Hari Raya – A Guide for the Unsure

By A. Najib Ariffin - Nadge –

“...Hari Raya, which is the Muslim New Year... ”, Oops! Have you heard anyone say something like that, or do you yourself think Hari Raya is the Muslim New Year? Well, it is not - but that was what one Malaysian speaker mentioned while addressing a public function some time ago. Granted, the person was not Muslim but having heard that, this is a good chance to explain a few things about “puasa” and “Hari Raya” (“literally the “Great Day”) for the better understanding of our multi-cultural society.

Hari Raya in relation to the puasa (Malay word for “fasting”) in the month of Ramadhan is the celebration to mark the fulfillment of the month's fasting, which is an obligatory part of Islamic faith. Thus it is sometimes half-jokingly said that any Muslim who does not puasa doesn't have the right to celebrate Hari Raya. Also it is clear that it is NOT the Muslim New Year, which by the way is another holiday, Awal Muharram (Muharram being the first month in the Islamic calendar).

Delicious "Kuih raya" or festive cookies of many kinds sold at the ubiquitous Bazaar Ramadhan around Malaysia, to be served to guests at Hari Raya season when people visit each other, a tradition called  'Rumah Terbuka' (Open House).

It is pertinent to note that the Ramadhan fasting and the celebration at its completion are not just a Malaysian or Melayu Muslim affair. The whole Muslim Ummah (“Umat” in Malay or roughly “the community”) all over the world performs the same fasting and celebrates it at the end. In Arabic, Hari Raya Puasa is the 'Eid or “'Eid-ul-Fitr” and this is Malaysianised in spelling as “Aidil Fitri” (or "Idul Fitri" in Indonesia).

Meanwhile the other Hari Raya is for the Hajj, or “Hari Raya Haji” and also called “Hari Raya Kurban”, because it marks both the annual Pilgrimage for pilgrims to holy Makkah (Mecca) in Saudi Arabia as well as commemorating the symbolic sacrifice of Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) on his son Ismail (Ishmael). Kurban means “sacrifice” and at this feast domestic animals are sacrificed or properly slaughtered for their meat to be distributed, especially to the poor.

Back to the puasa itself. The fasting practically and physically means not eating, drinking (not even a drop of water) or engaging in sexual activities during the fast. The actual time of fasting is the entire daytime. This is from when the first indication of light is visible in the horizon (note that this is before actual sunrise as the light appears before the sun itself) and ends exactly at sunset. Both times are marked by the “azan” (or the “bang” in colloquial Malay) i.e. the calls to prayer at Subuh pre-sunrise and then at Maghrib sunset.

Some people also wonder about the annually 'changing' times of Ramadhan and Hari Raya, which don't coincide with the standard solar or Western calendar. This is because they follow the Islamic calendar that observes the cycle of the moon, similar to the Chinese calendar. There are 12 months in the Islamic calendar but they follow the shorter moon cycle, as the lunar month is less than the solar 30 or 31 days in a month. Thus on average the Islamic year is shorter than the solar year by roughly 11-odd days.

This means that the Islamic months, such as Ramadhan, slowly 'move' earlier each year throughout the solar years. Actually both the sun and moon are not exactly regular in their relative movements with the earth and that is why there are 'leap years' in the solar calendar, while in the Muslim calendar the actual observation of the moon is made, to visually sight the new crescent moon that marks the fasting and then Hari Raya.

Selamat Hari Raya Puasa!