No longer Holy?

Disclaimer: This post is based on nothing more than mere observation of the past five days.

Okay, so first of all I would like to say that I do not think of myself any better than you are. I'm not perfect, but after all, no one is...

We can safely say that a sixth of Ramadan, the most important month of the calendar to all Muslims (I hope), has passed. It has passed quite fast as well. We can also safely guess that the rest of the month will pass quite quickly as well. And before we know it, we will all be thrown back into out hectic lives of school, university, work, or whatever usually keeps us busy. How would the normal person react to this small piece of information? He would take advantage of this month of course, right? Well then maybe.. most people aren't "normal"..

The month of forgiveness has arrived, the time where the devils are chained, the time where the gates of heaven are opened, and the gates of hell are closed. Its just one month. Sadly, this holy month seems to be losing its meaning more and more as the years pass, or maybe that's just what I'm seeing.

I do know that we're not supposed to brag about the good deeds we do, I also know that many people do take this month seriously, and I do also know that I shouldn't be trying to preach anyone about doing anything before I have a look at myself first. I've got to say I'm not doing so well on the religious front myself, but I am trying. And I'm terribly sad to say that I see many people not even trying a little. After all, its just one month.

And again I don't intend to criticize, only to try to widen your eyes a little if possible. During this month, every single person has the chance to have all their sins erased. Who doesn't want that? Frankly, most of us probably commit hundreds of sins without even knowing, we don't just want to lose them, we need to. Are we doing anything about it? I'm not quite sure.

As I speak, I speak for myself as well, I could only dream of being a good enough person as I would ideally be. Yet change could come gradually, and there's no time better than Ramadan in which you can make a small, positive change in your life.

I shall now begin to analyze my twitter timeline:

Day one: Through out the afternoon all I could see we're mentions of food, cravings of food, and basically anything related to food. We know that the first day might be the hardest, but apparently Ramadan means "lack of food" to most people, rather than what the month truly stands for. There's nothing wrong with craving food.. but twitter was rather boring that day. I mean, does the start of Ramadan mean nothing more than "food"? Oh and lets not forget, after we all had food in our systems.. our new topic became TV shows. Yes, because Ramadan also means "watch TV all day".

Day two: Following the seemingly urgent need of food of the previous day, and the newly found information regarding TV show timings.. people were relatively much quieter this day. However, there was still much talk about TV show confusion.

Day three: I began starting to see mentions of people watching their regular american TV shows, and many references to music, bands, and their most recent updates. I guess a month is just too long to wait, two days are enough..

Days four & five: More of day three and a little bit of day one and day two.

No one ever said don't watch TV, though it would be much better if you didn't. You don't really want to gain more sins during the month in which you should be focused more on losing them, do you? I personally was raised to not watch TV during this month, even when I was a kid and all I watched was harmless cartoons. It may be a little easier for me, but it certainly isn't impossible for you.

The media certainly is to blame, for planning their release of tens of shows during this month. But then, if we didn't watch them, they wouldn't be there would they? What's greater than this though, is the issue with listening to music. We all know that it's Haram, and we still listen to it. Nonetheless, every year I get shocked by the number of people who refuse to stop listening to music for a mere 30 days. Some of them, thinking it is okay to listen to music after they break their fast, and some even ignoring the fact that fasting means abstaining from all that is Haram, and that it includes abstaining from music as well.

We only have twenty four or twenty five days of this month left, there is no need for them to go to waste. Again I shall say, that I do not mean criticism, or that I only mean constructive criticism. I'm sure that I am not any better than any of you. But I hate seeing the importance of this month go to waste. Respect the month, it comes just once a year. I say this for you, not for me.