Yay … Ramadan is coming and we will all be doing pawri now! Yes, admit it or not, but most of the excitement for most of the people in the Muslim world today is the pawri atmosphere of Ramadan. Now! I don’t want to be Aunt Polly who keeps looking for the boy who puts his hand in the jam jar, but lets at least have the honesty of the street boy Tom Sawyer who was brave enough to speak the truth and name Injun Joe at the court! A popular motivational Dawa speaker once asked, ‘Is it the month of fasting or feasting?’ If you ask me, I would say, both. Why not? For Allah Almighty says in the Holy Quran,
“ Eat and drink happily but do not transgress . ” [Reference]
I would say, its not too different from the English proverb, Eat, drink and be merry! For its only fair to tell anyone that they are more than welcome to have a party in their garden but please not to get drunk and topple over the wall onto the neighbors. So that’s the point of Islam, that you have the right to party, I mean, pawri, but not to break morals or laws of any kind.
So as Ramadan approaches, the Muslim world is abuzz! Cleaning, shopping, stocking, stitching, decorations … truly sounds like a pawri, doesn’t it? Routine schedules are quickly rearranged and changed to accommodate Sehri, Taraweeh, Dora-e-Quran … no, no, no, you started off right but quickly went off track. Its Sehri, Sehri Pawries, Iftari, Iftari Pawries, and since its quite difficult to stay all day long without food, we swap our morning and evening routines. We stay awake through the night, merrily pawrying all night long and sleeping through the day, to dodge the Fasting hunger pangs. And if God forbid, we are committed to work or study in the morning, we start asking for shorter hours. And if the boss does not concede to shorter hours, we look at him in horror and despise. ‘What a bad Muslim boss he is … not giving us time off during Ramadan!’ As if we had to go home and attend a Dora-e Quran, or do Quran recitation after Asr, or stand up for Taraveeh at night. Funnily, just nine o’clock in the morning, our gait is slow, our tone is down, and if somebody may ask us, ‘What happened?’ ... we croak ‘I am fasting …!’ As if it is news in the Muslim world that somebody is fasting during Ramadan. Obviously, we all are fasting. What’s the big deal?
The big deal is that since fourteen hundred years, or lets say since Prophet Musa As’s time, or perhaps even afore, Fasting has been prescribed in all holy scriptures, but we still have an indigestion of the idea that the purpose of Fasting is to mature us spiritually, mentally, physically, emotionally and to take our will power to newer heights, where we could and would work and struggle and strive despite hunger pangs in our stomach and desire pangs in our hearts. It is then that we can resonate with the Sahaba RA who set out for Tabuk despite the scorching travel heat and ripe fields at home ready to be harvested and who dug the Trench in the Battle of the Trench with stones tied to their stomachs to curb the hunger pangs.
But we want none of that. Oh yes, we want the lost glory of Islam and Muslims but none of the struggle behind it. Just like we want A+ grades without studying and by just buying readymade assignments from book shops and a few glances here and there in the exam room. And just like we want a six-figure salary without the qualifications required for it. And just like we want perks and promotions without the hard work and sweat behind it. We are happy that our ancestors met all the challenges, spread Islam and made it easy for us. We shake our heads at the fall of the Ottomans and nod in approval that Jinnah carved out Pakistan for us. Now we want to be the golden spoon children whose parents have done all the struggle and life should serve us everything in the silver platter. In fact, it seems like we are actually at the spiritual level of children, who are motivated to Fasting by promising them their favorite food at the end of the day. Was that the motivation the Sahaba RA followed? How immature can we be?
The excitement that we need to have as a runner up to Ramadan is … yes! Ramadan is coming once again, and now I am in a higher grade, or my job has become tougher, or we have a new baby in the family now, how am I going to manage all this … that’s the challenge! How exciting! I going to make myself stronger, be more resilient, increase my will power and meet the challenge! I want more time for worship? I am going to take out my free time, my entertainment time, my rest time, or cut out nonsense activities … but I will not let the quantity or quality of my work to go down ! That’s the spirit of Islam and Ramadan … to celebrate the promotion of the body and soul to greater heights. It is only then that we may make the month of Ramadan, the month of fasting and feasting … provided that we earn the feasting and not sleep through the training and develop the courage to speak up for Aafia Siddiqui in public !
No comments:
Post a Comment