“O you who believe, fasting is decreed for you, as it was decreed for those before you, that you may attain salvation.” Al Quran- [2:183]
Earlier posts on Ramzan Sharif have prompted me to write a few lines that may not be contested by readers but I think in all fairness we need to be a little truthful particularly in the month when we need to take a closer look at our conduct. Each year, Ramzan generates much of the usual piety and loud proclamations about how the Satan is chained in this month and the doors of repentance are let open upon the believers. We have grown up internalizing these views and therefore a majority of Muslim population across the globe fasts and prays for Divine mercy.
Essentially this month is a time of cleansing one’s soul as well as the body. However, every Ramzan witnesses some distasteful activities by the believers that come hand in hand with the rituals of the holy month.
First, the consumerism: forget about the cleansing of the system – there is an overemphasis on food when it should be the last item on our priorities. There are Iftaars galore and rich fatty foods are added to the diet like never before. A lavish Iftaar (across the board) is followed by a sumptuous dinner. There are Iftar packages everywhere from small stalls to five star hotels. And, the whole purpose of the exercise is somewhat undermined by the food-fest[s] indulged in by all and sundry.
A few words on the despicable behaviour of the profiteers and hoarders nowadays defined as the ultimate magic bullet – the market. This year the prices of basic staple diet – atta reached the skies when a sack of wheat flour was sold at Rs 320-340 much higher than the “fixed” prices. Not content with this, there was an average increase of 10-11 per cent in all the food items. Now if this is the official statistic, then the actual figure is bound to be higher. I have no estimate but judging by stories in the media it was much much higher.
Imagine the poor of Pakistan who constitute 24-34 per cent of the total figure (depends on the measure and source one adopts). They have had a tough time this Ramzan. And, then all this piety and repentance? The Federal Bureau of Statistics has reported an increase of 12.61% increase was seen in the “ratio of dearness for the low income group” during this time in comparison to the last year.
I can even imagine that those benefiting from the hikes would give massive amounts of charity, offer all the prayers (perhaps more through the nawaafil) and think that they would wash away their crimes and misdemeanours. Indeed the ultimate arbiter and decision maker of their deeds is the Almighty but one cannot help notice the irony of this situation.
The spirit of Ramzan also stresses the redistributive aspect of Islamic practices. The giving of Zakat at the end of the month is also mandatory for Muslims. In the past a hash was made of the Zakat system put into place by the Zia regime where all these funds were diverted and used for political and ‘strategic’ gains. This trend has been somehwhat arrested but pilferage continues. And, I will not say more on the new status symbol of the elites – an Umra towards the end of the holy month – where hundreds and thousands of rupees are spent while a majority of poor put up the posters of Kaaba on their cracking walls.
Road rage is also another trend during the month and many a people think that fasting has to do with starvation – our speech and thoughts need to fast as well. Do they? Rumi rightly said:
Wash your hands and your mouth, neither eat nor speak; seek that speech and that morsel which has come to the silent ones.
There is much too much emphasis on the ritual and the spirit of our great religion is the real casualty of the way we practice religion in the land of the pure. About time someone explained the words Taqwa and Tazkia-e Nafs in their entirety. I end with these words.
There is more to be said here but may God forgive me for this rant. Perhaps I am also a victim of that impatience that I am supposed to contain.
So true abt the consumerism part, i had a bad experience of opening my iftaar at AW in khi and as soon as the fast broke, techno music was turned on and there was no arrangement for namaaz as well. more of a dance club environment for the backward rozaydaar like myself…
May Allah guide us all to the right path, Ameen.
Raza: It is interesting to read that in Pakistan, consumerism, profiteering, price hike, road rage, wealth accumulation, status concerns, Satan chaining and Divine mercy are all operating on lunar calendar. Let us all pray for a ‘new moon’ that may set us free. As Faiz said:
Ab Sadioun Kay Iqrar-e-Atait Ko Badalnay,
Lazam Hai Kah Inqar Ka Farman Koi Utray.
Raza, very true and timely post. The obsession with iftar parties and food (with waste as a side effect) is a problem with muslims in North America as well. Thanks for raising these important points.
Raza saab,
A brilliant post as usual, its well worth asking these most pressing of questions that question our very esssence of being a muslim. Put simply we should ask of our own behaviour me included is this what the Prophet PBUH would do?
Raza bhai, I don’t know if I informed you of my most recent post titled Pakistan’s judgement week, the link is here http://www.otherpakistan.org/archive.html
Feimanallah
Wasim
Raza. Good post. But you know the spirit of Ramzan died amongst Muslims long ago. The real way to be a Muslim these days is to prove to everyone else that you are a better Muslim than them. Look at the comments on this website. People are so busy in explaining to others the ‘right’ way to be a Muslim that they have no time to worry about the ’spirit’ of Ramzan or of Islam.
Hello Raza,
I don’t disagree with the post generally, but I will point out that many Pakistanis are still small farmers (less than 30 acres) and high food prices, esp. high livestock prices around Eid are a boon to them in an economy that otherwise doesn’t seem very encouraging to the uneducated.
Loss of farming revenue is always a bigger problem than it appears, because people abandon the villages to try their luck in the city, where they end up needing to live on charity. It’s a problem you can see all over the world.
If people don’t get good prices for locally grown food, they won’t stay home and farm. It’s that simple, all romanticism about farming aside people won’t stay in a profession that offers no reward.
It’s my opinion that people need to be willing to spend about 15% to 20% of their income on food if local farmers are to stay in business. Right now people expect to spend about 7%. It’s too little; food has to be very cheap and uniform (less variety) and mass produced by huge companies for that, leaving millions unemployed and pushed off the land. Which price to you want to pay?
The industrialized countries have already made this decision in the negative. The huge human cost was only mitigated after a century of socialistic policies; millions perished in the meantime. It’s to be hoped that another, more sustainable, model develops somewhere in the third world, without the intervening horrors. However one look at Mumbai, Lagos, or Karachi does not give much reason for cheer.
So yes, let’s feast during Ramazan and pay well for the privelege. It’s not gouging; the farmers will live off that income for the whole year. It also encourages them to produce top quality livestock for the Eid markets.
Hope this gives some perspective about the other side of the coin!
Fasting during the month of Ramadan is set by the religion
to dedicate to AlMighty oneself, without exaggerations, but
with humbleness, equalibirium, abstention from habitual
consumer’s anarchy , Tazkia-e-Nafs.
Luckily and fortunately there are millions of muslims
who fill the mosques with Iftari and Sehar so that millions
who can not afford might fulfill their duty, for those, my
best mubaraks, the traditional preparation at home
for the Iftari taken out first and sent to the nearby
mosque is a respond to the devils Haram hoarders.
Bravo
Raza Rumi,
Pakistani authorities and business community is
entirely responsible for this heinous, hideous attitude of
Hoardings, price hike, this dirty Bania mentality should be
reprimanded and harshly dealt with,on the other hand
we the consumers should boycott these vultures and
demand the Govt to apply the law.
But it seems some of the bureaucrates and politicians officially want to cancel the month of Ramadan
and the Zabih during the Eid Al Azha in Pakistan.
It is beyond our comprehension since 70s the same
scoundrels, in the same profession can get away with it.
Pakistanis must react firmly and protest against the
price hike no-controlable by Govt.purposely.
Atleast 2 months before Ramadan and two months before
AlAzha prices must freez, imperatively in these domains .