Hari Raya Puasa, better known as the festival of Eid marks the ended of the fasting month of Ramadan. It is one of the most joyful celebrations for Muslims everywhere. They celebrate it together with their family and friends. It is the opportunity to strengthen our bonds with our beloved ones.

Islam has taught us how to celebrate Eid in a modesty way by remembering Allah’s glory and be with fellow Muslims together in peace and harmony. The best way to start an Eid festive is by starting charity or sadaqah to the poor, remembering that we are here to help each other.

After a month of completing our fast during Ramadan, we strive to become a better person in pursuing taqwa and cleanse our soul and heart from bad deeds. We try to be aware of not falling into the evil habits of hypocrisy, egoism, backbiting about each other, betrayal, etc. It becomes manifested in a positive attitude, good behavior, and a kind, loving character. This can lead to an improvement of moral, ethical, and spiritual elevation towards piety and peaceful life.

One of the most crucial traditions during Eid is returning to our hometown to celebrate the special occasion with our families. This is a golden opportunity for us to seek forgiveness from our parents, siblings, and friends. Since we have become adults, we have lived separately from our parents. Some of us live far away from our country in order to pursue our education and career. Eid is the only day for us to gather with our family before going back to our normal hectic life.

One way a family bonds together during Eid is by everyone participating in the special feast. Each task is divided respectively among the members so they work together cooperatively while sharing deep conversations at the same time. It helps bring them closer.

Some people celebrate the special occasion with great sadness due to the loss of their parents in the past. They visit their parents’ graves on the 3rd day of Eid. It makes us be more grateful for not experiencing any loss of our family members and at the same time appreciate them while we still can.

However, ever since the Covid-19 pandemic started, there are a few limitations during this special occasion. Travel within the country is restricted, in order to break the chains of Covid-19 from spreading. It is the only way to reduce the virus outbreak and to protect our families from the pandemic.

Therefore, recent Eids have modified our traditional way of celebrating, by communication through technology. Our era is filled with technologies, the Internet, and social media. We can use these facilities to communicate with our family members from other countries. For example, we can use Zoom for video calls, share our Eid pictures through Instagram or Tiktok, and share our Eid story live on Facebook. It’s normal for us to do this since we are living in a year where technologies and social media have been some of the most effective platforms to connect with each other, no matter how far the distance is.

Covid-19 has taught us how to celebrate Eid without doing any wastage during the day of celebration. Since our movements to other countries or further places have been restricted, our world has become a healthier planet due to the reduction of transportation’s exhaust and smoke which pollutes the air surrounding us. Celebrating Eid during Covid-19 has also influenced reduced food wastage since only a small number of close relatives are allowed inside the house. 

If we think Eid during the pandemic is not as merry as it used to be, the best way to celebrate Eid at this moment is by worshipping Allah more. The pandemic may have locked us in our homes, but it's also an opportunity to become closer to Allah by doing extra good deeds. Once our life goes back to normal, we will be very busy doing all our chores and work and will have less time in remembering Allah. 

It is never too late to make a difference in our lives, living away from a stressful condition to a peaceful mind. This pandemic has brought a lot of negative impacts globally but when we look at the bright side, the reason why this pandemic happened is that Allah wanted to give us more time in remembering Him.

May Allah bless us all. 

Nurul Izzati is a student at Universiti Sains Islam, Malaysia.