[man singing in Arabic]
-Malaysia.
The call to prayer in this majority-Muslim country
is a familiar song.
But Malaysia, along with the rest of the world,
is dealing with unfamiliar times.
The country currently has
the fourth-most coronavirus cases in Southeast Asia,
behind Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines.
Initially slow to respond,
the government shut down the country in mid-March,
closing its borders, schools, and places of worship,
and increased testing for COVID-19.
A movement-control order put in place March 18th
has been extended three times,
and it's possible that it will continue to be extended
until the epidemic is under control.
Now, as the month of Ramadan gets under way,
that order is challenging
how Malaysia's Muslims will celebrate the holiday.
Traditional Ramadan bazaars are closed as well as mosques.
The pandemic has disrupted religious observation
across the world and across beliefs.
Millions watched online as Pope Francis
celebrated Easter Mass in an empty St. Peter's Basilica.
And in South Korea, salvation was delivered in a parking lot.
The challenge for Malaysia is to keep new infections low
at a time when millions of people
want to be with their families.
Ramadan is a time for reflection and spiritual rejuvenation
that sees families and communities gather
for pre-dawn meals, prayer at mosques, and post-fast meals.
The end of Ramadan, this year on May 23rd,
is marked by Eid al-Fitr, when the fasting time is broken
and millions reunite or travel with family.
This Ramadan will look very different
for Muslims around the world, including the Ghazali family,
who live outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's capital.
Rahmah Ghazali lives with her parents, husband,
and her two sisters and their families.
-My worries about preparing for the upcoming Ramadan --
a lot of things, actually,
because now we are under lockdown
for more than a month already because of COVID-19.
[man singing in Arabic]
-Instead of going to mosque,
the family is now praying together at home.
-On the eve of Ramadan,
usually we would pray tarawih together,
and we usually go to the mosque.
But now all the mosques are closed --
not just mosques -- all places of worship are closed.
Despite us living just a few meters away from the mosque,
we're not able to go to pray.
-Food is a big part of the holiday,
when families get together to break the fast in the evenings.
-We're not gonna be able to go out and buy our favorite food.
We're just gonna be at home, cook our own food,
and then we have to cook, like, much simpler meals for everyone.
One of the challenges about feeding a family of 14,
including myself,
is you don't know what to cook for breaking fast and suhoor.
-What's for lunch today?
-[laughing] Omelet. -Again?
-Yeah.
There are not many choices left in the kitchen.
I mean, there's chicken, there's eggs, there's fish.
But I think the easiest way to cook is just, you know --
Sometimes you just run out of ideas.
On some days,
you just cook like three types of different egg dishes
because that's all you can think of.
The eggs run out pretty fast,
so we have to keep ordering them every other day,
because that's what the children eat most of the time.
-But Rahmah considers herself to be one of the lucky ones.
-If the lockdown is not lifted before Eid,
then we're just gonna have to settle where we are
and just enjoy your time here,
because other people have it worse.
I mean, I think I'm privileged to live in this health
with my family and with the children and everything.
So yeah, I'm trying to look at the big picture here.
I think this time around,
the lockdown will teach us to be more empathetic, I think.
That's the silver lining to it, being under lockdown.
[indistinct conversations]