Eid in Singapore

In the name of Allah the most Gracious and Merciful.

Singapore is a Island near Malaysia endowed with much greenery but with an unchanging weather. The people here are from many races including Chinese, Malay, Indian and others. Many of us, the international students, including me were not expecting a lot from our Ramadan and Eid here while away from home. However, we were pleasantly surprised by a wonderful Ramadan along with an exciting and joyful Eid.

Our university compromises of Muslims from all around the globe. Namely we have Muslims from Singapore, Indonesia, Pakistan, central Asia, Iran and Thailand. This Ramadan due to the exceptional efforts of NTUMS and a couple of hardworking and well wishing individuals, we were able to all come together as Brothers and Sisters and have our Iftaars and Tarawihs together. We all felt an overwhelming sense of brotherhood, love and care during this blessed month. Praying Tarawih on the roof of an Academic building, behind a melodious Imam while the evening breeze gently flowed over our faces was a blessing which we will all remember.


Some say that All is well that ends well. This year not only did we spend a wonderful Ramadan but an even better Eid which was the icing on the cake. Every Eid day starts with the Eid prayer. We all decided to go to the same mosque for Eid prayers. We all woke up early and dressed in our traditional cloths and headed to the meeting place at 6:45 am. When I arrived there I saw some cheerful Pakistani brothers dressed in beautiful Shalwar Kameez. Near by, the dear Indonesian brothers were dressed in their Baji Kurung and not far away were a few of our Central Asian brothers. I greeted the brothers and inquired some brothers whether they were getting married due to their beautiful and dashing clothes. The Singaporean students were not here because they live off campus and spend Eid with their families; the way it should be spent.

(Brother Nauman leading the Takbir)


(us Reaching the mosque)

At around 7:15 am our Muslim NTU (Nanyang Technological University) family started our journey towards the mosque. Our dear brother Nauman, the foreign students' head, read the dua, made some announcements and then led us in Takbir. We arrived at the Al-Falah mosque a little before 8am. The big and beautiful Mosque stands in the Heart of Singapore, the Orchad. We could see many Malays, Indians and Arabs dressed in beautiful and eye-catching clothes. Pink is a color that many men might never wear but Malay men are very secure about their Masculinity. Our Eid Prayer and Khutba was lead by a Young Imam. Hearing a Khutba in English was definitely a nice change because it helps one to follow the speech :). We finished our Eid prayer at around 8:45am at which point we all hugged each other. Many brothers exclaimed that even in their home countries they had never hugged so many people on Eid. Some of the slimmer brothers were feeling a bit crushed after the experience.

After Eid prayers, the Pakistani brothers along with one of our Indian Muslim brothers, Risal, decided to go to Little India and eat Pakistani food at Usman restaurant. The party of 17 left and traveled through Singapore by means of the MRT. We joked; we laughed, took pictures and probably scared a few people along the way. Brother Farooq did not tire from taking pictures and I have advised him to change his major to Media. After reaching Usman, we were treated to some yummy Sub continent food along with Tea. While eating the environment was enhanced by the drizzling of Singaporean rain. They have a famous phrase here that one can not trust Weather, Wealth or Women in Singapore. As for weather, I can vouch that this statement holds true. As for the other two I have no experience yet.

After our food we took Taxis back to the Uni where we went to the Pakistani "Head Quarters" in NTU @ 37 G Nanayang Heights. We were treated to some delicious coffee by Brother Zeeshan, a very talented cook. Afterwards, we decided to start cooking for the event at night. The NTUSM, Muslim Student body of NTU, held an Eid event at night which encouraged people to bring foods from their respective cultures. The Pakistani's were making Custard (brought here by bro. Zuhaib all the way from Pakistan) , Sheer Khorma (Sawiyaan or Sweet noodles) and Daal. After cooking the custard we prayed Zuhr lead by our dear brother Adnan. He has gained a reputation for having the fastest Tarawihs in NTU :). After this I left, to go and help my Thai brother, Nauman, cook Thai food since he was alone.

Nauman cooked Tom Yom a kind of chicken soup and Suki, another soup which was accompanied by vegies and noodles and must be tried with the tasty Chilli sauce. After finishing the Thai cooking we proceeded to the ISC, international Student Center, at around 6.00pm where the event was held. The event had a lot of tasty of food coming from many cultures namely Malaysian, Pakistani and Thai. After Maghrib, we treated our taste buds to some yummy food. It was no surprise that Most of the food was finished and the utensils licked clean.

No Eid event is complete without games. Naturally we also had some games planned for our Brothers. Brother Nauman had a game which he used to play in Thailand. Basically each nationality was assigned a value of certain numbers. Indonesian was 1, Pakistan was 2 and others were 3. I myself was a wildcard since I could be 2 or 3. When he mentioned a sum such as 5 we had to form a group whose sum would be 5. For example 1 Pakistani and 1 Other nationality would equal 5. But the catch was that each member must know the name of every other member in the group. The game was a lot of fun accompanied by many laughs.

After this we proceeded to my game "Reaction". In which a teams representative had to act a scenario that I gave them and their team had to guess. The game was a lot of fun and led to interesting acting. Moussa, our dear French brother and my close friend, was a bit bemused with his team mate's acting to the scenario of "You are working on the Laptop and it catches fire" which caused their team to lose. This marked the end to this wonderful event. This was mostly a brothers event since there were only two sisters. However, these two sisters worked tirelessly to make the event possible and it would not have been possible without them.

(I am conducting the game "Reaction", this was very funny. The brother tries to act out :"You wake up in the morning and while looking in the mirror are shocked that you have a big and flowing beard that was not there before")

The event's end at 9.00 pm marked the end of Eid for many tired but happy Muslims of NTU. However, I and Farooq went to brother Khurrum's flat to be treated to some wonderful food by the nice family he is staying with. We also had a plan of going to Mustafa centre at night to buy a bat for cricket on Sunday morning. The plan was cancelled due to the late hours of night and because a brother promised to give us the bat on Sunday, interestingly the bat nor the brother showed up.

They say it ain't over until the fat lady sings. I guess this was it, although I did not hear a fat lady sing. Speaking of fat ladies, in Singapore it is not easy to spot fat people since the Singaporeans are very fit. We walked back to our rooms with our hearts happy and thankful but our bodies incredibly tired. We thanked Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala immensely for this great blessing and mercy which he bestowed on us in this little Island. We will always remember this in our dearest memories. One brother mentioned to me that he cried when he realized that these moments will not return. To all Brothers and Sisters who made this possible May Allah Ta'ala bless you.

(Some Pakistani Brothers talking about the event)

(Brother Moussa commenting on the event)

As to end this story, then the best of Blessings upon the Propthet Sallallahu Alaihi wa sallam. And May Allah ta'ala give us best in this world and the here after.