*Yaaaaaaawn*
Stretching
on my bed with Ma’amoun on my lap -- Ma'amoun is my former colleague’s laptop
that I’m using because I’m too lazy to transfer all work stuff to mine: Sa3doun
–
Friday
is usually my day off people. Yeah, people. Y’know these creatures that are up to
no good other than blabbing their hearts out and making each other’s lives
miserable? Not today though, it’s the first day of Ramadan; a divine day for
socializing with fellow human creatures. Meh.
High air-conditioning.
My God, how am I going to survive this heat without a drop of water! A perfect day for procrastination. It's less
than 6 weeks now and i'm leaving my job. The amount of work I’ve got to finish
is mind startling.
With
the first signal of headache reaching my brain neurons, I’m thinking about the
feast waiting for us in a couple of hours. With the new jaw device installed in
my mouth, I can’t really chew or eat. Great, the only joy I get from family
gatherings is the food. Now, I’ll have to tolerate all the loud voices and the
curdling around tee-fee witnessing the worst forms of financial and mental
waste.
Fatafeat
as a background noise. That dish that Jamie just put up looks divine, yum. I
begin to bitch about how I'm going to survive Ramadan this year: the heat, the
4-hour daily dose of traffic, the dehydration, work and people’s talzee2.
Boff!!
Procrastination
taking over. I’m not going to get anything done, I know. I start to google ways
for surviving Ramadan in the heat. You should never really search for Islamic
topics in English. Uhmmm, people wondering how Muslim morons celebrate the
month of irregular eating and dehydration every year thinking it's good for
their health. The amount of creativity and thought put into making fun of
fellow human creatures is just amazing.
More
fidgeting. I gotta focus. I gotta get
some load off! C’mon! Ramadan is going
to be the toughest this year pour moi. I must take some days off. Argh! I won't
be able to survive.
*Yawn*
Ya
Allah give me the strength to hold on! Hold on what.. Strength?
Flash
backs. Ramadan Gana w frehna boh;
festive songs? Madfa3 el iftar; festive features? Feasts on the table every day;
compensation? Family gatherings all month long; some sort of emotional
deprivation? Humongous amounts of media shows, less working hours, fawanees, overwhelming
greetings .. Hold on .. What are people trying to compensate for? Why so
different?
I’ve
been raised my entire life believing that Ramadan was all about feeling for the
poor. Their deprivation; their suffering. That’s what they taught us at school.
Plus the fact that women could support their families by selling homemade jams
and pickles. Anyway, the taught us that it’s all about giving. But who said
sustenance was the only kind of suffering the poor experience. Plus, the poor
and deprived suffer for days not just a couple of hours every day for only a
month.
Yeah,
some say it’s about the spiritual environment and the fact that thawab is a
multiple folds more in this month. But isn’t spirituality all about finding a connection
between you and God? I mean God is there forever and He’s reachable all year
long; it’s really about you realizing His existence and desire to reach out to
Him.
It’s
an opportunity to get soaked with rahma and maghfira to compensate for the rest
of the year. Yeah, yeah, okay, I know
all about that and how awesome Ramadan is and everything but there is still
something more deeper, more divine into it.
If
it were about the food and drink and intimate relationships; dieting is also a
form of deprivation that you could feel the poor’s suffering through every
single extra calorie you’re trying to get rid of. Maybe even harsher because
you had a hand in the situation you’ve reached (I’m talking about the feeling
not the concept).
People
live 25+ years without any physical intercourse and are perfectly fine. Some
even spend their whole lives and I can’t really say that they’re deprived or
something essential is missing in their lives.
If
it were about avoiding obscenity; then why don’t we dig up for the roots that
cause people to curse and bring out the beast inside of each other? In a
country like Egypt, I would consider suppressing the urge to extract the guts
of someone a heroic deed that one should be rewarded on. But in some countries,
obscenity is not a challenge you have to avoid in one certain interval of time.
Good
deeds. Yep! Ramadan is an open invitation for thawab and good deeds. But couldn’t
opening up a special month for good deeds fire back? I mean people wait for
Ramadan to do all their share of good deeds for the year. What about the rest
of the year? But you know what, one month is better than no month at all.
Still,
there’s Zakah that Muslims have to pay, which happens to be also a fard. And
Allah awards tenfold a good deed any time of the year. Allah is always
extra-gracious. Restricting good acts to Ramadan is unfair. Period.
I think there is a more profound insight into the
idea of Ramadan. Like why is it a whole month? A lunar month? A month of deprivation?
Taking into consideration an average life span of a
human being, one will witness at least 1 Ramadan in all seasons. Have you ever
thought about it?
Research says that a human being needs about 3
weeks to cultivate a habit. We’re just too ignorant to take advantage of such a
chance. We deal with Ramadan as a fact not an opportunity. A fard not a turning
point.
He is the most knowledgeable about human nature
that He actually tailored a month that would fit all human beings. Ramadan
is tailored to make you a stronger human being.
If you’re a wealthy brat all year long, deprivation
of basic sustenance is the challenge that will make you stronger. If you’re a
busy folk, the thawab for qiyam is just too awesome to be missed. Foul mouths
and aggressive cuckoo heads are put under the test here too. We’re all being under extra pressure here in
Ramadan. That’s why the reward is higher than ordinary.
Ramadan has always been the golden chance to
discover your deficiencies before being an opportunity to race for thawab and repentance.
Every Ramadan adds to the Ramadan before it. At first, the challenge is the
deprivation of sustenance. You get used to it. Then comes the challenge to keep
up with the qiyam.. the volunteering.. etc.. Taking into consideration that the
level of each challenge changes every year. Whether it’s the weather, your
social state, health state, financial state, etc..
And this is pretty much life. God doesn’t put you
through something unless He knows you can pull through. Your life would be
much easier if you realized this fact and acted accordingly.
SubhanAllah, this Ramadan is the first ever that I truly
consider a challenge. I’m a big meh-meh and tend to be over dramatic and
intolerant when it comes to summer. Allah is challenging my tolerance. I got to
admit it, this is going to be very tough and there is absolutely nothing
celebrative about it. Ya Rab.
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