First day of Raya

pic credit: Masjid Kristal Terengganu

In Malaysia, lots of events would happen in the first day of Raya.  “Takbir Raya” would be reverb in the morning to show that Ramadhan has ended and we welcome Syawal month wholeheartedly.  After Muslims had performed “Solat Hari Raya” which usually would be offered at large hall or any local Masjid, then they would gather around within the family to go to their elder’s memorial cemetery.  Other relatives would join them too to show some respect.  This is actually a tradition that had been practice long time ago.  In Malaysia especially, Muslims would not skip this event.     

ask forgiveness from elders

Later on, they would be a forgiving custom which usually happen between the families itself.  It is a must actually to practice that norm to ask forgiveness from the parents especially.  Of course Muslims in Malaysia hope that this kind of custom would be practiced in the future too where the youngster would ask forgiveness to the elders.

Then, Muslims would visit their neighborhood to tighten the bond between themselves.  Since Malaysian live in 3 different races, it is not an absurd if Chinese and Indian would join the Muslims to celebrate Hari Raya Aidilfitri together, and even they are welcome actually to rejoice the day together.  Furthermore, kids especially would visit their neighborhood from house-to-house to ask for “duit raya”.  At the same time, we could see the brightness of the kids’ faces to actually receive the “duit raya” on the precious day.