Time to reflect on what we learnt in the Eid

Saleh Al Shaibany -

saleh_shaibany@yahoo.com -

By the time you read this column, the Eid holiday would have ended. With Ramadan over, it is easy to say it was another month of fasting but it gave us a spiritual cleansing. We can thank God for all its blessing and now we can continue with the bounties.

Eid brings together families, relatives and friends. It is also time to reconcile, forgive and have fresh hopes. I know it is true because I have already received tens of messages from well-wishers, some of whom I have not spoken to for a year. It is time to be generous, forgiving and tolerant even to those who are hostile to us.

Although Eid is a celebration of Muslims, it can be extended to the people of all faiths. The spirit of the occasion encourages us to contribute more to our communities and help people who are less fortunate than us.

There is nothing wrong in celebrating Eid with good food and the purchase of new clothes, for it is part of the tradition. But tradition can be sometimes misunderstood and some of us find it convenient to do this.

The gathering of family and friends is a traditional way of marking the occasion. This is important because sometimes it gives us the opportunities to see each other when the busy schedule of the rest of the year prevents us from doing so. It is certainly not the time to be excessive or lavish and most certainly it is wrong to use the occasion for selfish motives.

I know a few showoffs who use every Eid to attract attention to their bank balance and lose focus on the communal spirit. Well, it is wrong but such people have never had any grasp on reality.

We should be thankful that we have survived the year to be able to join others in celebrating the occasion. Death waits for none and some of us may not be around to party in the next Eid. In this regard, it is worth our while to reflect on the achievements of the past one year and focus on what is important to us in the next twelve months.

However, with progress, we often feel that religious festivities are old fashioned. Progress has many challenges but the real issue is to stick to what has been tested and prevailed. Many of us are ashamed to be linked to God for fear of being dismissed as backward. What we fail to understand, however, is that religion is a test of faith not only in ourselves but life.

Today, as we put our faith in progress, we continue to hope that it will solve many of our modern problems. However, we cannot remove faith from religion and associate it with contemporary customs.

Religion is for all time and eternity while progress changes when we want to change it. In other words, if we put our faith in the mercy of changing times, then we might as well worship the computer chip instead of the creator of the universe.

While on the contemporary problems, I wonder if people in troubled zones like Syria have really looked forward for this year’s Eid. With the constant threats hanging over their lives, I am sure Eid has been something that they would not want to recall in the future.

When you come to think of it, as you wake up to celebrate a holy occasion peacefully, then you know you have taken it for granted. It is time then to raise our hands toward heavens and pray for real freedom and not a fashioned one.