Thursday, October 2, 2008

With the month of Ramadan over, things seem to be coming back to what they were 30 days ago. The spiritual cloud which had hovered so obviously above our heads for this long month has suddenly vanished. Mosques have been deserted, as well as good manners and decency. The utopia which this Islamic World becomes in this short time every year has quickly dwindles into what it is so accustomed to being.

I was beginning to miss the sound of swearing in the early morning traffic, the stench of cigarettes burning away the fresh morning air, and last but not least, the sight of my fellow man gluttonously engulfing insane amounts of food in an unhealthy amount of time. There is one thing I will NOT miss, however. The infuriating nucance of having some comlete stranger come up to me and tell me to listen to verses of the Qu'ran rather than music, or to wear jockies instead of boxers, or to simply give away religious advice which I would personally rather do without.

Once again, women have removed their veils and wide dresses and exchanged them for miniskirts and push-up-bras. Personally, I don't see how this makes a person religious, but it's not for me to judge how people act - even though I think they should stick to one type of clothing instead of swtiching around in that hypocritical fashion.

When I look back, I find that I haven't made use of the Holy Month as well as I would have liked, while others did, and other pretended to do so. However, all in all, I don't think I'll be losing any sleep over the matter. In short, all is well and back to its old self again...

2 comments:

Bruce Johnson said...

This is what the Internet has done for us. Made us more aware of other cultures. Your views on Ramadan are fascinating, in that they pretty much mirror what happens during the 'Holiday Season' here in the United States.

It is a hypocritical time, that was once primarly religiously based (Thankgiving & Christmas) but is now more of a capitalist commerical feeding frenzy.

People 'pretend' to be more civil and religious during this time, but come New Years, it is all back to 'normal' with the backstabbing and yelling.

It is interesting that the muslim world is 'catching up' to the west, although I can't say it is a good thing.

Khalid said...

The third world is catching up with the developed world at an alarming rate, yet only in the negative aspects as opposed to any actual positive progress. I've noticed this phenomenon for quite some time.
I think this might be the topic of my next post here...