Holy month of Ramadhan and togetherness
Holy month of Ramadhan and togetherness
By A. Mustofa Bisri
REMBANG, Central Java (JP): One day during this holy fasting
month of Ramadhan, I went on a trip with a friend. During the
journey he looked rather pale, so I said to him, "Why don't we
break our fast? We are on a long journey, so it is permitted to
break our fast before sunset."
My friend refused the suggestion, saying that it would be
burdensome for him to make up the lost fasting day after
Ramadhan.
I admit that it is bothersome to fast in a month other than
Ramadhan because fasting while other people are not is a
difficult thing to do. This fact makes us realize how simple it
is to fast together during Ramadhan. Togetherness makes fasting a
lot easier.
Yet there are many among us, including those preaching about
the benefits of the fasting month, who overlook this fact. There
are even a lot of fasting people who do not realize the
importance of togetherness in their fasting.
As in other sacred rituals, togetherness is often emphasized,
but many people simply overlook it. Muslims, for example, are
encouraged to perform daily prayers, shalat, in groups. While
praying to God they are also supposed to use "we" instead of "I"
when referring to themselves.
This also applies to tithes, zakat, and the haj pilgrimage.
However, because people do not recognize this trait, many people
fail to appreciate it and learn a lesson from it.
Men have a tendency to ignore the importance of being
together. God, therefore, repeatedly reminds them in His holy
books and through His prophets of the importance of togetherness.
It is up to the men whether or not they will understand His
message.
In the holy Koran, for instance, God states: "O, men, We have
created you from a male and a female, and made you into nations
and tribes, that you may get to know one another. The noblest of
you in God's sight is he who is most righteous. God is all
knowing and wise." (49:13)
From this quotation we can conclude that humans were created
different from one another so that they may appreciate each
other. Difference must not become an obstacle to us appreciating
one another. Difference is not something to be proud of, but it
is something to appreciate. The ultimate thing to be proud of is
piety.
If piety is understood as performing all of God's orders and
restraining from all that He forbids, then one of the important
things to obey is appreciation of one another, which is part of
His orders.
Appreciating one another may guarantee harmony in the
community, thus making life a lot easier. And harmony is only
achieved if each individual appreciates diversity in human beings
as a trait, instead of regarding it as an obstacle.
Unfortunately, often there are people who are better-off than
others. It may be wealth, power, skill or other factors which
cause some people to forget to appreciate diversity and thus to
fail to appreciate others.
What is worse is that some people have abused their privileges
-- either purposely or unintentionally -- creating a wider
disparity between groups in the community. This will, in the end,
disrupt harmony.
For more than 30 years the New Order government gave all of us
a bitter lesson. The Indonesian nation was taught by the New
Order rulers to be materialistic, relish all that is worldly and
to live in fragmented groups, each identified by their separate
uniforms. Our current condition is the result.
In this holy month of Ramadhan, we should all reflect upon
ourselves and reform our ways so that we may live as a nation and
as God's creatures.
The writer is a prominent Muslim scholar.