Ramadan, Muslims and 'Ramadan Muslims'?

The month of blessing Ramadan is here, among us. It is the third day of Ramadan in Turkey, second day in Middle east, Europe and Americas & it is the first day of Ramadan here, in the Indian sub-continent. But, most importantly it is now Ramadan throughout the world notwithstanding the one or two day difference. And it is a blessing from Allah that we are witnessing yet another Ramadan in our life!

It is a blessed month and we can see that people who are otherwise not so keen about attending the local mosque for the 5 daily prayers step out towards the mosque even before the regular mosque goers do. And it is a fact which i witness in my own neighbourhood, MashaaAllah! There is an overall feeling of piety, righteousness and sobriety. It feels as if we can say Imaan is in the air!

But, one thing, i have seen some people indulging in is the belittling of the efforts of those Muslims who could not participate in the acts of worship in the previous 11 months but are more than keen to do them in this blessed month. So much so that these people call the less-practising ones as 'Ramadan Muslims'. I am talking about the efforts of those Muslims who observe Hijab in this month, attend the mosque regularly, may grow a stubble on their faces, may even don a skull-cap or do whatever they deem to be 'Islamic' in this month. This very title 'Ramadan Muslims', i feel, is pretty derogatory and can have a negative effect on those who try to act upon Islam to the fullest in this month. This may even lead them to forsake the Ibaadah in this month as well.

It is very much possible that Allah accepts these very acts of worship from the 'Ramadan Muslims' and gets pleased with them and accepts them completely bringing about a complete change in their lives. And it is very much possible that the acts of those people who are steadfast throughout the year may not have their deeds even accepted by Allah owing to their cynicism and looking down upon others. It is important to see here that there are two things which contribute towards the evil deeds of a person - Satan and the Nafs (the inner self). And since Satan is not able to intervene in this month, it is clearly evident that these very 'Ramadan Muslims' are more in control of their Nafs than those who criticize them, despise them or look down upon them with cynicism. This is because the qualities of undue criticism, despising and looking down upon others are acts which smack of  a grave spiritual illness!

My whole point of writing these lines is that even if you are the one who attends the mosque regularly everyday at the accorded times, even if you keep the beard, wear the skull-cap, even if you do the Hijab throughout the year, do not look down upon those who try to do the same in this month having let go of these acts in the past year. This because, as they say, "well begun is half done"! What better beginning for righteousness, piety and sobriety than in Ramadan itself!

Wish you a Ramadan full of blessings!

We… the chased!

The other day I got an invite from one of my friends to ‘like’ his page on facebook. The page was related to something like ‘Kashmir Parkour Freerunning Team’. This sport was new to me and I did some research as to what it was upto. Enlightened with the basics of this comparatively new sport, I sensed that it had a huge potential in this part of the world. Atleast the ‘Freerunning’ part of the name would suggest that.

          We, Kashmiris, are used to this thing for a pretty good amount of time now. Terms like chasing, running, thronging, escaping have somehow become part and parcel of our discourse. People, especially children, are chased by canines and in the subsequent freerun, they may well get entangled in the web of the wires of liberty (and freedom) also called as Concertina wires. These wires are themselves related to a different kind of freerunning and chasing. When our freerunners have nothing to do, they raise up the fists of resilience (and arrogance) and aim at the chasers who in turn chase them out of the sight. Some of those chased may even end up in the Jhelum only to be fished out at a later time. Aimed at preventing the chasers being thronged by the freerunners, these wires often cause a few hiccups in the corridors of the power where those in power have to give lengthy accounts of the procurement and budget details of these precious wires to those who are still chasing power.

          Come Ramadan, our Nafs chases us to beyond the curtain Restaurants where we chase even the Satan away with our sumptuous eating. Same holds good for any ‘good’ marriage feast where the number of dishes may well exceed the strength of the Baraat. And then Eid follows. And then everyone wants to break free and chase away all the good habits which we may have acquired in the preceding month. We plan getaways which occasionally turn into escapades to death. Why? We… the chased try our hands at chasing our fellow drivers and ultimately both of us get off the track (chased into death). Long live the freerunners! Another cycle of chasing and freerunning begins here. The Hakeems of the world supposed to be at the Shafa Khanas have escaped their way into their homes for celebrating freedom (from the bondage of the ‘Blessed month’!). Finding no one to cure the off track drivers, the freerunners again raise the fists of arrogance and chase humility, brotherhood and amity away out of the sight of even the far sighted. Damaging Hospitals, Schools, Computer centres, Offices while on the free run is what we are expert at. I guess freerunning cant have a better explanation anywhere else in the world.

          This doesn’t stop here. Drama continues….. The chasers (janbaaz sipahees) arrive and chase away the freerunners. Those who wont run and instead try to walk the path of truth, justice and amity…….walk! They walk  towards the four walled chambers of Disturbed Areas where Public Safety & Special Powers are of prime concern and no one give a serious think about who is trying to walk (through his life as a normal being) and who is on the run (perverted and arrogant).

          We do chase dreams as well! Dreams as wild as getting Justice from the ‘highest seat of Justice’ of the largest Democracy. In the process, we find some strange companions who supposedly want to help us. They even brand our ‘Ameer-e-freerunning’ as the biggest wisher of Peace. But their actions elsewhere in the largest Democracy suggest otherwise. These octogenarian companions of ours plead cases for the oppressors, fake encounter specialists, rioters and men behind the Govt. sponsored pogroms in other parts of the world and in this part of the world, do a volte-face and behave as messiahs of peace, amity and brotherhood! Strange are the ways people toy with We… the Chased.

Keep Chasing………………………….

“Long live freerunning (‘resistance’)”. They say!

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Epilogue:

A group of youth went to Pahalgam on Eid eve. On their return, met an accident... few of them died and few more got injured. As the injured were rushed to hospital, the staff was out to their homes, for celebrating Eid. Result: Vandalization of the hospital building and subsequent arbitrary arrests.

            Meanwhile, a prominent lawyer of India, Ram Jethmalani has expressed his wish to represent in court various Kashmiris languishing in jails. He is the same lawyer who is representing Amit Shah, one of the preperators of the Muslim genocide of Gujarat!

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                                                                 Criticism is welcome!

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