Say a little prayer
Say a little prayer
On Wednesday night, most Indonesian Muslims will throng
mosques around the country for the taraweh prayers, kicking off
the Ramadhan holy month. For the next 29 to 30 days, Muslims in
the country will refrain from eating and drinking, and from
indulging in worldly acts, such as sexual intercourse, from dawn
to dusk.
To Muslims, Ramadhan is more a spiritual than a physical
endurance test. The hunger and thirst sustained during the day
are part and parcel of the exercise to restrain and purify one's
self, and to defeat one's worldly emotions and desires. Prayers,
lots of them, also make up for that drive to attain the highest
spiritual experience. During Ramadhan, Muslims will pray beyond
the obligatory five daily prayers; the nightly taraweh, which
begins on Wednesday night, is one of them.
Ramadhan is as much an individual as well as a communal
spiritual experience. While a person is on his or her own in
refraining from worldly activities, he or she is conducting this
in a family environment and in a community. The taraweh, held
mostly at mosques, for example, symbolizes the communal nature of
Ramadhan. Observed properly, Ramadhan should benefit the person
as well as the community he or she lives in. Given that the
majority of the population is Muslim, the month should also
benefit Indonesia.
So much has happened in this country over the past year, both
good and bad, giving us a lot to contemplate during our Ramadhan
prayers. On the good side, we have succeeded in building a new
government which was elected in a democratic process. Indonesia
could not have picked a better president in Abdurrahman Wahid, a
Muslim scholar with renowned commitments to democracy and human
rights.
On the downside, violence still wreaks havoc in some parts of
our country. Many of our countrymen and women, of all faiths,
have fallen victim to these ugly unrests, some of which, sadly,
originate from sectarian conflicts. Many people have lost their
lives, others have lost their loved ones and their property.
Across the country, many people continue to fall victim to the
ravaging economic crisis, plunging them deeper into poverty; more
and more are losing their jobs, their source of livelihood and
their source of pride and self-respect.
Given the condition of our country, Ramadhan is therefore an
appropriate and timely occasion for all of us to reflect on the
past, and to amend the mistakes we have made. It is a good time
to start building a better future, for ourselves, our families,
and ultimately for our community and country. It is a time to
renew our commitments as a religious person, and in turn to renew
our commitments to strengthen our sense of community.
When we say our prayers during Ramadhan, we should say some
for those victims of the crises and for those who are far less
fortunate than ourselves. We should also pray for the country's
leaders, upon whose shoulders fall the unenviable task of lifting
this country out of its current predicament.
Since Muslims make up the majority of the population, we have
to take the initiative to right every wrong found in this
country. Muslims are expected to take the lead. The Ramadhan
prayers must be an occasion for Muslims to seek divine guidance
as we search for a way to build a better and more peaceful
community.
Ramadhan indeed is a time for all Muslims to make peace with
themselves, more so than with anything else. But there can be no
peace of mind so long as the political and economic crises
continue to tear our community and our country apart. There can
be no real peace so long as people in this country continue to
die violent and senseless deaths, so long as people continue to
live in dire poverty, to lose their jobs, to go hungry and to
become so desperate that they have to indulge in criminal acts.
A little prayer, when said together, could go a long way to
bring peace to this country. A solemn prayer during Ramadhan
could enlighten our community, and our leaders, and show the way
to resolve the various problems and challenges that confront us.