Issue No. 611
Opinion
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7 - 13 November 2002 Issue No. 611 Opinion |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Recommend this page | ||
In the absence of solace
Year after year Ramadan metamorphoses into something else. From being a solitary month for contemplation and soul searching it is becoming a season in which globalisation is played out on an incredible scale. The month seems to invite increased international tensions, a heightened sense of global hegemony, and intimations of escalating terror. It has also turned into an open season for festivity, loud and collective, in which television, shedding its usual drab garb, becomes the focal point of family entertainment. Talk shows muscle their way between the dramas, sitcoms enter into rivalry with serious religious sermons, and the whole concoction is heavily seasoned by advertising. And eventually the blend becomes too overpowering, with screen, mosque, food, and coffee shop all vying for the attentions of the public.
No one can turn back the clock. But it is hard not to question the obsession with food and drink, the distraction of ornate lighting, the excessiveness of entertainment, the extravaganza of it all. This is, after all, a month supposedly set aside for fasting, and fasting is a form of quiet, not brash and noisy, contemplation. It is supposed to be a month of restraint not abandon, of spirituality not consumerism. The idea was to remember the poor and their suffering, to remember neighbours and relatives in need. Yet everyone seems to focus on food and outings, on having a month-long ball. And what does this say about us? Are we taking leave of our responsibilities? Are we forgetting our real needs, are we forgetting intellect, dignity and freedom?
Worse still, the outside world seems to pay no heed to the sanctity with which Muslims imbue the Holy Month. Last year Ramadan saw US bombers wreaking havoc upon the Afghans. The Bush administration had no qualms about waging their so-called war against terror and knew perfectly well how much horror and misery millions of innocent Afghans would go through during the Holy Month. This Ramadan finds the Islamic world in no better condition. The spectre of war now looms over the Iraqi people and is casting its menace upon millions of Muslims in neighbouring countries.
Ramadan's sanctity has been encroached upon, violated. Politics has scaled the walls and is knocking down the gates, while Islam is turning into a matter of political debate, a matter inviting comments from George W Bush and Tony Blair as well as from Al-Azhar scholars and Muslim clerics.
The whole scene is one of utter confusion. The Arab- Israeli issue has become submerged in the question of terror. Chechnya is somehow linked to the matter of political and cultural reform in the Arab world. And anti- Semitism is rearing its head in connection with a certain television drama, even before it was shown. The "Knight without A Horse," a drama dealing with some of the historic symptoms of Zionism, has become the subject of a massive opposition campaign, even before anyone has seen it.
The facts have to be stated and remembered. We are totally immersed in Ramadan's festivities and entertainment. And we are perhaps a bit bemused by the hold that Ramadan soap operas have on the Arab and Islamic worlds. But we need to think of the financial pressure Ramadan brings to bear on many ordinary Egyptian families. Religious events are becoming an occasion to boost trade and stimulate the economy. This has been done to Christmas and now it is being done to Ramadan. And yet, look at the items on our shop shelves. Look carefully. The only identifiable local products are dried dates, and these are quaintly named after Sharon and Bush. The rest of the Ramadan paraphernalia -- lanterns, nuts, and other consumables -- are imported mostly from China. So Ramadan, in its globalised form, does not even bring the solace of boosting the domestic economy.
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