Ramadan

The month of Ramadan is a special month for Muslims all around the world! It’s a month of fasting, spending time with loved ones, praying to God, and blessings. Since our friends, family, and neighbors are part of our many blessings, we want to thank you and share this special gift with you!

At Lote Tree, we take the opportunity to enjoy Ramadan as it should be Alhamdulillah. A few weeks before Ramadan, the students brain storm and plan a fun creation of a “Ramadan village”. Each student spends time and creative energy to create his/her unique addition of a special shop or building to make the Ramadan village festive and meaningful.

Once Ramadan begins the kids look forward to taking turns to read a fun activity, dua, or hadith from our special Ramadan calendar. Each day, is a different task! Some of the activities include making dhikr beads, memorizing the breaking-of-the-fast dua, making thank you baskets for our community workers (post office, police department, fire department, local library, etc) and drawing pictures of their Ramadan goals. It’s always a thrill to see what the daily slip of paper will say!

While fasting, we use the lunch hour to gather for our daily dhikr circle. We read duas, make dhikr, and read a daily selection from an Islamic book.

We are grateful to be able to adjust our co-op schedule to accommodate our busy fasting and worship routine during the month of Ramadan. We start academics at 10 and wrap up soon after Dhuhr salah. It is a condensed but full day, alhamdulIllah! On Fridays (only in Ramadan) we have zoom school so that the kids can learn while being in the comfort of their home. In the last 10 days of Ramadan, we have zoom classes which begin at 11am so that students who choose to participate in qiyam (night prayers) are given the opportunity to seek spiritual enlightenment while continuing the pursuit of an excellent education.

To celebrate Eid ul-Fitr together, the co-op members participate in a fun secret pal gift exchange. Each participant gets a gift and gives a gift! We go around in a circle to see if anyone can guess who their secret pal is. Then we dig into a potluck feast.