THE MEANING OF AIDILFITRI TO ME

Nor Rafiqah Suraya Bt Mohd
(PTM140717288)

 

~ بِسْـــــــــمِ ﷲِالرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيم ~ 

Assalamualaikum to my lecturer and fellow friends 

Hari Raya Aidilfitri is the Malay term for the Muslim festival of Eid ul-Fitr. Hari Raya is also known as Lebaran. This festival is celebrated by Muslims in Malaysia and other Muslims throughout the world. If we were to look at the term, "Hari Raya" literally means "Day of Celebration". Usually, the main greeting used in Malaysia when greeting each other is "Selamat Hari Raya" which means "Happy Eid" in Malay.

Muslims celebrate Hari Raya Aidilfitri  to give thanks and celebrate their success in completing the month-long fasting period of Ramadan. The phrase hari raya is a Malay term meaning “a day of celebrations”. Hari Raya Aidilfitri is welcomed with much joy and goodwill. During the night, there are celebrations with sparklers and firecrackers, with emphasis on precautions and restrictions on playing certain firecrackers as enforced by the authorities. Usually the lighting of firecrackers begins a few days before the end of Ramadan, and continues for about a week afterwards.

 Although it is not a religious requirement, Muslims wear new clothes, visit relatives and friends and indulge in delicious food.The day, however, starts with special prayers at the mosques or open spaces. These prayers are performed as a congregation, led by an imam. There is also a special sermon. After the morning prayers, Muslims return home to celebrate Hari Raya with their families.

SOLAT SUNAT AIDILFITRI

An important custom in this part of the world is to seek forgiveness from one another, especially from older members of the family. This custom is considered as a means of abandoning past animosity, and strengthening bonds between family members and friends. The Malay phrase maaf zahir batin is often heard during Hari Raya and it means “forgiveness from all physical and emotional wrongdoing. 

After prayer, everyone would usually go back home as one of the tradition is to seek for forgiveness from among the family members before visiting others. As for my own family, we do it in a proper session where we would form a circle or something like that, our parents would be waiting for us to handshake them and ask for forgiveness. Aidilfitri is one of the best time for us to formally seek for forgiveness from our parents if we have ever hurt them during the past year. In my family we do it in a very sincere way where it really is a touching moment for each and every one of us. 

Hari Raya Aidilfitri is celebrated over one month . After the morning meal with the family, Muslims here would visit the homes of close relatives. The homes of the elderly members of the family would be visited first, followed by younger family members. It is not uncommon for Malays and Muslims here in Malaysia to take almost one month to finish visiting the homes of their family members and friends. Muslims are decked out in their best clothes. For the Malays, the traditional “ Baju Kurung “ and “ Baju Melayu “ remains the favourite outfit. It is not uncommon for family members to wear them of the same colour!

Aidilfitri is also the time where kids would be so happy to get 'duit raya' from the adults. An interesting custom is giving packets of money to children, as a gesture of affection and to enhance the festive mood. This is a common custom in many Asian societies. In the past, adults would simply hand out coins or currency notes. These days, possibly taking the cue from the Chinese, Malays place money in colourful festive envelopes.

The sharing is also done in a form of serving dishes to the visitor. All kind of cookies, cakes, traditional food which only appears during of Aidilfitri. The example traditional food menu for Aidilfitri is rendang (a dry beef curry which is cooked over a slow fire for many hours), ketupat,  kuah kacang and lemang. Some of the people say your guests would bring along your sins out of your house, so we are supposed to treat our guests in the best possible way.As with other ethnic festivals, food is an important ingredient. For example

Lastly,I believe that Hari Raya Aidilfitri, as well as the other festivals of other Malaysians, is a very beautiful and meaningful festival because it is a time of reflection, a time of forgiveness and reconciliation, a time to reunite and to strengthen not only family ties but also to forgive and forget past quarrels with friends and loved ones. Muslims greet each other with "Maaf Zahir Batin"  and like to wish SELAMAT HARI RAYA MAAF ZAHIR DAN BATIN:)