Sunday, August 29, 2010

Ramadan

The much awaited Holy month. How long have I waited for you to come.
This time however, I was anxious about your arrival. I worried about how the hot weather would impact my fasting.

Fortunately, it is just like any other Ramadan, first two days are toughest, then it just becomes another day.
I was desperate for the peace this months usually brings to me, I was so in need to the closeness to Allah that this month brings, and as always, it did wonders. God always listens when you pray from the heart, when you mean every word, when you are sure that he will not let you down.

As always, Ramadan comes with the usual traditions and practices. For one, the sudden obsession with food, the other is the t.v dramas and the family gatherings.

I don't want to talk about anything but the t.v drama, as I found them so interesting this month. There seem to be a theme to the content of the drama.

1- Second marriages.
2- Falling in love with a disabled person.
3- Falling in love with a man and committing adultery then the man runs away to leave the girl to her fate.
4- Jin and spirits.


I am so amazed at how tolerant I was to all of those topics.
I rationalized what I couldn't in the past.

Second marriages for example. Hate the concept, always felt that it serves the man but hurst the women involved (note I said women). But now, with my aging self, a career oriented person who is all over the place, I wonder, could marrying a married man and being a second wife is the best solution. A part time commitment that will allow me to settle and have time for everything else that matters. Is that selfish of me? well if this guy wasn't going to marry me, he would marry someone else! Whatever the reason, he will. I am not saying I will deliberately go an pursue a married man, but if I God forbid fell in love with one, not knowing he was married, and then finding out, I might just settle with him. Yes, I can see the selfishness in what you are reading, but I have decided, life is unpredictable, and it is about compromising and not aiming to please everybody. So I am just opening my horizon to something I never wanted to consider, in fact, it is something I criticized.

Falling in love with a disabled person, well, I never even thought about it. To be honest, I don't really see much disabled people in public areas, but thats probably because i don't go out much. But I can see how one can neglect to see what other people may see as flaws or negative points when they are in love. So this got me thinking, is this an issue the society is facing?

Third one, hurts, the stories we hear are endless and the men always get away with it untouched. I am quite bitter about this as it only highlight the hypocrisy in our society that is dictated by traditions, not by religion. Islam states clearly how men and women are equally wronged for committing adultery. But I also have seen how the really new generation mix and mingle, and how many stories of love and marriage are taking place after years of dating and God knows what. Have the new generation changed? I don't know, and I think our new generation are confused anyway.

Jin & bad spirits, I don't know how many people lived and died believing they interfere with our lives. I know some of you western people think it is from the dark ages, but we here still talk about them and how they exist. It still is a dilemma.

Everybody has filler and botox in these t.v drama, they have pillow faces and sadly they think they are pretty.

Anyways, Ramadan will always be my favorite month of the year. Regardless of these rituals and routines. It is always peaceful and everybody is humbled by it.

Hope all of your days are happy, peaceful and headache free.