Muslim Board

[anotherlevel]

Hi @mnhq is it possible to please request a Muslim Board on here, a safe space for Muslims to have to speak freely about things that matter and should be discussed? Similar to that of the Jewish board.

@yummytummy Check your local mosques because some have Eid parties you could attend x

You could go out for lunch or dinner at a nice restaurants. Play some games at home and open presents in the morning. Get the kids to decorate the night before.

I'm sure whatever you do it will be special and the kids will love it x

ah thanks for the reply and the ideas!

@anotherlevel We only do presents for children, although we exchange boxes of dates and sweets among adults. DC's getting 3 (not huge) toys, a book, new trousers that don't have holes in them yet, and a mini prayer mat. Every year we also give Eid presents to children via Islamic Relief - one from DC1, one from us and now one from DC as well.

Are there any Eid Melas near you? those are usually quite nice.

I love the build up to Eid - everyone's plans sound so exciting. We've stopped doing presents for the kids - they're at the age now where they just want cold, hard cash 😂 I'll still make pretty envelopes though so it feels like a proper gift.

Yummytummy is where you live likely to have much going on for Eid? If so, there may be arrangements for Eid salah - locally here we have 'Eid in the park' and it's a family friendly morning where everyone gathers to pray together. Your local community centres may also have events like chaand raats going on.

Due to different annual leave with extended family this year, we will probably have our big celebration late in the week and Eid day will be a quiet one with just us and the kids. We'll probably just go out to eat and save the hassle of cooking!

We have a large extended family so instead of doing individual presents for all the nieces and nephews we do a 'secret eid' so all the kids get one good present. We are all doing Eid together in a hall so the kids will open their presents together then. On the bright side no cooking! Everyone's chipping in and ordering food so we can have a relaxed eid morning

I'm the only one who lives away from the rest of the family so will have some travelling to do on eid morning, we will have to make an early start but it's part of the fun

@yummytummy some bigger cities do eid fairs in the parks. It might be worth checking out if there are any near you, they are normally lots of fun and have the eid vibes. I hope you have a lovely eid

Does anyone have a good semolina halwa recipe pls

http://www.thismuslimgirlbakes.com/2016/10/sooji-halwa-semolina-halwa.html?m=1

@anotherlevel it's not super fancy, but I like it and it's easy!

I love that website in general, actually. Lots of good recipes.

Thank you.

Oh man I took off Wednesday and Thursday from work thinking it would be on Wednesday, hopefully tomorrow my manager will let me reshuffle if it's looking like Tuesday instead...

I'm seeing that it will most likely be Wednesday. Will be quite unprepared if its Tuesday!

Great ideas here but also check if there is an event called 'chanraat' in your area. Its the night before eid and has lots of henna etc usually

Ds clothes are too tight😭😭 i really hope eid is Wednesday i havent even done eid grocery shopping yet

I am not Muslim but support this. Full stop.

Might I ask how the date of Eid is calculated?

Islamic dates use a lunar rather than solar calendar, which is why our celebrations move around the Gregorian calendar. Eid al-Fitr is determined by the sighting of the first crescent moon of the month of Shawwal, which is the month after Ramadhan in the Islamic calendar. Eid al-Adha is the tenth day of Dhu al-Hijjah.

So, sometimes people don't know exactly and can argue passionately about it until it's confirmed on the day.

@TheShellBeach
The Islamic calender is based on the moon, so the crescent moon marks the start of the new month. Eid al-Fitr which is the eid that comes once Ramadhan ends is on the Islamic date of the 1st of Shawwal. Shawwal is the month after Ramadhan. Lunar months vary between 29 and 30 days which is why we won't know until the 29th day when Eid will be. This year for most people it will either fall on Tuesday if the month of Ramadhan completes with 29 days or Wednesday if it completes with 30 days.

I have found this explanation online which is probably clearer than mine
The first day of Eid al-Fitr is determined by the sighting of the crescent moon marking the start of the month of Shawwal, the 10th month of the Islamic (Hijri) calendar. Lunar months last between 29 and 30 days so Muslims usually have to wait until the night before Eid to verify its date.

Is the Jewish calender also based on the moon?

@Scirocco cross posted! Just seen yours now

technically it is luni-solar. It starts every month like the Islamic calendar with the new moon. However certain festivals have to be on certain seasons, eg pesach is also known as chag ha-Aviv, the festival of spring. Because of this, every few years we have a double month of adar (our current month, the last month of the calendar) which keeps all the festivals in the right time of year.
month lengths are 29/30 days. So in a leap year like this year, we have 13 months.

in ancient times , sighting of the new moon was confirmed by two witnesses to the Jewish court (beis din) in Jerusalem and when confirmed, they would light fires on hilltops in Jerusalem to spread the news, each town would light their fire on their mountain when they saw the neighbouring fire etc. at one point, the calendar was fixed, with alternating months of 29 and 30 days

Hopefully today is the day that the Muslim Mumsnetters Board comes to fruition

And good luck to everyone in their preparations for Eid

@Zzippit

people are allowed to disagree without being accused of causing an argument.