Reborn as (hopefully) better Muslims

Ahmad Najib Burhani, Jakarta

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.

The writer is a researcher with the Research Centre for Society and Culture (PMB) and the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), and an activist in Pemuda Muhammadiyah. He can be reached at najib27@yahoo.com.