gone back home aka balik kampung??
• kuih qataif was introduced to me by zaid because this kuih is only produced n sold in ramadan..it looks like kuih apam kecik yang dijual di pasar malam di malaysia but dalamnya dibubuh pelbagai kacang n sira in syrup, very sweet,tak sedap mana pun..arabs buy this kuih almost everyday,tak sah berbuka tanpa kuih ni
• an arab is an arab, he does what he wants..2X in 2 different outings , in front of the fun directory computer shop in amman city center n on my way to irbid at the gas station. there were 2 young ,healthy arab men, without any shame, smoking in public in the mid afternoon, the one at the pc shop was scolded for smoking by another man passing by, what happened after that? the smoking man took out his empty kotak rokok n threw it on the car outside the shop...however he didn't say a word to the man who scolded him...he left the place..the one at the gas station (arab tak kira isi minyak pun smoking, jenis berani mati katak ) kept on smoking as if nothing happened... may be n may be they are christian arabs..
• most arabs break their fast by having a bite of date(sunnah) n.....SMOKING (some ulama say haram)as the main dish...
• almost all muslim arabs in jordan believe that lailatul qadr is on the night of the 27th ramadan , (in malay malam 7 likur ) they pray n perform other ibadah(iktiqaf) the entire night , they don't sleep at all.... actually zaid says nobody knows which night is lailatulqadar but its on malam ramadan yang ganjil ( 21,23,25,27,29 ??? )I don't know these jordanians follow whose fatwa,but that's the only night they all strive, performing prayers the entire night..masjid siap sediakan sahur...
• arabs also prepare for eid mubarak, when we were at irbid mall, many arabs went shopping for new clothes n shoes especially for the children, same like in malaysia..izzat says his teacher at school also asked him whether he had bought new shirts for eid mubarak..other than that, arabs celebrate eid with chocolates n sweets because many many of those sweet stuff are sold in almost all shops..ranging from ferraro rocher, raffello, deluxe, galaxy to no brand sweets are sold at discounted prices..I pun dah beli jugak sikit sebab murah
• many beggars can be seen during ramadan here in amman , women with small kids, little boys n girls, handicapped people are everywhere begging for money . They usually wait outside shopping complexes, markets n banks.one can hardly see any beggar on the street other than ramadan. i find that many jordanians especially men are generous, many times i saw them donated money to the beggars (many times in front of the jordan n housing banks, i selalu pegi bank ni).I don't know where the beggars come from because they don't look like jordanians, their faces are dark n they have very sharp eyes (yes i mean sharp eyes,bayangkanlah macamana!) n long pointed noses. well, after all ,ramadan is the month of giving ......
• no air pollution during day time, the 'no smoking' signboards are well observed by almost all jordanians, thank you for not smoking, thank you jordanians, Thank You Ramadan,Most of all, THANK YOU ALLAH THE ALMIGHTY.

Anyhow, i really hope that this is my best ramadan ever n may i have a chance to experience another ramadan next year, InsyaAllah.

...............GOODBYE RAMADAN, WELCOME SYAWAL.............