PUTTING ON THE PIOUS MASK
By: Lubnah Abdulhalim
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| Photo Courtesy: quranforkids.org |
There always comes a time in our lives
whereby we are required by religion to take certain actions that have higher
benefit in our lives. But what may seem ironical yet so great is how the new era
youth can temporarily change to suit the trend. A good example is how we may
find Christian and Muslim youth dragging to the churches and mosques during
Christmas and Ramadan only. So Ramadan is finally here, you and I as a youth
what are our main aims and goals during this very short period?
Ramadan is the holy month among the
Muslims whereby they fast for an entire month and get closer to God. It is
during this month that people work (spiritually) tirelessly to clear their
previous sin accounts by doing sincere repentance. The beauty in all this is how
mosques can be filled twice or in triples the normal number of mosque
attendance. This is when the ladies will start searching for their over sized
buibuis full of dust and stuffy that hasn’t been worn since the previous
Ramadan. The tight and bright, shining ones will be kept pending for a while.
The makeup kit will also have to be kept aside. The changes go on and on to
fill an entire list.
The young lads on the other hand would
remove their blings and at least have the courtesy to wear their trousers well
without showing us their inner wear. The boy probably hasn’t prayed since the
previous year a time like this- Ramadan. Yet we should never insult or be hard on those of us who change only during ramadhan, but instead, lets encourage them! Let us tell the girl wearing her over sized buibui that she looks prettier than in her tight ones. Let us tell the boy who has only
come to the masjid one year ago that he is a blessing to the masjid so that they can have the morale to go on with the ramadhan habits even after it ends.
However, just when
the time of breaking the fast comes in, a lot goes on in the surrounding.
Taking a walk in the streets in town may make you more than perplexed. While
others are busy worshipping, young ladies are back on the streets just hanging
around aimlessly, back on their skimpy buibuis with screaming make up all over
the face. The young boys on the other hand are back at their ‘maskani’ busy
chewing miraa, smoking weeds and all (which are illegal acts in Islamic
religion). This brings up the question, ‘why keep yourself hungry for a whole
day with an aim of developing spiritually while just at the break of the fast,
you are back to your old habits??’ it may just as well be a waste of your
energy.
Others yet, may be patient enough to
stay off sinful acts for the entire month but just at the announcement of the
sighted eid moon, its hurrah! for them. They wouldn’t even wait for the night
to end for this is probably like ‘good riddance!’
On one hand, putting on the pious mask
during Ramadan has its positivity in that; we get to know our deeper spiritual
capabilities. The one who is always sinning may stop during the month and one
is supposed to ask oneself, ‘if I could avoid it for an entire thirty days then
why not for the next thirty and the next?’ Some individuals have actually put
themselves together and were able to continue developing spiritually but what
of the rest?
Holy months are actually a golden chance
that many don’t live to see every year. It is like being given a whole mountain
of pieces of gold and you are asked to pick to the level you can. Of course in
such a scenario, we would all be scrambling for the pieces but now imagine,
after you have decided to carry four sacks of gold and walking all the way with
it to your home, you decide to go pour all the gold pieces in the sewage. What
a waste! The above mentioned may have concentrated on the Ramadan but doesn’t
mean it can’t apply to the holy months amongst the Christians and Hindus or any
other religion. We all know our purpose in life so let’s not work hard to end
up vomiting it all out aimlessly. To all the Muslims, as Ramadan is here with
us, please let us be focused and try to change for the better God willing. I’ll
humbly end it with wishing you all ‘Ramadan Mubarak!’
