Ramazan was coming and Zain was very excited. He was consistently giving his mum various ideas about what to cook for iftar. He was telling his whole family about how excited he was for the holy month.

On the first day of Ramazan, he ran around before iftar, not to help, but in excitement, because whatever his mother cooked, he would take a bite of it. Although, everyone in his family were fasting, he didn’t bother to fast.

Zain played all day and enjoyed the food that his mother prepared every day for iftar, such as pakora, pasta, chana chaat, fruit chaat, aloo tikki, and other delicious items. All day, he’d roamed around the house listening to music, watching videos on his tablet, munching and joyfully eating at iftar with the family, who had fasted.

Similarly, at sehr, he would get up and run to his mother in the kitchen and see what she was cooking. He was doing all those things that were not the right things to do in front of those who were fasting, such as chewing gum loudly, listening to music loudly and would eat any time of the day, without respecting those who fasted.

One day, he came back home after playing outside, washed his hands and was ready to eat the food his mother prepared at iftar. When he came to the dining room, he realised that there was no food nor drinks on the dining table that they usually had for iftar, just some dates and a jug of cold water. Surprised, he asked his mother why there was none of the food items that she usually made at iftar?

His mother hesitated a bit, then told him that from now on, there will be a simple dinner served at iftar time, and no fried items or other snacks because of some problem. Zain didn’t understand the problem, so he double-checked the fridge and cabinets where his mum kept the groceries, but he was unable to find anything for him to munch on. He was a little unhappy, but after a while he went to his room to enjoy his time watching videos and playing games on his tab.

When he entered his room, he couldn’t find his tab. He freaked out in anger and asked his mum about the missing tab. His mum told him that there was some need of money so they sold it. Zain was very upset. At sehri also, his mother served simple food. Nothing for dessert or any side dishes.

The next day, after school when he did his lunch, he was getting very bored so he turned on the TV. He tried to switch to cartoons and other entertainment channels, but there was only black screen. He asked his dad, who told him that there was no cable connection anymore.

Zain asked, “But why?”

“You know son, we are having some financial issues, due to which we cannot afford the cable connection anymore,” his dad responded in a serious tone.

“What should I do now?” Zain felt dejected.

“Don’t know, help your mum or do the chores, or why not recite the Holy Quran? Mind if you tell me when did you last recited it?” dad asked while looking seriously at him.

Zain felt embarrassed and remained silent. His dad’s words hit him hard. He meekly made his way out to his room. Zain sat on his bed thinking and realising that everybody offered prayers, recited the Holy Quran, and also kept a fast, but he never did any of these things. He realised how disrespectfully he kept eating and drinking in front of all those who were fasting and he never even helped his mum when she was doing the chores. This made him really ashamed of himself.

He got up and offered his prayer, and then recited the Holy Quran for some time. He looked at the clock and saw that iftar time was near. He went to his mother, asked if he could also help her, to which his mother gave him some tasks. At iftar, their mum served a simple meal without chaat, pakora or fried items. Zain didn’t say a single word and ate silently. All the family members knew that Zain was changing.

Two days passed in a similar manner, but Zain never complained about anything, not for food not for tab and other entertainment. On the third day, after iftar, his parents came to him and told him that it was all a prank.

“We did this to tell you that Ramazan is not about eating food, watching videos and playing games all day,” his mother said.

“It is about feeling the pangs of hunger that the poor feel. It is about doing good deeds as each good deed is multiplied during the month of Ramazan, no matter how small. So do as many good deeds as you can, that includes giving charity, reciting the Holy Quran, offering prayers regularly and fasting, since fasting is one of the pillars of Islam, to be obedient to Almighty Allah and have patience,” his father told him.

Zain was dumbstruck listening to all this. Then his mother brought tablet that he used to spend his time on. His elder brother smiled, got up and tuned the television, which was all fine. His sister went in the kitchen and brought some snacks that Zain loved to eat.

The next morning, Zain got up excitedly at sehr and rushed to the kitchen to see what his mother was cooking, but this time to keep a fast after eating it. Zain now knew what the whole blessed month of Ramazan was all about!

Published in Dawn, Young World, April 15th, 2023