On Hypocrisy

Ramadan, the month of joy and worship, has come again for another round. This time in the summer to spice up the fasting.

To me, I think it's pretty much like last year. Mostly staying at home, usually going to visit grandma and sometimes going out with some friends of mine. For a guy like me, I'm usually glad to get out of home and do anything worth while; I met whom I'd really like to consider as the best college mates, or even friends, on a fasting outing the other day. It was really great seeing them all in one place... Happy Ramadan!

But let's face it, Ramadan is technically not about going out with your friends, nor is it about food and oriental candy, or even about starring at a screen with meaningless shows and an inappropriately dressed woman telling us riddles (Seriously? That's pretty lame).

It's about getting to do good deeds and improving your relationship with Allah. We all know the drill; reading 20 pages of Quran daily and going to Taraweeh in a mosque. Also not to say the F word (Food? :P). Sometimes I observe people challenging each other in doing good deeds. But to my own surprise, that only happens in Ramadan.

I said Ramadan is about getting to do good deeds and not doing good deeds only. What I mean here is that a lot of us do good deeds only during Ramadan. Nothing is taken as a habit the moment this month ends. In my opinion, I think this is a case of hypocrisy.

"What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas." Omit Vegas and place Ramadan instead.

Ask yourselves: Will I read 20 pages a day even after Ramadan? Will I continue to pray on time and not miss a single prayer unlike usual? Will I commence starring at a screen with hotties when Ramadan ends? Will I re-use the F word again (This time it isn't food)? This is something I really criticize about Muslims in Ramadan; they don't get to do good things as long-term habits, they just do it for the sake of the event.

Here is a call for righteousness. If we were to do good deeds, we should continue to do them. Actions in one month will not please Allah forever. If we had the power and strength to do them in one month, why not do them throughout the year? Perhaps till the day we're bellow our grave stones.

I think Ramadan is a wake-up call for those with bad ideologies about religion and life, rather than a call for temporal censorship and temporal good behavior.

"(102)Do the Unbelievers think that they can take My servants as protectors besides Me? Verily We have prepared Hell for the Unbelievers for (their) entertainment. (103) Shall we tell you of those who lose most in respect of their deeds? (104) Those whose efforts have been wasted in this life, while they thought that they were acquiring good by their works?(105) They are those who deny the Signs of their Lord and the fact of their having to meet Him (in the Hereafter): vain will be their works, nor shall We, on the Day of Judgment, give them any weight. (106) That is their reward, Hell, because they rejected Faith, and took My Signs and My Messengers by way of jest." Sooret Al Kahf.

Source: http://amwfarid.blogspot.com/2010/08/on-hypocrisy.html