Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Ramzaan Mubarak

Ramzaan is not just a spiritually gratifying time for the Muslims of the World.
It is also astonishingly a terrifying time for many housewives , now known as home makers.

There is a couple residing a short distance away from my house .
The husband has retired and is a hypertension patient
The wife too is no longer young. She has health issues all of which I don't know , but I could see heavy swelling on her feet as she scurried in and out of the Casualty Ward where her husband had been brought after he had fainted in the bank where he had gone for some work

After he was shifted to the ICU , and things had settled a bit , she told me that he had been fasting for the day. (It was an optional roza, which he could easily have avoided considering his condition)
She also kept insisting that she was preparing meals for the evening , thereby implying she was under pressure to have the table laid out elaborately with "iftaari"
This tension was certainly not doing her any good

There is another instance that I'm reminded of ...
This was a young couple.
Husband a fitness freak wanted to fast in Ramzaan to control his excessive eating (and I wonder if there was  any religious attachment to the act too ... but that is apart )
However at the iftaar table he would expect an extravagantly sumptuous feast  evening after evening ....
The wife naturally was under a huge stress to have peace at iftaar time

Is this what Ramzaan should entail ?
Is this the spirit of Ramzaan ?

Namaaz padho ,  Roza rakho , Qur'an padho .... All very good :-)
Ibadat is for self purification and Ramzaan is specially a time for introspection , when one controls hunger and thirst  as an offering of one's love to God Almighty and also as a means to enhance the compassion in one's heart for those who have to go without food (and at so many places even water is in limited supply ....or is even sold for cash/kind to the poor)
Ramzaan is also a time to think of such underprivileged people who go hungry not because they are fasting but because they don't have enough food

Also to perform any kind of  Ibadat / Prayer / Pooja one must be healthy and medically fit ...It should be an act of goodwill which must essentially result in peace and betterment of self and others....and not a burdensome complusion
Remember God does not have a favourite worship style and there could be infinite number of ways through  which one can pray and express one's gratitude and love for the Almighty 

As we welcome yet another month of Ramzaan , let us be thankful for the blessings we have and spend time in releasing the toxins from our thought process , relaxing our hearts and renewing ourselves into better human beings :-)

Ramzaan Mubarak to all

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Yes you have sighted the examples of two men who harassed their wives. So right. Today I feel the concentration is more on people and impressions than fasting and prayer. It is a fad to keep fast with protein rich health drinks, and they talk of weird diets too. Come Iftar and it has to be a spread. Do not leave out the women - from the clothes they will wear to the iftar meet and from the gossip which is brought like an agenda for the event,of course not to forget the delicacies on the table - it is amazing.. So colorful.. Looks like - well I fasted, so this is my right.. So by fasting we are in fact doing a favor to the Almighty? How many of us have thought of calling the families of poor Muslims in the locality for an iftar - they with their hand me down old clothes, they who may not even be able to fast because they do not have a square meal to eat, they who have never passed your portals to come inside and taken advantage of your hospitality.. Try it.. It is just such an awesome feeling. but they are indeed fit for our Zakat - not brotherhood..

Zohra Javed said...

Well said Nishath
Poignant and honest depiction of how commercialized and materialistic religions have become .... When their essence is lost is it any wonder then that these great religions seem to have lost their purpose too
Time for religious leaders of the world to introspect and think when all religions preach peace , why none is able to achieve it

(I say religious leaders because they are the ones who have the power to influence majority of their followers )

Rupam Kumar said...

Read it today.....what you feel n think is true Ramzaan.......Aap sabon ko ye paak mahina mubaraq.

Zohra Javed said...

Aameen

Thankyou Rupam for sharing your opinion and also agreeing with me :-)

Rakesh Anand Bakshi said...

A good human and a passionate song and life lover.

Zohra Javed said...

Thank you Rakesh :-)