Ramzan 2020: Long Lost Simplicityof Ramzan and Religion is Back in the Times of Coronavirus Pandemic

Looking back, I am unable to pinpoint the exact age when Ramzan became Ramadan and Khuda Hafiz morphed into Allah Hafiz or, for that matter, when people began to greet each other with ‘Ramadan Kareem’. I suspect it may have gradually started with the growing Saudi influence and the robust petro-dollars sent back home by expatriate South Asians from the mid-80s onwards.Thirty years later, fuelled by social media fanned by extravagant religiosity, we have a full-blown case of Ramzan/Ramadan over-hype – be it through whatsapp greetings, special aisles in grocery stores the world over promoting iftar staples such as Rooh Afza and dates, advertisement campaigns, special sales and offers leading up to Eid bonanzas.What Ramzan Was Like in My ChildhoodSpending this Ramzan in lockdown, with ample time for introspection, I am reminded of the simplicity of the rozas of my childhood and the absence of religiosity from religion.The run-up to Ramzan began with the family gathering before the television set waiting for the 8 o’clock news bulletin. With any luck it would be the gorgeous Salma Sultan informing the nation, with a hint of a dimpled smile, that the moon had been sighted and the month of Ramzan would commence from the following day.And without further ado the special month would commence: alarms would be set, people would get up (or be woken up by harassed parents), eat simple sehris, go back to sleep and then proceed to their respective offices, schools and colleges. In the evenings, the family would gather for an extensive iftar followed by an ample dinner where one or two family favourites would invariably be cooked.However, everyone in the family went about their normal work days while fasting, making time for prayer and scripture but never at the cost of one for the other.Normalcy of Ramzan Now Seems LostLooking back, I am struck by the sheer normalcy of the Ramzans of my childhood and youth, of how our daily rhythms were modified but not radically altered. Food would be prepared and sent to the local mosque in large trays daily and at least once to neighbours; occasionally friends or neighbours were invited for an iftar because the idea of sharing food with strangers and family lies at the very heart of Ramzan.Quietly and discreetly packets of atta, dal, chawal would be made and sent to those in need. My mother has always had an especial knack of identifying those at the fringes of acute poverty: the widow of our old sabziwala, an out-of-work driver, an ailing ayah, people who wouldn’t beg despite living in dire straits. Through it all, the sheer normalcy with which Ramzan was treated year after year, without any hype or hoopla, certainly without excessive zeal or grand gestures of piety, seems remarkable today.Perhaps that is why the poet and humourist, too, could write about the rigours of fasting in a lighter vein, something that seems unconscionable in our politically-charged, hyper-religious times.Urdu Poets’ Light Treatment of Ramzan Would be Impossible TodayIn this ghazal by Riyaz Khairabadi immortalised by Mallika Pukhraj, ‘Jaagey tamaam raat, jagaayein tamaam raat’, there is a sher that cannot be written today:Zahid jo apne roze se thoda savab deMai-kash ussey sharaab pilain tamaam raatIf the devout were to lend some blessings from his fastThe drinkers would ply him with wine all night longReferring to the popular belief that Muslims had asked for a reduction in the five daily namaz, only to be awarded with compulsory fasting, Ahamd Husain Mail says:Mangi najat hijr se to maut aa ga.iRoze gale pade jo chhudane gaya namazWe asked for deliverance from separation and got Death insteadWe went seeking exemption from namaz but got the rozas insteadOn the importance of eating dates upon opening a fast, here is Mushafi Ghulam Hamdani with his tongue firmly in his cheek, or should one say on his lips:Ai 'Mushafi' sad-shukr hua vasl mayassarIftaar kiya roze mein us lab ke rotab seA hundred thanksgivings for this union, O MushafiI did an iftar during my roza with the ripe date of her lipsAnd here’s a cheeky reference to the faithful who flock to the preachers during this month by Wazir Ali Saba Lakhnavi:Hum rind-e-pareshan hain mah-e-Ramzan haiChamki hui in rozon mein vaaiz ki dukaan haiWe drinkers are a troubled lot in this month of RamzanWhile the preacher’s shop is bustling during the days of fastingCoronavirus Calamity Has Brought Simplicity Back to RamzanFor the Urdu poet, the conjoined roza-namaz was almost a trope or metaphor for the strait-jacket of organised religion. Such as this sher by Mir Taqi Mir:Manind-e-sub.ha uqde na dil ke kabhu khuleJi apna kyuun ki uchte na roze namaz seThe knots of our heart did not open like the beads of the rosaryWhy then should I not be disenchanted by roza and namazAnd a legendary scholar and teacher from Deoband, Shibli Nomani could write:Tiis din ke liye tark-e-mai-o-saqi kar luunVa.iz-e-sada ko rozon men to raazi kar luunFor thirty days I’ll relinquish wine and the bartenderI’ll make the simple preacher happy at least during the fastsNazir Akbarabadi, the eighteenth-century people’s poet, summed the general sentiment on Eid day in most Muslim households, a sentiment applicable to this day, when he wrote:Rozo’n ki sakhtiyo’n mei’n na hote agar aseerTo aisi Eid ki na khushi hoti dil pazeerHad we not been captured by the severity of the rozaWe would not have known the heart-warming joy of EidFasting, prayer, reading the Holy Book, introspection, shoring up inner reserves of strength and stamina – this is what Ramzan was always meant to be about, not feasting and ostentatious displays of religiosity. Perhaps it took a calamity such as the present one to remind the 1.8-billion strong Muslim population worldwide of the simplicity that lies at the heart of the roza.(Dr Rakhshanda Jalil is a writer, translator and literary historian. She writes on literature, culture and society. She runs Hindustani Awaaz, an organisation devoted to the popularisation of Urdu literature. She tweets at @RakhshandaJalil. This is an opinion piece and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for the same.)

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Ramzan’s Long Lost Simplicity is Back in the Times of a Pandemic

It took a calamity to remind the Muslim population worldwide of the simplicity that lies at the heart of the roza.

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