RAMADHAN RUMINATIONS

The month of Ramadhan is one which brings in its wake abundant blessings and shower of mercies from the Almighty Allah.Every Muslim awaits desperately for this Holy Month so that he can purify his soul(Tazkiya-e-Nafs),repent from his past sins, form a more closer acquaintance with his Creator, thus start his life afresh having attained the angelic innocence of a new born baby.

Every Ramadhan is a new refreshing experience for me. I being a deviant from the norms of my generation and society am a regular visitor to the local masjid were I offer my prayers. This ramadhan too like previous experiences during ramadhan the masjid was full and I could get my place only in the last row. Also there was an undying vigor and zest to proclaim Daroods and Dua's more loudly among the Namazees. This routine continued but with each passing day there started verbal Tu-Tu-Mey-Mey(Mutual Bickering)among the Namazees. On one occasion a Namazee like an interrogator started to demand accountability from the Masjid Welfare Society as to why there are not proper water and washing mug arrangements despite the fact that the people were paying well for the Masjid Welfare. The Namazee unaware of the fact that municipality at various times sans water supply unveiling the fact that he was a Ramadhan Namazee(One who offers his prayers during the Holy Month of Ramadhan Only).

A young boy in his early teens was ordered to move to the back row by the members of the masjid welfare society as the first row was reserved only for them, may be certified by the Holy decree? When I enquired from the boy why he had moved to the front row, he answered that he had read that offering prayer in the front row earns more Thawab(virtues) and blessings in contrast to other rows. I then thought that yes this row was earning more 'Thawab' as the welfare society only comprised of retired individuals who have a dubious character, earned money by illegal means elevated their status by this black money and now started dictating terms to others. Some of them are even now fighting the accusations for hoarding more assets than their capacity in government jobs, and have to present themselves in courts to defend and clear the accusations against them.

During Ramadhan one gets to know different people inheriting varied shades of opinion. The self-proclaimed opinionative scrutinize every movement of the Imam(The Leader of the Prayer).After the prayer is over they start polemical discussions with the Imam on a varied range of topics from the amount of beard an Imam should ply on his face to the holding of staff in his respective hand. The opinionative gather from his right and left teaching him their form of worship and are satisfied only when the Imam starts implementing their respective reverent opinions. In this process he loses his indigenous character and a unique position he is supposed to enjoy, he as a result becomes a ship without a rudder, following the whims of the organizing or welfare committee who pays for his services. If in any case, he wishes to fight against the committee Imperialism so as to free himself from the committee ordained shackles and retain his original independent status he used to enjoy during the Islamic Caliphate, he is fired off and other one is hired on the condition that he will follow like a "Dumb-Cow".

The position of Imam is in contrast to what the term Imam suggests or supposes as he has been reduced to a position of financial wreck where always the threat of losing his job looms like a naked sword over his head and pangs of poverty always send shivers down his spine. What a constructive part can he play in building of our society on healthy terms, I thought?

During Ramadhan the number of Welfare Organisations, Darul-Ulooms(Religious Seminaries),orphanages also sprung up in numbers and everyday a new orphanage would knock at my door and ask for the orphans, destitute and needy. Encountering these enormous orphanages made me believe that all Kashmiris are orphans. Neither the government nor we people are bothered to look whether they are authentic ones or not? All we are concerned with is only to pay our Zakat which even proves a burden upon some of us as a Levy-Tax? One day when I went for prayers a man stood up, introduced himself as emissary of some Darul-Uloom situated at Poonch and appealed to people for monetary help. Meanwhile one member of the committee order him to stop his speech and remain outside the mosque for collecting the funds. Experiencing this behavior was a shock to me but I maintained my reticence. The Islamic history with which I am acquainted a bit from my teenage became live in my mind when the masjids were the central pivot in a muslim society. It was used as a hospital, as a guest house, as an arsenal, as a library and overall as an institution were all issues pertaining to Muslims individually and as a Society collectively were solved. But now even the religious class is being debarred from the masjids. I thought where would the person go to meet the expenses of Darul-Ulooms? Will he demand it as a beggar from government or Non-Muslims? When will he teach and learn when majority of his time is spent procuring money to keep the smooth running of Darul-Uloom?Isn't it our religious duty that we should ourselves visit these Darul-Ulooms, and pay the money for there survival and not the vice-versa? Is this a reason that our Darul-Ulooms aren't able to lead and enlighten our community?Is this the very obstacle that why in the past Darul-Ulooms were able to produce personalities like Imam Ghazzali, Imam Ibn Taimiyyah and Anwar Shah Kashmiri while now we are producing a breed of Maulvis every year with no original thinker or luminary scholar?

Moving on in Ramadhan I had to visit a government department being a norm in all these departments one has to grease the palms of the "civil servants" to have public work done. I thought that in this pious month it will be exceptional but to my dismay it was just opposite. The officer demanded bribe as "Khazre-Ponse"(Dates Money) as fasting is usually broken by Dates and told me to hand them over to his subordinate. His subordinate told me that his Sahib would not touch the money during the day but after Iftaar he will demand it and get the full days earning. Thus Allah as well as his Banda(slave) is happy!!.

One day while walking through Lal Chowk I encountered a friend whom I couldn't recognize as he had grown a thick beard. Upon inquiry he told me he was feeling wrong to shave his beard during this holy month, but will certainly shave it on Eid he firmly asserted. I could see this kind of change in some of my girl compatriots also who would occasionally cover their heads when there was Azaan(Muslim Call for Prayer) but now were covering their heads for whole day. Though I didn't experience any kind of such activity which depicted that Ramadhan was going on and Kashmir is a Muslim majority only the exception being that the business establishments opened late and closed early. The restaurants, hotels and local dhabas remained open as usual though with a system of Hijaab(Veil) and the gluttons frequented these places as usual.

After the Eid namaz was over I went for the Zuhr prayers and found the masjid inhabited by few Namazees as usual in other days of the year. The Ramadhan Namazees being again hijacked by Shaitaan and his emissaries. I heaved a sigh of relief as the masjid was once again free from Noise Pollution and Non-ending discussions. Now I could pray solitarily without disturbance, this is a real achievement for me, but this is only one face of the coin .It is also an issue of shame and lament for us as a whole nation. Whom are we trying to deceive by the false piety under the grab of which we spent whole of our Ramadhan and hope our past has been erased, now free to scribe the future and next ramadhan will come again to erase our past. We continue this cycle for our whole lives arrogantly claiming our false  victory as real triumph, thus as a result fall prey to self-deception only. Thus scores of Ramadhans come in our lives and go, but we remain the reluctant ones, thus remaining deprived of the blessings promised by Allah, which results that Ramadhan never proves to be a turning point in our lives!!!

Mushtaq ul Haq Ahmad Sikander.

S/o: Farooq Ahmad Sikandar.

R/o: Pakeezah House, 13-A extension, Rawalpora Housing Colony, Sanat Nagar, Srinagar, 190005, J&K, INDIA.

 Mushtaq ul Haq Ahmad Sikander is Writer-Activist based in Srinagar, Kashmir and can be reached at sikandarmushtaq@gmail.com