DP Daily Prompts: Unsung Heroes

We all have our semi-secret, less known personal favorites –a great B-side, an early work by an artist that later became famous, an obscure(but delicious) family recipe. Share one of your unsung heroes with us–how did you discover it? Why has it stayed off everyone’s radar?

I have a few unsung heroes on my list, one of them is my dad, his accomplishments were many, unfortunately he was in a part of the world where his gift was not recognized, instead of welcoming him, they tried to push him aside, they were not successful, but he died very young.

Second is one of my youngest brother, he was a brilliant student, he loved to read about everything, he was doing Phd. in space science, he too like my dad died early.

Then there was my mom, she’d wow anyone with her cooking skills, friends and family knew her, the knowledge of her gift stayed within the family and friends.

At this moment I know another gifted individual, who is capable of being very famous, he knows it but as far as I know, he doesn’t use his potential as he should which in my mind is a shame.

k: https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2014/12/15/dp-daily-prompts-3/

365 writing Prompts: Memories of holidays past

What is your favorite holiday? Recount the specific memory or memories that have made that holiday special to you.

My favorite holiday is “Eid al Fitr” (festival of breaking the fast).

The following is a brief history of “Eid al -Fitr”: It comes after a month of fasting known as Ramadan.Ramadan is the ninth month in the Islamic calendar.

Muslims believe that during the month of Ramadan, Allah(God) revealed the first verses of the Holy Qur’an, the holy book of Islam.

Around 610 A.D. a caravan trader named Muhammad went wandering in the desert near Mecca( in today’s Saudi Arabia).While he was meditating one night he heard a voice telling  him he was chosen to receive the word of Allah. The voice was that of Angel Gabriel.

In the days that followed Muhammad found himself speaking the verses that would be transcribed as the Qur’an.

Muslims are required to fast during the month of Ramadan, food and drink is not allowed from sunrise to sunset. Fasting serves many purposes, when they are hungry and thirsty they are reminded of the suffering of the poor. It helps to practice self-control, and also helps to cleanse body and mind.

After the end of Ramadan, Muslims celebrate, “Eid al -Fitr” it is one of the two most important Islamic celebrations the other is Hajj or pilgrimage to Mecca.

On the day of ‘Eid al-Fitr’ Muslims dress in their finest clothes, decorate their homes with lights, give treats to the children, and give money to the poor people.They also enjoy visiting their family and friends.

Those who are wealthy give generously to the poor and also make it a point to feed them.

I remember we loved “Eid al Fitr” a lot it was during this time our Dad gave us money after he and our brothers came back from the mosque after the Eid prayer.

We were always excited because mom would buy beautiful fabrics and she’d give it to   the tailor who’d sew beautiful clothes for us.

There were delicious foods cooked by mom, which  we’d be anxious to eat, we always knew no one could cook better than mom.

It was a  tradition in every family to cook dessert with vermicelli,with or without milk, I liked the dry vermicelli, mom fried it with clarified butter, then she added sugar and water for the vermicelli to soften  she left it for a couple of minutes on the stove for the liquid to dry. It was afterwards garnished with sliced almonds and pistachios.

We had our meal at noon. Then we’d visit our friends to wish them happy Eid. We couldn’t visit  our relatives they lived far away.

: https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2014/12/15/365-writing-pr…-holidays-past