Ramadan is a time for Renewal

Al-Naffar blowing his trumpet Source: https://archive.aawsat.com/details.asp?section=67&article=688996&issueno=12301#.Yl9i1ejMJPY

Fasting is an ancient tradition that has been practiced by so many cultures for centuries, used for spiritual purposes, physical cleansing, and self-discipline. For muslims fasting is one of the five pillars of Islam, called Ramadan.

Ramadan is a month of fasting that the Muslim nation welcomes each year with joy. While the exact dates and seasons change each year, the Islamic holy month is determined by the sighting of a crescent moon. the moon has to be seen by the naked eye

 During this holy month of worship, Muslims refrain from food, drink, and intimacy from dawn to sunset, with some exceptions for age, illness, or other medical conditions. Likewise, women who are pregnant, breastfeeding, or menstruating are exempt from fasting.

Beyond physical fasting, Ramadan offers a beautiful opportunity to pause our day-to-day routines and devote time to get reacquainted with our inner selves and check our habits, passions, desires, and world relationships.  

Memories of Ramadan

I fondly recall my childhood memories of Ramadan.  In my home country of Morocco, the preparation for Ramadan began two weeks before it started.  Women would deep clean their homes and crowd the markets to shop for special grocery items to make traditional Ramadan sweet almond pastries.  We would sit down as a family the night before Ramadan, waiting to hear the Al-Naffar blowing his long, skinny horn trumpet.  Each year, the Naffar would walk through the streets at night to announce the start and the end of Ramadan with the joyful notes from his trumpet.  A few minutes before sunset, the streets look deserted, and like every family, we gather around the table, waiting for the call to prayer or the sound of the siren to break the fast. We begin our first meal (iftar)  with a healthy dish like harira, a traditional Moroccan soup with a rich mixture of lentils, tomatoes, onions, chickpeas, meat, herbs, spices, and a splash of lime juice. The harira is the center of the iftar table in every home and restaurant during Ramadan. Its aroma fills the streets in the last hour or two before Iftar. I have included a recipe below for your enjoyment.

an example of an Iftar table https://www.instagram.com/hananemasterchef/

The ritual of Ramadan would continue with the drummers roaming the streets at night and then tapping their drums for  two hours around 2-3:00 a.m. before it was time to begin the fast the next day.  This was to rouse people out of bed for their last meal before the fast started that day.  This meal, called suhur, would be prepared by my mom, who would wake us when ready.  We would savor each bite before the siren would alert us to the beginning of another day of fasting.

You may be wondering what this time is like for children and those fasting for the first time.  As I mentioned earlier, there are some exemptions to fasting. Muslim children don't fast until they reach puberty, but it becomes obligatory at 18.  As kids, we were just excited about all the special treats we got to eat during Ramadan and that school was only half a day.  So, at fourteen, I didn’t know what to expect that first day I started the fast.  There was a brutal battle between my head and my stomach each day, especially the last two hours were always very challenging when I smelled my mom's cooking. It made me hungrier than I thought, and  I was tempted to quit a few times and knew that I would have to start all over again if I did.  But, I survived like so many before me because of our faith. 

While Ramadan continues to be an essential part of Moroccan life, not all the Ramadan traditions that meant so much to me continue today.  Sadly, the beautiful rhythmic beats of the drummers and the triumphant sound of nefar are becoming less common in modern-day Morocco and may soon become just a distant childhood memory.  Likewise, there are now Muslim cultures that break their fast with an enormous feast, which doesn’t allow them to appreciate the simple pleasures of living in moderation fully.  Like how you experience an unmatched sense of gratitude for the glass of water quenching your thirst and the food taste so much better. You feel fresh, restored, and reborn after breaking the fast with simple, nourishing foods.  These feelings come to life because of the spiritual cleansing during the fasting process.  

However, many core traditions around fasting, meditation, and prayers are still practiced and provide meaningful benefits to everyone, including Muslims and non-Muslims.  The world we all live in today creates more pressure than ever before.  Often,  we must constantly strive for more in our lives: more money, more status.  This causes us to slip into indulgence and ingratitude.  The more we become immersed in the material world, the more disconnected we become from the spiritual world of light. 

Did you know that if you buy tomato seedlings in small paper cups, leave them there and keep watering them, they will survive and grow about an inch?  However, because the root growth is limited to the small container, it will determine the size of the plant.  Similarly, if we live in this world catering only to our physical needs while restricting our spiritual needs, we will never achieve divine growth. During Ramadan, we become aware of all the garbage we often feed our eyes, ears, and mind and recognize the need for better nourishment. Each of our senses is a direct conduit to our heart, and as we fast with the tongue, we can arm our mouths with words of wisdom... Ramadan is a time to dive into our own nature and allow for deep reflection, understanding that only when we surrender our material desires can we cultivate connection with our highest self. In doing so we push ourselves beyond physical boundaries ,heighten our spiritual awareness, and recognize just how much more capable we are.  As we enter the remaining days of Ramadan, I hope you will join me in reflecting on your heart and health.  As we become more mindful of our thoughts and actions, we can live mentally and spiritually healthier lives and create a more positive world.

Harira Recipe

Harira might be the star dish during Ramadan even though it is served throughout the rest of the year. It can be enjoyed as a vegetarian dish or with meat.  I love to use bone marrow to add more health benefits to my soup.  My favorite time to make harira is during summer when I have fresh tomatoes in my garden and during flu season because it helps boost the immune system.

While there are some harira recipes with cumin, paprika, and garlic, they are not authentic Moroccan harira.

Ingredients

2 bones marrows

one large onion grated 

3 stalks of celery minced 

2 tablespoons of celery leaves minced (optional)

1/2 of a bundle of cilantro

1/3 of a bundle of Italian parsley

1/3 cup of lentils brown or green

1/2 cup of dried chickpeas

1/4 cup of rice.

1/4 cup of broken thin spaghetti noodles to 1/4 inch 

1 tablespoon of ghee butter 

1/2 can of tomato paste

1 tablespoon full of flour; you can use potato starch or cornstarch if you are allergic to gluten

28 oz  can of whole peeled Roma tomatoes or regular or fresh ripe tomatoes, seeded 

Spices

3/4 teaspoon white pepper

1 teaspoon ginger

1 teaspoon turmeric

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon salt 

1/4 teaspoon crumbled saffron.  (optional)

Directions

Soak the chickpeas overnight in two cups of warm water.  Then, break some in half; you can leave some whole. 

Wash the parsley and cilantro and mince very finely, like the consistency of sand.

In the pressure cooker base, combine bone marrow, celery, cilantro, onions, parsley, spices, salt, ghee, and 8 cups of water. 

(You don’t have to use a pressure cooker; you can use any pot.  It just might take longer to cook.) 

Bring to high pressure and cook for 25 minutes.  Scoop out the marrow from the bones to blend well in the soup and discard the bones. 

Blend the tomatoes and a half cup of tomato paste with a cup of water in the blender and add to the soup with the broken spaghetti. 

Allow cooking for 10 min on medium heat and stir every 5 minutes. 

Dilute the flour in a 1/4 cup of water and add to the soup.  Allow cooking for another 10 min and stir every 5 minutes. 

Squeeze one tablespoon of fresh lime juice.  Some people use lemon instead of lime, but I think the lime compliments it better. 

Remove the soup from heat and allow it to cool for a few minutes, and Ladle it into small bowls. 

Serve with dried figs and dates.