RAMADAN, we are always reminded, is a month of peace, quiet, prayer, and restraint. However, it seems that not everybody has been mindful of these reminders, a pattern that repeats itself every year.
I was just in Indonesia, a country that we tend to think of as full of poor people with low education who need to work in our homes and construction sites but who nevertheless produce good food and good songs. Nothing could be further from the truth judging by all the creativity, whether in art, fashion, or music, that’s being produced over there. What’s more, nothing could be a greater contrast with us than the Indonesian attitude towards fasting.
Indonesia is the largest Muslim country in the world with 87% of its population professing the Islamic religion. Most of those Muslims fast during Ramadan. But the major difference with us is that nobody needs to force them to. It’s true that in some neighbourhoods you get awakened in the early hours by people shouting that it’s time for sahur, or the last meal before daybreak. But generally, it is not at all unusual to see Muslims who are not fasting eating in public, at least in the big cities. (A major exception might be Aceh.) You see groups of Muslim women in hijabs sitting in restaurants eating in the daytime and nobody judges or hassles them.
I must admire this relaxed attitude towards fasting that requires no warning signs, restaurant raids, yelling at people, demands for ICs, and fines. Most people do fast, just judging by the brisk trade in iftar food at roadside stalls, supermarkets, hotels, and restaurants, and the worse-than-usual macet, or traffic jams, as people scramble to get home in time to break their fast. But they do not require any morality police, in uniform or not, to question them or worse. People here accept that there are good reasons why some people cannot fast. Most importantly, it is assumed that these non-fasters must make their own peace with God and answer for their own actions when the time comes.
It makes for a less repressive atmosphere because people are fasting out of their own free will. Which is the way it should be. Why is it that there are those who can fast in Muslim-minority countries? I have fasted in the UK where people all around me were eating. It was something I decided to do because it was Ramadan, not because I feared someone might come and yell at me if I did not.
Besides, to refrain from eating while food is around you speaks to the strength of your faith. What is the point of removing all temptations, culinary or otherwise, from your environment during this month? It’s a bit like always living in sanitary conditions so that you will never get ill. At the same time, you’ll never build up any immunity to viruses and bacteria.
I have no issues whatsoever with people eating in front of me when I am fasting. Most non- Muslim Malaysians are very courteous and solicitous about how we feel during this month. There was a lovely story I read of a Muslim woman who could not fast because she had her period. Sensing her embarrassment, a non-Muslim colleague offered to buy food for her. That’s empathy and friendship for you.
Sometimes the temptation to break my fast early roils in my stomach especially when I see videos or pictures of delicious- looking food. But when I think of the challenge of fasting, both physically and spiritually, every day, it always seems a shame not to wait until it’s time to break the fast. The satisfaction of achieving a full record of daylong fasting for the entire month is bar none.
Ramadan is also a month of reflection. I think one of the things we should reflect on is what empathy and compassion we are able to exhibit not just this month but also at other times. Do we extend our helping hands more during Ramadan? And who do we extend them to? People exactly like us, or those who have less or are different? One big restaurant meal can feed so many street people and those who are hungry, regardless of religion.
As it happens, this column will be published either on the eve of Hari Raya or on the first day of Eid itself in other parts of the world. There will be joy and merriment and, of course, lots of eating that goes on for a month. It’s a great season full of goodwill that will hopefully extend for the entire year. May all the grumpy ones during Ramadan seek forgiveness from those who have remained calm and serene throughout the month.
To all my readers, I sincerely wish you Selamat Hari Raya, Maaf Zahir Batin. May we forgive each other our transgressions and may we start anew in peace and harmony.
Marina Mahathir wishes people would at least take a pledge of kindness during Ramadan. The views expressed here are solely her own.
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