What comes of starting Ramadan too early ...
OK, OK, so some people may have less sympathetic assessments of this excuse for a poem at Muslim Wake Up:
Ramadan is an annoying guest who comes too often and stays too long (âHim again? Isnât it too early?â) but you canât say so because heâs an old friend of the family, goes back a long way and it wouldnât be polite, and so year after year you put up with his coming: the cheery announcement that makes you grouse, the inconvenient hours, the special foods and services he needs, all the headaches he gives you ...
One thing I notice about this poem is that, even though some people may not entirely look forward to the coming of Ramadan (hey, you have to get up before fajr and not just half an hour before sunrise!), there's one sentiment I often get which Mohja Kahf seems not to, which is that I always miss it when it's gone. After Ramadan finishes, eating during the day feels unnatural. To say nothing of the community spirit and the "special food" she only sees fit to moan about.
And has anyone else been able to kick a bad food habit during Ramadan? I can't even remember what it was now, but I remember that one year I had a real food addiction and would eat whatever it was pretty much any time I passed the shop. And after Ramadan finished I didn't go back to them - at least, not in anything like the quantity I ate before. It teaches you discipline, that you can go without that muffin or that latte. And if you're not spending it on junk food, you've got more money to spend on other things.
Not that these are the most important blessings of Ramadan, but it's really bad form to moan as if it really was just a painful, periodical annoyance.
Comments
Which English translation of the Quran would you recommend I read?
Posted by: Alex | October 4, 2005 10:56 AM
MWU are the ones who are the pain in the @$$, pardon my French :D
Anyway, Brother...would you be interested to contribute to a webzine, Bukan Islam Liberal (http://www.bukanliberal.org)? If you read the "Objectives" section of our site, you will know what it is all about quite clearly...
Anyway, drop me a line and let me know.
Wassalam.
Posted by: menj | October 4, 2005 11:59 AM
The poet's desires are still averse to the noble Prophetic sunnah. It's as simple as that.
Posted by: anonymous | October 4, 2005 12:43 PM
Salaam alaikum,
Wait a minute, there are people in the MWU crowd who actually fast for Ramadan? Who would have guessed? I thought that would have thrown that out when they changed the shahada.
Posted by: Izzy Mo | October 4, 2005 12:54 PM
Oh!
And Ramadan is a good time to debloxify from blog debates and postings.
Salamu'alaykum everyone!
Posted by: anonymous | October 4, 2005 1:07 PM
Wa alaikum salam anon... Yeah the poem sucks and for some reason, I have always loved this time of year in my region of the world- October, November, December. Its chilly and sometimes but the skies are always clear, and there is this smell in the air that is just makes you all nostalgic. Anyway inshaAllah this will be a great Ramadan, as we have a house guest and for the first time I can see what it might be like to have kids. Alhumdililah.
Posted by: brownwonder | October 4, 2005 6:28 PM
Ramadan Mubarak, I guess its a step up for mwu. Last year , the Ramadan "article" was about Ginan Rauf's father, and his beer drinking antics.
Posted by: DrM | October 5, 2005 8:48 AM
I had a hard time visiting thier site in the past. I was banned or had my post censored. They suck and I pray to Allah (azawajal) that he guides them or destroys them.
Posted by: brownwonder | October 5, 2005 6:23 PM
Wow if you think this piece is a poem then I am speechless. Yeah - it can be annoyance for those with an alternative experience. Or do all our experiences have to be identical?
Ginan
Posted by: Ginan Rauf | March 24, 2006 2:34 PM