Saturday, July 28, 2012

Ramadhan ~ Holy Month of Healing and sacrifice!

To those of you who are yet to become a Muslim in the true sense of the word, do know that you are missing out a great deal from getting the fringe benefits that come with the acts of fasting from before dawn to the setting of the sun heralding the breaking of one's fast!


Fasting is wajib @ compulsory upon those of us who are Muslims @ Believers and able to do so physically, mentally and spiritually. It is pointless for one to fast if you are not a Mukmin @ a Believer. 


I have a friend @ Chew Hoong Ling, who is a Buddhist and aiming to be an MCA candidate in the coming 13th Malaysian General Elections. She claims to be fasting together with Muslims in this holy month of Ramadan. 


Generally speaking, its her choice and no one can stop her but religious wise, there are no rewards for her fasting according to our Islamic faith but only experiencing hunger and thirst apart from the obvious health benefits that the act of absolute fasting can give! 


That is to actually go without even a single drop of water or food and abstaining from committing all kinds of acts that will render one's Islamic fast null and void!



I don't know for whom Hoong Ling fasts? If it is for some other deity then her fast has no merits in Ramadhan. Hers would be just a fast like any other.


We fast for the sake of Allah the Almighty and Him Alone. 




We say our intentions to fast : "Nawaitu saum maghdin an ada' ii fardhan shahri ramadhana hazihi Lillahi Ta'ala!" meaning 'I intend to fast tomorrow fulfilling the compulsory fast of Ramadhan this year for the sake of Allahu Ta'ala!' 

Fasting has its many benefits for us Muslims. It is decreed in Surah Al Baqarah, Chapter 2 Verse 183 in the Blessed Qur'an:

2:183
Transliteration
Ya ayyuha allatheena amanookutiba AAalaykumu assiyamu kamakutiba AAala allatheena min qablikum laAAallakumtattaqoon
Sahih International
O you who have believed, decreed upon you is fasting as it was decreed upon those before you that you may become righteous -

Fasting gives us a chance to experience hunger and thirst. Get to know how it must be for those who are poor and have nothing to eat or drink?


People who are suffering from drought and calamities such as those going through hell in Sudan, Somalia and other troubled countries.
People suffering ethnic cleansing now like those in Burma ~ the Muslim Rohingya's who are having their homes torched, wives and daughters raped, tortured and butchered by the Buddhists in the Rakhine area and wholly supported by the Burmese government forces.


Their children are killed and torched by the so called peace loving Buddhists of Burma! Don't believe me? Here open your eyes wide and witness the atrocities!


What kind of justice is the UN talking about?


America won't bother coming to save these people because there's no oil for them here in that forsaken country!


They'd be over there in a jiffy if there was some thing that they could benefit for their trouble but no its just about a million Muslims! Collateral damage?


Obama won't care!


Neither would Romney or any other bugger who comes into power at the White House!


In the meantime, the world's so called rich Arab countries would just twiddle away their time fingering their tasbih and looking the other way!


They have better things to do than to care for the Rohingya's. Looks like we will soon see the disappearance of a people from the face of this earth because NO ONE CARES!


Ramadhan.


Some of us fast for we wish to submit to the decree of Allah. Others like the Rohingya have no choice but to go without food and drinks as a result of becoming persona non grata in their own country!


We who are living well here in Malaysia know not what others are going through all these while because we are living here in our land of plenty yet there are those amongst us who fail to count our blessings!


So, Ramadhan comes along to remind us to reflect and to repent. Cherish what we have before its all taken away either by external forces or by our own neglect and failure to take care of our own rights and those of our fellow Muslims and citizens of Malaysia.


Start realizing that Ramadhan is not just a month of fasting but also the month where we seek Allah's Forgiveness and Mercy.


Add value to our acts of worship by going about it in a sincere manner as possible and refrain from trying to make a media circus out of it like many aspiring politicians out there today are doing in this country.


Who are these great pretenders?


Why? You can see their banners festooned at every major traffic junction and by the roadsides.


As best as you can, avoid voting these parasites into power!


Meanwhile, have a blessed Ramadhan.


Insya Allah.


As far as the Rohingya's are concerned, it is all up to the ones wielding power. If they don't do something about the genocide taking place over there in Burma, the blood of the dying Rohingya's will be on their hands!

1 comment:

Hoong Ling said...

Am fasting to experience how our Muslim brothers and sisters experience in Ramadhan. It has been many years since. Also a good discipline to train oneself to refrain from desires, most often that simple desire of food (especially in Malaysia!)