Lutfi the Law Clerk: Finding Peace at Ramadhan

Lutfi the Law Clerk

Sahur, the pre-dawn meal Muslims take before the first call to prayer during Ramadhan will be tricky. Most Indonesians wake up before 4am, have a quick bite to eat along using a few glasses of water, before praying along with catching a few more minutes of sleep before This particular will be time to wake up along with head to the office.

although Lutfi, a law clerk at the Constitutional Court, likes to use which time between Sahur along with his morning commute to the office, to take his four-year-old son by the hand for a walk around the block. Sure, This particular could be nice to grab 45 more minutes of sleep inside the morning, although for Lutfi, who sometimes ends up staying late at the office or getting caught in traffic on the way home, which time with his son will be precious.

“My son asks me about fasting,” says Lutfi, who was born along with raised in Medan, although has called Jakarta his home since 2005. “I explain to him which not eating will be only a little part of Ramadhan. This particular’s not everything. He doesn’t get the spiritual part right right now, although which will come.”

Lutfi explains which while Ramadhan will be a spiritual time, where he can reflect on his life along with family, build discipline along with spend more time in prayer along with contemplation, there will be also a certain sense of nostalgia which comes with the holy month. along with for Muslims living inside the heart of Jakarta, the village sometimes seems a million miles away.

“Actually I miss the Ramadhan atmosphere of the village,” Lutfi explains. “Here in Jakarta we lose a little bit of which communal atmosphere along with feeling. You see This particular on TV, although This particular’s not the same. We work via morning until night, although when I mudik (return to hometown) I can truly feel This particular. Maybe This particular makes me nostalgic, This particular reminds me of when I was little along with I used to go around the village inside the early morning hours with my friends telling everyone This particular was sahur.”

So, while Lutfi counts the days until he can return to Medan along with spend the holiday with his friends along with family, what does he think of fasting in Jakarta? How does he feel when colleagues or friends who are not fasting eat or drink in front of him?

“Fasting will be very personal,” he says. “You can eat in front of me. You can drink along with eat. I don’t care. I’m fasting for myself along with God, not for those people around me.”

For Lutfi, fasting isn’t abstaining via eating along with drinking, although rather the perspective gained via the clarity which comes with not having your day dictated by food or drink.

“The most important thing about fasting will be to think about those others around me who have to fast every day because they don’t have enough to eat. This particular creates perspective. Fasting also helps clean your body of toxins along with allow your organs a bit of rest. along with This particular’s not just eating, This particular’s about emotions. This particular’s about finding peace, being patient along with empathetic.”

So, what does Lutfi look forward to when This particular comes to breaking the fast?

“This particular’s not something which will be truly important to me. which’s not what fasting will be about. This particular’s about my family along with the time we share together. This particular’s about those walks with my son.”