Ramadhan Tribute #2 - Culture or "Ibadah"
When people say Ramadhan or "Bulan puasa", what are the first things that come to our mind? I try this question myself.. and these are the answers that first come to my mind.
1) Breaking fast with family
I enjoyed this so much.. somehow it will always be last minute, and things will go in a rush. My family often break our fast on the floor in the living room because of the extra space. We can see people going to and fro from the kitchen bringing food. When all the food is served, we will all see with awe the varieties of food, and usually end up with a silent pledge to buy fewer food the next day. (of course it will only be a pledge). And another fact amazes me is how the last 10 minutes are the longest minutes in the entire history of mankind :)... everytime!
2) Bazaar Ramadhan
For those who have no idea, it is a place where all kind of food will be sold especially for breaking fast. You can see some of the most exotic food and "kuih" there. Legend has it, that once the time has come to break fast, all food will be FOC. heheh but this legend had never been tested simply because I never want to break fast there :)
3) Morey (pronunced Moray), "Malam Tujuh Likur" etc
/end answer
Truthfully, I loved everything about Ramadhan especially the above. And I have no intention to ask you not to love them... This is our culture, if we don't stand up to it, who will?
We don't remember Ramadhan as the month we should double all our "ibadah", cry for fogiveness in the silent night, trying to earn that Lailatul Qadar, or the month where we should train ourselves to be better, and most importantly to continue the better state after Ramadhan.
It's actually good that we had integrated our culture with Islam. That's the beauty of Islam.. But the danger will come, when the cultural side had already overwhelmed the true nature of is, we no longer see Ramadhan as an "ibadah".