Fasting in the Frame of Humanity
Ramadan is a month to nurture empathy for our humanity which has been eroded by individualism and egoism.
How many times do we eat a day? How many times do we buy new clothes in a year? How much money do we spend on others who we think need our help?
Unfortunately, these simple questions don\'t always knock on our consciousness. Many people cannot eat three times a day, do not wear new clothes for years, and are not happy when many people are joyful.
In the culture of consumption, advertising teaches us that having new things, more material items and delicious food is a sign of happiness. Meanwhile, some of the lower class can only watch comfortable vehicles, beautiful homes, or delicious food on television commercials or YouTube. They are not as free as we are in choosing the type of food we like. In fact, food is not always available for them to eat.
Psychologists refer to it as empathy. Empathy is not based solely on reason, but intellect.
Fasting teaches us to feel the suffering of other people who are not as fortunate as we are: the poor. In fasting, we feel how difficult it is to be poor. Psychologists refer to it as empathy. Empathy is not based solely on reason, but intellect. Fasting sharpens our minds and hearts against the suffering of others. Ramadan is a month to nurture empathy for our humanity which has been eroded by individualism and egoism.
Also read: It Brings Happiness to Share with Others in Hard Times
Therefore, for Muslims, Ramadan is a blessed month, with a heart that is filled with love. There will always be something for us to share, with a heart filled with empathy. There always will be love in action.
In a competitive commodity society, the word "sharing" has a different meaning for everyone. For some people, sharing might be seen as losing something. However, for others it means a mental pleasure. Fasting changes our perception of hard works and results. And, it broadens our perception of what it means to be happy. Only happy people can make others happy, and what we share to other people in need from the results of our hard works is actually true wealth.
Now, at the beginning of the 21st century, it seems that the worldview of rationalism that divinizes reason and the superiority of technology are increasingly dominating human reasoning. In the midst of a pandemic and human fragility, wars, violence, conflicts, terrorism, and corruption have not subsided. The earth continues to be dominated by wicked souls. The human soul is reduced to robots in algorithmic machines in the midst of the powerful digital civilization.
The face of humanity has fallen into uncertainty amid the pandemic. In the public sphere there is a clash of values, "intrigue and reason”. Various machines of consumptive desires continue to operate to transform human consciousness and turn it into a commodity devotee.
It generates artificial needs which increasingly enlarge the dominance of human animal instincts and further alienate them from their spiritual nature.
It is a physical and mental exercise in re-growing an appreciative attitude to enliven the enthusiasm of religiosity in the frame of humanity in the midst of this gloomy world.
A month of fasting can become a moment for our cultural and spiritual reforms. It is a physical and mental exercise in re-growing an appreciative attitude to enliven the enthusiasm of religiosity in the frame of humanity in the midst of this gloomy world.
The success of cultural and spiritual reforms deserves to be celebrated as a day of a victory that is anticipated by both the lucky and the less fortunate, namely Idul Fitri, the day of happiness, for people who are able to overcome lust, conquer the ego, and return to fit rah or innate nature. It is the starting point for making a leap in the next wheel of life.
As said by Seyyed Hossein Nasr, a Muslim intellectual, "Fasting also provides a scent for the human soul whose fragrance can be smelled for a long time after the fasting month ends. Fasting provides a useful source of energy for a full year. Therefore, this holy month is called the month full of blessings or "mubarak". It is the month when Allah\'s blessings flow to Muslims and refresh the sources of life and deepest deeds. "
Religion teaches that humans develop the nature of God in themselves. Becoming a shadow of God so that we are able to love Him is the essence of the call of religion to mankind. The spiritual teacher, Jalaluddin Rumi, views human life as an inexhaustible struggle to reach the highest spiritual level.
Going through fasting during a pandemic like this time should make us aware that the devotion in the world in various dimensions of humanity is a manifestation of devotion to God. If God is compassionate and merciful, we should also be compassionate and merciful human being.
As God is forgiving, gracious and merciful, then humans cannot escape from having to manifest in themselves these qualities.
This reminds us of what is often expressed by national figures such as KH Abdurrahman Wahid who described well, "Faith is not something abstract and independent from life, but it is a major part of life because it has to direct the life to a state that God wants. As God is forgiving, gracious and merciful, then humans cannot escape from having to manifest in themselves these qualities. Efforts to manifest these attributes of God in human beings cannot mean anything other than having to be kind to fellow human beings, be generous to them, willing to forgive their mistakes, and always try to love them. Of course this demand leads to the necessity to always think about the common welfare of all mankind, even the welfare of the entire contents of nature and the universe. "
IDI SUBANDY IBRAHIM, Researcher of Culture, Religion, Media and Communication.
(This article was translated by Hendarsyah Tarmizi).