Saturday, September 19, 2009

REBORN AS (HOPEFULLY) BETTER MUSLIMS

Wishes of Selamat Lebaran, minal aidin wal faizin! are heard everywhere on Idul Fitri. On Idul Fitri Eve, people gather in the mosques for takbir prayers (glorification of God) until midnight. In the streets, the sound of the bedug drums and the chanting of Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar is heard from the mosques all through the night. It is a symbol of happiness at the end of the fasting.

Idul Fitri is a celebration of the end of the fasting month. In a very simplified sense, people say that fasting is abstaining from food, drink, etc. But, in fact, it is more difficult to refrain from what the mouth produces than from what the mouth consumes.

Saying "No" to a slice of cake is easier than, for instance, controlling our temper. In prophetic tradition, Muslims are prohibited from hurting others, both non-Muslims and Muslims. Ramadhan is a time for reflection and disengagement, a time of worship and devotion to God, self-discipline, austerity and giving alms. It is also a time for reflection, purifying one's behavior, and doing good deeds. We should also contemplate about our status as a Muslim. We should ask ourselves, "How deep is my faith in Islam and my knowledge about Islam? How great is my reverence for it? To what extent and in what form is my submission to it? Am I accepting the right understandings or teachings of Islam?"

Fasting during Ramadhan is a calendrical rite for Muslims. It is intended as a process of social transformation or as a catharsis.

In Ramadhan, Muslims find themselves in a condition of separation from their previous state or situation. After fasting, they are reborn into society in a transformed state or situation.

In their daily lives, Muslims live in a structured fashion. They eat, drink, work, and wake up in a regular or customary way. Perhaps, they eat three times a day, wake up at 4 or 5 o'clock in the morning, and work from 8 am until 4 pm. In Ramadhan, Muslims live in an anti-structured world. They live outside the normal structures of society.


After Ramadhan, they will return once more to the structure but in different way. What is the intention of this anti-structural life? Just like an initiation process, the anti-structural life is a stage of change in our lives from our past form to a new form.

After the fasting days or the anti-structured period are over, there is Idul Fitri or -- as it called in Indonesia -- Lebaran. It is a religious feast on the first day of the next month when Muslims formally break their fast. Riyoyo -- as it is called in Java -- is a day of victories for those who have fasted during Ramadhan, so Muslims celebrate it.

The meaning of Idul Fitri goes back to the word fithrah. Fithrah is a natural tendency. Therefore, Idul Fitri is a kind of rebirth in a new life, a new Muslim. As a symbol of starting a new life, people wear new clothes, and those who can afford it repaint their houses and brighten up their living rooms with flowers and new furniture.

As a way of preserving a continuous tradition, celebrating a new life in Idul Fitri with symbolic manifestations such as new clothes -- and performing sungkem (kneeling to show respect) in many traditional Javanese families-- might be important. However, is that symbolic manifestation really portraying the process of transforming our lives from the old model (old structure) to the new model (new structure)? Do we truly discard our bad habits? Do we become aware of some bad aspect of our religiosity before Ramadhan and then change it after the holy month?

Our religious life is often colored by sad events and even catastrophes. To mention some unfortunate aspects connected with religion that occurred before Ramadhan, there was the second Bali bombings and the issue of Islamic terrorism, the attack on the Mubarok campus -- belonging to the Indonesian Ahmadiyah Congregation (JAI) -- in Bogor by a swarm of brutes calling themselves Indonesian Muslim Solidarity (GUII), controversy over 11 MUI (Indonesian Ulema Council) edicts, the issue of the expulsion of the Liberal Islam Network (JIL) from Utan Kayu, East Java, the sealing of some places used for Christian worship in Garut, and the attacks by the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) on some cafes and churches in Jakarta.

Our expression of Islamic tradition and civilization also appeared in two contrasting and troubling ways; crises of identity and acute social frustration. Some Muslims often promote apologetic views such as Islam has liberated women, was compatible with and even created democracy, endorsed pluralism, protected human rights, and guaranteed social security.

Meanwhile, some others project their feelings of powerless, alienation and defeat not by claiming Western civilization as their own, but, quoting from Khaled Abou El Fadl's statement, by defining "Islam as the exact antithesis of the West, under the guise of reclaiming the true and real Islam." Terrorism is an expression from those who feel powerless, aggrieved and desperate to undermine the superpower.

With Ramadhan and Lebaran, we hope that we will be reborn again with a new identity, as new Muslims. Finally, Lebaran is all about giving, forgiving, charity, feasts, and, above all, starting a new life! Happy Idul Fitri 1426 H. May the spirit of forgiveness and wishing each other well always remain our hearts.

Monday, September 7, 2009

Benefits of Ramadan

Ramadan is a period of fasting, reflection, devotion, generosity and sacrifice observed by Muslims around the world. While major holidays of other faiths have largely become commercialized events, Ramadan retains its intense spiritual meaning.

The word "Ramadan" comes from the Arabic root word for "parched thirst" and "sun-baked ground." It is expressive of the hunger and thirst felt by those who spend the month in fasting. As opposed to other holidays, when people often indulge, Ramadan is by nature a time of sacrifice.

• Through fasting, a Muslim experiences hunger and thirst, and sympathizes with those in the world who have little to eat every day.

• Through increased devotion, Muslims feel closer to their Creator, and recognize that everything we have in this life is a blessing from Him.

• Through increased charity, Muslims develop feelings of generosity and good-will toward others. The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) once said, "A man's wealth is never diminished by charity."

• Through self-control, a Muslim practices good manners, good speech, and good habits.

• Through changing routines, Muslims have a chance to establish more healthy lifestyle habits - particularly with regards to diet and smoking.

• Through family and community gatherings, Muslims strengthen the bonds of brotherhood and sisterhood, in their own communities and throughout the world.

Ramadan is a very special time for Muslims, but the feelings and lessons we experience should stay with us throughout the year. In the Qur'an, Muslims are commanded to fast so that they may "learn self-restraint" (Qur'an 2:183). This restraint and devotion is especially felt during Ramadan, but we all must strive to make the feelings and attitudes stay with us during our "normal" lives. That is the true goal and test of Ramadan.

May Allah accept our fasting, forgive our sins, and guide us all to the Straight Path. May Allah bless us all during Ramadan, and throughout the year, with His forgiveness, mercy, and peace, and bring us all closer to Him and to each other.
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At Ramadan, Muslims test their devotion to their faith

On Friday, hundreds of millions of Muslims will start fasting for a month. They will abstain from eating or drinking from dawn to dusk. They will stand for hours in prayers each night to remember their Lord and express their gratitude to Him, seek His forgiveness and aspire to come closer to Him.

Imagine a vast crowd of hundreds of millions of Muslims (sorry didn't mean to frighten anybody) rushing headlong for a month in the same direction, seeking the pleasure of their Lord and you will begin to get some idea of the world's longest and biggest spiritual festival.

The Quran, the Muslim holy book, instructs that fasting, one of the five pillars of Islam, is to teach Muslims self-restraint. The ritual involves systematic abstinence of things normal to body, mind and spirit.

The limits are clear; no eating, no drinking, no sex, no fighting, no backbiting, no lying, no anger, no arrogance, no pride, no despair. This is the ultimate boot camp.

The point of the exercise for adult Muslims who are healthy and able, is to develop a regimen of self-restraint and to inculcate a capacity to, borrowing a term from Plato, control one's appetites. The hope is that this mandatory regimen will become a habit and Muslims will spend the rest of the year in a state of high spiritual alert.

The easy part of the month of Ramadan is the physical part. After a week the body and the mind adjust. One barely feels hungry or thirsty for most of the day.

The more difficult parts are the one's that demand spiritual discipline. Controlling one's id, mastering one's anger and pride, learning humility and recognizing the insignificance of the self in comparison to the awesome majesty of God are all struggles. It is not easy to become one with God in one month.

Ramadan is also the month in which most of The Quran was revealed. To celebrate the revelation, Muslims devote special prayers and try to find time to reread and recommit to its teaching and commandments. After fasting all day, many spend two to three hours every night in prayer.
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Muslims believe that Ramadan is a blessed month in which the rewards for any good action are multiplied many times over. Therefore much of the annual obligatory and optional charity happens during Ramadan. This is a good time to do fundraising if Muslim donors are your target. Islam mandates giving of 2.5 percent of wealth, called Zakat, and many Muslims give it during Ramadan.

At the end of Ramadan, Muslims celebrate the festival Eid. We break our fast early in the morning, wear our best clothes, give as much charity as we can and go to the mosque to offer special prayers.

As one enters the mosque one experiences a complex emotion of happiness and apprehension. Happiness for being blessed with one more Ramadan and apprehension because one is always wondering if what one offered God was enough, was it accepted, was it worthy of one who is the Most Merciful and Most Compassionate.

Sometimes, there is a feeling of lightness, as if the weight of impurities one had been carrying and accumulating all year has been lifted. Sometimes there is heaviness in the heart and one prays for one more chance to maybe get it right the next time.

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Shoring up your Character

Allah guides those who perform good deeds. And the more we do, the more guidance we receive. Likewise, evil doing feeds on itself. Ibn-ul-Qayyim said, "This is because Allah likes good deeds and rewards on them, and abhors evil deeds, and punishes for them." Scholars have taken this truth and crafted the rule: "Recompense is according to deeds."


Here are a few Qur'anic verses relating to the loss of guidance and decrease in emaan:


"So when they turned away (from the path of Allah),
Allah turned their hearts away (from the right path)." [61:5]


"I shall turn away from My signs those who behave arrogantly
on the earth in a wrongful manner.
If they see all the signs they will not believe in them.
And if they see the way of righteousness, they will not adopt that way." [7:146].



"And recite to them (Oh, Mohammed) the story of the one to whom We gave our verses (signs), but he turned them away, so Satan followed him up, and he became of those who went astray. Had he willed We would surely have elevated him therewith
but he clung to the earth and followed his own vain desires. So his description
is the that of a dog; if you drive him away, he lolls his tongue out,
or if you leave him alone, he (still) lolls his tongue out." [7:175-176].


The last verse tells us that some even have knowledge, but instead of applying it, they choose to follow their whims and worldly desires. In the end they lose their blessing and stray from Allah.


The young girl was eventually ensconced within the circle of her Muslim community but she had changed. She felt disconnected somehow. "I always did good deeds and tried to be helpful. I made good grades. But I was trying to sort out my relationship with people and was trying to see myself. My anger had turned to hatred and I thought that feeling, that rush made me brave. But it wasn't my nature, to feed off of that kind of negativity. It wasn't who I thought Allah wanted me to be. It wasn't what my family brought me up to be. I could never reach my potential holding on to that baggage. "There was a time when I feared nothing but Allah. And now I had to admit that I feared what people could do when they discover you're different. Going to school, walking to the store, meeting new people, voicing an opinion..." The more she hid and tried to blend in, the more obvious it became that she was different. "I didn't gossip. I dressed modestly. I stood up for what I felt was right. I thought globally ... I achieved things and some people admired me. But that made me uncomfortable because I knew that any good that came my way or through me was the will of Allah. I never really belonged. I had yet to really stand up for myself, to allow people to get to know me on my own terms. I had created something of a prison for myself that only I knew I was in." Everyone is solely responsible for his/her deviation. Allah does not oppress anyone. Nor does Allah turn away servants when they sincerely strive for guidance. Allah is the most just. And He is the most merciful.


Deviation from the right path and the degradation of emaan are a result of one's own deeds and a reflection of one's own behavior and character. Muslims must always be aware of that. They should assume they will face challenges sometimes and be ready to protect themselves and to heal and to grow. The first step towards achieving that is to know why and how does it happen. Most times it isn't the big wars that defeat a people, it is the little internal skirmishes which go unmet that eat away at character long before a clear enemy comes knocking on a half-opened door.

EMAAN : Your most valuable possession

In a time when faith in God is many times considered a weakness, where the relationship between cause and effect are bandied about as negotiable, emaan may seem like a fantasy at best, an albatross at worst. The line between right and wrong is deliberately blurred, redrawn and blurred again. Throughout time-ancient as well as modern-examples of what comes of the convolutions of mankind abound. Yet still we allow ourselves to be guided into the web of the true delusion: that in going against the blueprint for mankind that Allah reiterates in the Qur'an, we can cheat the fate our own hands wring, that among ourselves we make adequate lesser gods.



Anyone who contemplates the verses of the Qur'an will find people are ultimately responsible for their own deeds. Allah is not unjust to anyone, that the reason behind a person's deviations is one's own self. Deeds, by heart or limb, result in steadfastness or perversion. They are linked together in the same fashion a consequence is linked to its cause and an effect to its influence. And sometimes Allah plots for you a course of hills, valleys and straightaways that will ultimately make the legs of your deen-your emaan-lean and well-muscled.