This Ramadan has been unlike any other for my family. To start, it's the first time we've marked the occasion during a global pandemic – so it has been strange and a little more difficult.
But, it's also the first time my eldest son has fasted.
My son Samih is 8, and at his age, we thought fasting from sunrise to sunset would be too much. "No food and drink? No treat? No thank you," we imagined would be his response.
So my husband and I asked him if he would like to try fasting for half the day with us – starting from the second part of the day and fasting until sunset.
As he gets ready to go to bed, his good nights now come with suhoor requests: 'Baba, can I have a turkey sandwich and my favourite cookie when you wake me up?'
It's something our parents did to encourage us to fast when we were little and is a way to allow children to experience Ramadan without it being too hard. Year on year, they can add on a little more fasting time, until they're old enough and ready to fast through Ramadan properly.
"So, what if I get super duper hungry?" my son asked me when we introduced the idea.
"Then you eat," I answered him. "But I don't want to," he answered.
He knew it was going to be a challenge, but he also really wanted to prove that he was a big boy.
We decided that night that we would let him try to be like "the big boys", promising that his dad would wake him up for suhoor to have lots of water and an early breakfast and that for iftar I would prepare his favourite dish: a green pea stew.
I'm not sure if it was the fact that the first day of Ramadan happened to be a Friday when he was playing with his younger brother the whole day, or that we're staying home and so aren't out in the heat, but his first day went by smoothly.
And, to both his father's surprise and mine, he opted to fast for the whole time, without any complaints.
Once he saw he could do it, we couldn't convince him otherwise.
But to make it more exciting for him, we started setting some rewards, even small ones, which he got for every week he completed: a gift, a book or a dessert that he really liked.
We also asked his younger sibling to be mindful of his brother's fasting, and not eat and drink in front of him.
Now, almost three weeks in, Samih looks forward to his suhoors and iftars with the family.
Every day at around 6pm, he rolls into the kitchen to start help setting the table and says: "What's for iftar today? I smell something yummy."
As a parent, could I ask for a better compliment?
And, as he gets ready to go to bed, his good nights are now accompanied with suhoor requests: "Baba, can I have a turkey sandwich and my favourite cookie when you wake me up?"
What I've learned from this experience is that by taking it slow and setting small achievable goals for our child, we have seen him go beyond our expectations and his.
I think our Ramadan has only gotten better as we practice this ritual with him.
I'm a mum to three boys, Samih is the eldest, so can you imagine what our Ramadans are going to be like when all the little boys want to be "big boys"?
But, I look forward to those days. There's something special about going through the fast as a family together, and so I am thankful they are on the horizon: but only when the boys decide they are ready.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
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Company%20Profile
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Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
The biog
Hometown: Birchgrove, Sydney Australia
Age: 59
Favourite TV series: Outlander Netflix series
Favourite place in the UAE: Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque / desert / Louvre Abu Dhabi
Favourite book: Father of our Nation: Collected Quotes of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan
Thing you will miss most about the UAE: My friends and family, Formula 1, having Friday's off, desert adventures, and Arabic culture and people
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
COMPANY PROFILE
● Company: Bidzi
● Started: 2024
● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid
● Based: Dubai, UAE
● Industry: M&A
● Funding size: Bootstrapped
● No of employees: Nine
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
Company%20Profile
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Infiniti QX80 specs
Engine: twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6
Power: 450hp
Torque: 700Nm
Price: From Dh450,000, Autograph model from Dh510,000
Available: Now
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg
Bayern Munich 1
Kimmich (27')
Real Madrid 2
Marcelo (43'), Asensio (56')
