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The heat is on! Once a year a dramatic
change occurs in the Muslim community. Once a year Icky baby and the Sams
becomes Brother Iqbal and Sister Sameera. Off come the baggy jeans, the Nikes
and the Raiders cap. On come the yellow Shalwar Kameez (clothes most Pakistanis
wear), out goes 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
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 a 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 ticking 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 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!
Word out!
Remember there is no Life or Dignity without Islam. “O you who believe answer
the call of Allah(swt) and His Messenger to that which gives you Life.” (8:24)
Rememberance of the people is the disease, and rememberance of Allaah is the
cure. Yet how strange is it that we hasten to the disease and not the cure?
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