Come Ramazan|Listen to Jesus atop the Mount

Before anything, here is a small story.

A man invented a special camera. This camera captured notjust the physicality of its object, but also the mind. The man landed in aMuslim society, and talked about his invention. This sounded like a blasphemousnote to anyone he came across. “Do you know it is God alone who is in our mind.How can you picture Him.” Depressed, he went to an old  wise man.

   

He found some sense, finally. “Just go ahead, and starttaking pictures. I’m here, just in case some trouble follows you,” the old manbreathed some confidence into the depressed soul. The man took out his camera,and started shooting. In the evening he returned to his lab. Happy he could tryhis invention, but anxious about what would it bring to him next morning. Oneby one he developed the snaps. Each one of the pictures showed the face of theperson captured. There was no God. Did the invention fail! He went to the wiseold man in the morning again, and expressed his bewilderment. “Don’t besurprised”, the old man responded. “Our hearts are full of ourselves. Theobject of our desire is us, not God.”

How I wish some one with this camera visited us thisRamazan; no judgment, just a wish.

With the arrival of the month of fasting, Ramazan, Muslimsociety undergoes a sudden change in its exterior. Mosques are full, all thefive times. People recite the Holy Qura’n, at home, in mosques, and even atwork places, whenever they get time. Some of us stand all night, or at least agood portion of it, to pray. Some do good charity. All this is because here is amonth  that brings us closer to God.

But do we really get closer to God? This is a question noone can answer, except for himself, or herself. We don’t have the camera withus. But what depresses is the garish display of religiosity in oursociety.  When we walk towards mosques,we miss the grace. When we call for prayers, our sound on the loudspeakers ripsthrough the air only to create extra decibels. A slew of mosques in the sameneighbourhood call for prayers almost the same time, each one  trying to be louder than the other; as ifthere is a competition for whose cry goes how far. Would that please our Godwho wants us to be graceful even in the most intimate conversations with Him –Dua.  And each time, before and afterprayers, we recite words using this modern sound system to the hilt. Thisceaseless production of noise all through this month must be driving the anglesout from our neighbourhood.

By hurting others, our acts of worship turn into acts ofcrime. What makes me cringe with shame each time I encounter this blaring ofsounds from mosques, is how an average non-Muslim must be thinking of us, andof the religion we profess. When have we given burial to decency, grace, andcommon sense. Piety, is a thing far superior.  

The way we generally conduct ourselves this month reminds meof the penetrating words of our prophet Jesus. His sermon on the Mount issomething we all need to read each day of this month. That would capture thepicture of us, for ourselves. That is the camera.

Listen to these words of Jesus, in the solitude of yourself, and then look around to fathom the degree of degeneration.

 “And when you pray,do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagoguesand on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they havereceived their reward in full.”

 Here is more of thesermon:

” When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do,for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you thetruth, they have received their reward in full.”

The spirit of worship is how it removes everything betweenGod and the worshipper. The sound and fury that accompany our acts of worshipare the barriers between us and Him.  Godconsciousness – Taqwa- the lone end of fasting, ultimately reflects in thebeauty of our character; how we relate to God and his creation.

This is the month of Quran, and here is a verse from thisbook.    

“True piety does not consist in turning your faces towardsthe east or the west – but truly pious is he who believes in God, and the LastDay, and the angels, and revelation, and the prophets; and spends his substance– however much he himself may cherish it – upon his near of kin, and theorphans, and the needy, and the wayfarer, and the beggars, and for the freeingof human beings from bondage; and is constant in prayer, and renders thepurifying dues; and [truly pious are] they who keep their promises wheneverthey promise, and are patient in misfortune and hardship and in time of peril:it is they that have proved themselves true, and it is they, who are consciousof God.” (2:177)

This month is the time to cultivate this character, not todisplay religion to the peril of an innocent outsider. What hurts His peoplecan never make Him happy. If you want to pray, silence is the best sound. Don’tcry your lungs out. God has no PR department that you can impress byadvertising your worship.

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