As one living in a country populated by Muslim majority, which also means surrounded by them in daily life, I experience the influence of Islamic teaching in society. In addition, I've been raised as Muslim by my parents (put aside my personal choice of religious view) and also once went to Islamic Primary School. That makes it not by surprise to find out I am familiar with regular Islamic values in society.
One of most important moments for Muslims around the world, without doubt, is Ramadhan Month. It is time when Muslim people must be fasting since from sun starts to rise until sun has set for the entire month in accordance with the Islamic Lunar Calendar. The dawn is the sign for people to stop their consumption of, at the simplest rule, food & drink, and they are not allowed to engage in any sexual intercourse including masturbation. As the dusk comes, people can break their fast.
Let us not go to the extent on how Muslims are supposed to read Al-Qur'an and perform complete and additional prayers in Ramadhan Month because Ramadhan is said to be the month when all good doings and form of worshiping will be rewarded in a very bigger number than other month outside Ramadhan, but let's just take a look at simple things as the fasting itself is, the food and drink.
I vividly remember once being taught that one of reasons we are required to be fasting is to let ourselves feel what the people living in poverty feel, hunger and thirst despite having to work. No matter how much they are physically drained, and thus also mentally, they work anyway trying to fulfill daily needs and to fulfill the role in society becoming productive citizens no matter how much small the income they may receive. By performing this fasting activity, trying to feel what the poor people feel everyday, we might be able to develop compassion towards them and also to be grateful for the lives we have.
In a glimpse, such value seems good to be uphold, and indeed it is. However, problem comes when the practice doesn't meet the idea proposed. If people care to criticize themselves, they will find out that what they have done may be the opposite of what the ideal and expected exercise to be like.
Factually speaking, Ramadhan Month just happens to be the month when people suspend their meals & drinks, allowing themselves suffer for some certain hours according to their time zone, and they whine about it instead of contemplating about how it feels to be unavailable to eat & drink and thus be thankful for what they have, and after the sun sets, they get insane about feeding themselves and indulging their sense of taste. People consume just too much of glucose, fat, and salty food. Before the sun rises, they feed up until their stomach is almost to throw up. After the sun sets, they crave for their meals like cavemen hunt for food.
Take a look how the expense of food needs goes bloated due to the urge of having fatty beefy salty meals on the dining table and the sweety namely Ta'jil (sweet iced drinks, consist of excessive syrup and maybe fruits that contain fructose of course). This too much demand of food, economically speaking, has caused the price rises significantly. That being said, the poor become poorer, the rich become more of spoiled brats.
What I cannot get at all, is especially when this prodigal habit becomes obligatory whenever Ramadhan comes. Not to mention people will be competing to buy new clothes when Ramadhan is almost over because they feel the urge to wear novel outfits in the celebration of Eid Mubarak.
There's also this "break fasting together" thingy that people like to do. They usually go to a special restaurant and order food in a big number to eat together. The more expensive the restaurant is, the more prestigious it feels for them to break-fast-together, especially knowing Ramadhan only comes once every year.
It's also getting more ironic when in Ramadhan many people turn puffy instead of losing weight. Ideally speaking, they're supposed to feel what the poor feel, but realistically speaking, they eat more than what they do outside Ramadhan. Maybe some of us must be careful to get diabetes in Ramadhan Month.
The teaching says Ramadhan is a holy month for Muslims, but I wonder if such holy month has been stained by behaviour of hedonism, and it doesn't seem holy anymore somehow. Perhaps, in a while, we must take a seat and reconsider our deeds so far. We must question ourselves when modesty can no longer be lived as a way of religious life.
No comments:
Post a Comment