As salamu Alaikum

My name is Zainab Zakari I come from the northern part of Nigeria. Which is predominantly Muslims from a tribe called Hausa. The excitement starts to show two days before the moon is sited, you hear people talking about it and getting ready for the holy month of Ramadan, women going to the market to buy foodstuffs that will be used, men buying fresh fruits for their families. this is so because the type of food we consume in Nigeria every day differs from the type we eat during Ramadan. It mostly contains fruits and liquid generally soft foods.

The Muslim leader here in Nigeria who we call sarkin musulmia is in charge of telling the Muslim ummah if the moon is sited in any part of the country and he makes a national broadcast to the muslim ummah that the moon has been sited and that fasting which we call AZUMI will start the following day. Who ever sees the moon call his local imam and the imams convey it to sarkin musulmia

People wake up at around 4:30 an to eat their sahur before fajr sets in, the sahur type of food eaten during sahur is heavier than that of breaking the fast.after the sahur u either go back to bed or wait until fajr prayers or you don’t go back at all.

In the morning you go about your activities which are allowed during Ramadan and after ashr prayers we go to tafsir which lasts till 30 minutes to the time to break our fast. We break our fast depending on the time the sun sets with dates or fruits. We perform magrib prayers. Then seat down to eat properly which consist of different types of foods and fruit.and after like an hour we perform isha prayers and tarawee prayers. The men either go to the mosque or stay with their family and lead them in prayers. This goes on and on until the last ten days of Ramadan Ramadan which we start praying at around 1am to 4 am.

Ramadan time in Nigeria is full of holiness you can feel it in the air that there is something special about the month of Ramadan. The preaching of the words of Allah and the feeling that you can get your aljanna by doing good deeds in the month of Ramadan.

As I have said I come from the northern part of Nigeria may be the way Ramadan is done here differs from other parts. If you disagree with anything or you notice a mistake please don’t hesitate to correct me.may Allah subhanna wa taala protect and guide us all amin.

Wa salam

Zainab Zakari Nigeria