Author Unknown http://www.themodernreligion.com/ramadan.html
The heat is on! Once a year a dramatic change occurs in the Muslim
community. Once a year Icky baby and the Sams becomes Iqbal and Sameera.
Off come the baggy jeans, the Nike 180’s and the Raiders cap. On come the
yellow Shalwar Kameez (clothes most Pakistanis wear), the brylcreamed
hairstyle which glues on that terribly uncool Towpee(cap) and in comes the
miswak in the top pocket, making you look like something like “Karachi cops”.
It’s during this HOLY month of Ramadan that we ditch the daytime raves and
the frequent visit to the library (and we don’t mean for the reference
section) and begin to act it out. Icky baby becomes temporarily religious.
It’s a sort of spooky feeling. The Mosques are full and you feel good. Good
cos’ you’ve done your bit for the year. One by one you scratch the days
from your Ramadan timetable that your dad brought back from the Mosque-and
then-thank crunchie it’s Eid.
Eid Mubarak!
The Mosques again becomes museums for the old and for those deprived “ACHA
BACHA”- a good baby. The crease-free shalwar kameez comes off and comes the
baggy jeans, whilst the libraries reopen for “business as usual”. Just 11
more months of “freedom” to go before the smelly breath season come back
with vengeance.
Year after year it goes on, almost as a ritual. You know it’s rough. Yet
Allah(swt) is Al-Rahman and Al-Raheem as we are told by our parents (who
probably also have gone through this). And anyway religion is for the old
men in the mosques- with smelly breaths, and beards that sweep the floor
everytime they walk from one end of the mosque to the other.
Religion is for those “fundies”(fundamentalists) at school/college, the
“weirdoes” who only talk to the opposite sex about the benefits of the
Khilafah ruling system or the fallacies of Western ideology such as
Capitalism and Marxist Philosophy.(i.e.try saying that in one breath!).
The game
So you go around playing this game. It’s like an endless spiral. You think
you’re a rebel or tough-yet you’re just one of the pack- a zombie,
conforming to master-plan, when you turn 40s you grow your beard and take
your seat in front row of the mosque, invest in a miswak, pack your bags
for Hajj, and then everything is gonna be safe!- well no! It doesn’t quite
work like that. The million dollar question is will you ever turn 40? Game
Over.
Suppose you die. Just suppose you snuff it before you turn 40? What then?
It could severely damage that master-plan of yours. Alright, the chances
may look slim yet the stakes are high. Nobody knows when he or she is going
to die. Just suppose you’re locked up in a room and there’s no way out.
Just suppose there’s a time bomb- ticket away in this room. Now if this
bomb has “6 days” on it you would probably turn “fundy” and spend all six
days reading namaz(salah).
Just suppose the bomb had a “?” on it? What then? That’s exactly how life
is!!! A ticking-bomb with a “?” on it, you never know when it’s gonna
blow-up. Whereever you are, death will find you. Even if you are in tower
built up strong and high!" (Translation of the meaning of the Qu’ran)
30 days or a lifetime? And anyway, even if you do go along with this
“dodgy” game, don’t you think your Creator will know your intention? Many
people have sussed out Islam as a blind faith or and
emotional/spiritual/spooky belief which leaves you a contemplating
rationally about the meanings of life. Where did you come from? Why are we
here? Or the question that puts a dampner on all raves, " what’s going to
happen to us when we die?"
Islam asks us to answer these vital questions and come to a conclusion, the
correct one. Islam doesn’t rely on the dodgy culture we are brought up with
either from our parents or from the Molvi-Saab(imam). Islam is far from
being a “religion” as it is often coined in the media.
Islam is a complete system of life - with solutions to all our problems be
it for Muslims or non-Muslims. Check out Islam for yourself and free
yourself from this shallow zombie-like culture. Before your credits run out!
“I put my trust in Allah, my Lord and your Lord! There is not a moving creature, but He has a grasp of its forelock. Verily, my Lord is on the straight path. (The truth)”
(11:55-56)