Ramadhan Through My Eyes

Don’t hang on exclusively to any particular creed so that you disbelieve the rest, or you will disregard much that is good and miss the real Truth.
Allah is omnipotent and omnipresent and is not contained by any one religion,

for he says in the Qur’an “Wherever you turn, there is the face of Allah”
Ibn Arabi

Married with a Moslem guy, who never leave his religion principle, give me another insight of Moslem which I rarely seen in my others neither Moslem nor Christian friends, especially during Ramadhan this year.

Why this year ?

Because this year is the worst Ramadhan for me (read : In My Eyes). The regulation endorsed by MUI and legalized by the government, since there’s no reaction from the government it self, of worker at entertainment sector, like spa or other night entertainment, made me feel sorry for them.

According to MUI – like I saw in the news – the entertainment sector like spa and night entertainment should be closed during Ramadhan and the workers have to find another job. It was their mistake of choosing that kind of job, a job that not under “Halal” category.

The other thing also regarding the opening of food stall at one province, the authorized have instructed them to close down the restaurant because it was Ramadhan.
Seems to me that during Ramadhan people are wearing their “holy” mask, suddenly forgot what they used to do during other month. Suddenly all the bad things are something that have to be destroy and vanish from this country.

Suddenly we became a nation where all the immoral issue, is not there. We become the artificial holy person.

As I explained in the beginning, am not a Moslem, I’m married a Moslem guy, who gave me a different picture of Islam than what I heard or I saw through the news.

The picture of Islam which respect others, where the all rules came from a reason, where the meaning of Ramadhan as Holy month is noble in the eyes of a Catholic person.

Fasting in my religion is also an instruction by the religion, like in Ramadhan. The way we fasting is totally different with Moslem, but the value of fasting is the same.

Fasting is the time to relate our self (read : Our self not others) with God, to communicate more and deeply with Him so by doing that hopefully we can be a better person.

Therefore since fasting is so personal, then this entire year incidence made me questioning them, the regulator of all the cause of the incidence. Do they understand the value of Ramadhan ? Do they value the diversity ? Do they value the tolerance ?

And at the same time, I’m also questioning the day after Ramadhan over. Are they – the same person – back to the real them ? Who loves to pamper themselves in spa, in night entertainment, in the world of alcohol, in the world of immorality ? And all the holy script that they read, that they convey through their preach, be forgotten.

I’m afraid the answer is “Yes, all the holy things that they did during Ramadhan will be forgotten” and they will take of their “holy” mask, replace it with their own face.

Then Ramadhan will be useless, our tolerance as a non Moslem will be useless, because their “Holy” face made me saw Moslem through different perspective.

But as my husband told me “Remember, don’t blame the religion, it’s the people who make the religion looks bad” and because I’m not a holy person either, then Ramadhan for me is another month just like ordinary month that I have to face for this year. The ordinary month that gave me another lesson in my life.

Who knows next year, if God still give me permission to live, Ramadhan will be different from today and we will live in better world, a world where we respect our diversity