Fasting at a young age

FOR Muslim parents, the holy month of Ramadhan is the best time to teach their kids the importance of fasting.

Twenty-year-old Dk Izzah Pg Bakar was encouraged by her parents to fast at the age of eight, with a flexible condition that she could break fast if she could not withstand the hunger for the whole day.

"My parents raised me well. The form of training they gave me when I was young is definitely helpful today. Nowadays, the evil one is cravings and not the temptation to eat during the day," said Dk Izzah before sharing a fond but guilty memory of fasting.

"It happened a good few years back. It was a few weeks before Hari Raya, me and my sister were given the task to do some cleaning and moving around the furniture. My parents were out," she reminisces with a laugh.

"This made it easier for me to give in to hunger and exhaustion especially when my sister, being the person that she is, lured me into breaking fast. So I asked my maid to cook mee maggi. I felt seriously guilty after that. It was not worth it," she recalled.

It is widely known that some Bruneian families encourage their young children to fast by offering them money or gifts at the end of the month.

For Dk Izzah, the encouragement had a more meaningful value.

"My dad would tell us that if we did not fast, we could not fully enjoy the Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebrations because that is what Hari Raya is for, to celebrate your achievement of fasting for a month.

"I would only get money if I plucked my parents gray hairs for 50 cents for each strand!" she says with a laugh.

For Dk Izzah, teaching children how to fast at an early age gives them more time to get used to it.

Azmil Maidin, 23, carried out the task on his own free will at six years old.

"I wanted to do the same thing my older sisters and brothers were doing so I just went with it. At school it was also healthy competition among my friends who were fasting, like who fasted the most days," said the 23-year-old Azmil.

He remembers looking forward to the feast that awaited him to break fast.

"This was the kind of reward for me. There was no food during the day, but it was a feast to break fast. I would ask my mum to make me chicken rice and she would make it. This goes on until today by the way," he says fondly.

Azmil believes that children should be given more meaningful rewards to understand the meaning behind the practice more.

"It is a practice that is obligatory to all Muslims, why not start them off early with the right values in mind. With the right values and with time, they will learn to understand and appreciate the act of fasting more," said Azmil.

For Dk Emy, getting Barbie dolls and gifts at the end of the Ramadhan month didn't give her real motivation.

"My parents promised me presents like Barbie dolls at the end of the Ramadhan month if I fasted. I really did find it hard to fast but what encouraged me most was the competition from my brothers. They have been fasting for a month since they were five years old," said Dk Emy, who was encouraged to fast when she was five years old.

Redzwan Hashim started fasting two years ago when he was fourteen years old.

"I was not motivated when I was younger, the encouragement was also not strong enough. But two years ago with the knowledge I learned at religious school and the reminders from my mum, I wanted to start fasting," he said.

Though he was glad to have started fasting two years ago, Redzwan still thinks that it would have been more helpful if he had started it earlier.

"As Muslims, it is our obligation. It is good to start when you are old enough to think about what should be done and to tell the difference between right and wrong," Redzwan stressed.

"Fasting is a way to strengthen your faith and beliefs as well as to put yourself in the shoes of the people who go hungry everyday," he concluded.The Brunei Times