Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Ramadan 17, 1445 H
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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Blessed Eid: With respect and resilience

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Is religion more, or less relevant to society, today, than at any other time in history? We could also ask why faith must change, to remain relevant to today, and tomorrow?


For certain, Christianity remains relevant today despite its often-bloody past, and the deeds in its name shading any concept of perfection and absolute wisdom. Salvation is as possible today as it was 2000 years ago I guess, but I have always felt that while belief was important, the largest questions in life such as whether the world was round or flat, heavier than air flight, and to know whether the moon was indeed made of cheese, were all resolved scientifically, so the jury, metaphorically speaking, is still out.


You know me... I’m not an overly religious individual in that, while I believe in a higher power, I also question why, for example, why indeed, ‘the good die young,’ among a plethora of a million other questions that community and society leaders, politicians, generals, and academics have failed to answer. So why should I expect faith to step up and ease my fears, concerns, and hesitancies? Why should I not simply get on with life, with living, and being alive?


From my childhood I remember the parables, the story of the Bible, and the Ten Commandments, I remember some hymns, but apart from that all I recall from religion as a child is that Protestant, Catholic, and Methodist kids threw stones at each other during the week, but played in the same rugby team on Saturdays, and that the Catholic kids could only eat fish on Fridays, no meat! Was that where vegetarianism started?


I have gotten, and still get life wrong enough, often enough, to keep me honest. Generally, I don’t think I adapt to the world around me, as much as I seek to evolve within my society, not constrained by the need to respond to everything and everyone. I just try to not be unkind, which may itself be weak, but... knowing my limits, also gives me certainty.


The sacrificial imperatives of the Aztec and Mayan Mesoamerican civilizations of Central and South America were inspired by their pantheist worship of the Sun, through a supreme god, Ometiotl. Lesser deities, representing the moon, stars, fire, ice, wind, and rain all being immutable, could not be controlled by anyone, so made a perfect excuse to control societies and people. Though their excesses of gold and lust that saw them eventually bought to heel under the boot of Spain, the irony is that as a religious force, their mystical ‘winds of change’ allowed them to flourish for almost a thousand years, religiously untouched.


Extreme for sure, but Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Judaism, and all their various orthodoxies and iterations from the Norse, Greek, Roman, and Egyptian gods, and hundreds of other marginal faiths have lived, loved, born, bled, worshipped and died for their faiths, maybe knowing their salvation, maybe not, but they have all sought to remain relevant, when the answer lay elsewhere.


What Ramadhan and Eid demonstrates clearly about Islam, year after year is its incredible individual, familial, and societal resilience. Therefore, maybe not adapting to societal change, as much as playing a leading role in its society’s adaptation to the world. Like all religions, the Islamic faith, however, to its more imperative need, it doesn’t mull over missed opportunities. Islam, is an intense, societally driven faith that Asma Afsaruddin, a Professor in Middle Eastern cultures writes, has “embraced secularism and the marginalisation of religion,” and so is the only faith worthy of emulation in an ever-changing environment.


Little is more certain today than that the world we go to bed with tonight, will be a different world tomorrow. And amongst such certainty, invigorated by Ramadhan, and celebrated in the Eid, the faith of millions may well be challenged, but has strength, certainty, and resilience as its flagbearers.


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