'Fasting has strengthened my bond with Allah'

Name: Maria Noor
Nationality: Filipino
Age: 29
Occupation: Housewife
I recently converted to Islam, and this is my first ever Ramadan as a Muslim. Fasting has been a really unique experience for me. I have never felt such closeness with the Almighty in my life, before practicing this unique act of worship — fasting.
The whole Ramadan experience has actually deepened my faith and strengthened my bond with our creator Allah. I feel so relaxed and happy in this sacred month. This is a truly special feeling. I feel Allah has chosen me and I am also grateful to my husband, Mohammed Yaseen, a Pakistani, for introducing me to this beautiful religion Islam, and bringing about this beautiful change in my life. We have a sweet two-year-old daughter Irfa Yaseen; I intend to raise her a pious Muslimah.
Although my husband and I come from very different cultures and backgrounds, I try and make his favourite dishes for Iftar, and Alhamdulillah, gradually learning to cook good Pakistani food. So Ramadan is not only giving me an opportunity to please my creator, but also a chance to show my husband that I care, by cooking his favourite Iftar dishes. I have learnt to make a variety of dishes for Iftar and Suhoors, including samosas and pakoras this Ramadan.
I keep myself very clean and neat — in Islam, cleanliness is next to Godliness. Most of my time is spent in prayers and reading the English translation of the Holy Quran, as I can’t read Arabic as yet.
The first day of Ramadan was quite a memorable experience for me as I was very nervous about managing all day without food, and more importantly, not drinking a drop of water. I wondered, how will I adjust to these long summer fasts in Ramadan? How would I do all the routine things during the course of the day, while fasting?
But it was with my husband’s support and Allah blessings that I managed so comfortably, and it all came effortlessly to me. I have realised if you have pure intentions and love to obey Allah’s orders, then Allah makes it very easy for you. My sole intention was to please only Allah, and that one thought became the source of immense strength and spiritual power.
I thought to myself that God guided me to Islam, then definitely He knows what and how much I can bear. In one hadith, I read that Allah never tests you with something you cannot cope with, and fasting is the only thing He asks you to do for Him.
The Hadith says: “Every deed of the son of Adam is for him except fasting; it is for Me and I shall reward for it…” (Al-Bukhari and Muslim).
This very sentence has become my source of strength and made it as easy as possible.
(As told to Saman Haziq)

• UAE
• People
• Ramadan 2021