Ramazan resolutions

Every year the onset of New Year’s Eve brings a variety of different resolutions with it. Everyone has a list of things they want to change or improve. For the past five years, I’ve been the host of PTV’s Ramazan transmission. Every day, we have guests who come on the show and give advice on how to be or become a good human being. So I have often wondered why we don’t make Ramazan resolutions every year instead of making them on New Year’s Eve. After all, in Ramazan we actually spend 30 days focusing on self-improvement in the name of religion. People abstain from smoking. People who are fasting also try to behave better with others, try to give more charity and so on. But why can’t this practice continue all year round? Why do people need to go to extremes? Why be a monster all year round and a saint only in Ramazan? What happened to having balance in life? So, I made a list of potential Ramazan resolutions.

Firstly, one should try to quit smoking for good. Rozas are about 15-hour-long these days and even people who are chain smokers manage to abstain from smoking for that amount of time. Logically, Ramazan is the best time to quit smoking permanently. If you can survive this insane heat with no food or water, then you can certainly refrain from smoking. Secondly, we should control the beast inside. People talk about controlling their temper and maintaining a calm temperament during this holy month. Be kind, be good and be patient. Speak to people softly and don’t scream when things don’t go your way. Don’t lash out at people at work or at home. Thirdly, we should try to be charitable. Ramazan is the time of year when people start distributing their zakat and giving khairat. Why only in Ramazan though? Nobody stops you from giving charity all year round. Remember your poor relatives and the people who work in your homes deserve your charity more than anyone else. After all, charity begins at home. Remember though that giving for the sake of showing people how much you give is just wrong. Give for the sake of giving and to pay back the universe for all that you’ve been blessed with.

Fourthly, we should spend more time with family and friends. We spend our whole lives in the rat race called life trying to make ends meet and we forget that the people that get us through this uphill battle are our loved ones. Just a couple of sehris and iftaris aren’t enough to pay them back for all their love. Make time all the time for the people who have helped make you who you are. Life passes by in a blink of the eye and by the time we realise that, it’s too late. We should also respect every religion. If you expect people to have regard for the holy month of Ramazan and to be respectful in Muharram, then isn’t it fair that you respect Easter, Christmas, Diwali, Nauroz and Holi? What makes one person’s right to practise their religion more acceptable than someone else’s? Learn to share other people’s happiness and to be compassionate when others are in pain. Lastly, we should spread the message of love and tolerance. Love others unconditionally and constantly. We are all related to one another by default. Humanity is the relationship we have with every single human being on this planet. We all bleed red. We all feel joy and pain and no one is more human than the other. Open up your heart and your mind, all year round.

In the end, it all boils down to our choices. We choose to be nasty and unkind to people for 11 months of the year and only really try to behave for one month. We choose to keep smoking and being stingy. There is money for holidays, new bags and shoes but none for the domestic staff member whose mother is sick. Every religion teaches you to be a good person and to be good to your fellow humans. If you can handle those two tasks, then you will have fulfilled most of the criteria for being a pious person. And honestly, self-improvement is something we should all focus on regardless of piety.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 20^th, 2016.

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