Islam Vs Modernity!!

(Note:This piece was written a week before)

Exactly one year back I had traveled to my hometown to celebrate Eid with my family. It was after a gap of three years that I was reuniting with them and expectedly I was pretty excited about the celebrations. I had bought gifts and sweets before I left Bangalore. In Islam, the lunar calendar is followed and the moon is to be sighted on the eve of the Eid day.

At my place, the day prior to the Eid, when the moon had to be sighted, it was all cloudy. Nobody could see the moon. But majority of the country did sight and declared the Eid the next day. Generally Eid is declared by 7 pm or 8 pm. I went to my cousin Shahid to understand why there was delay in my town. He said the sole authority to declare the Eid was in the hands of the Imam of the main mosque and he would be following certain protocol before announcing if Eid would be celebrated the next day or not. Then I rushed to the mosque to know what the status was. There were around couple of hundred people congregated, anxious like me to know if there should be Eid tomorrow. I inquired a person and he explained me that as per Islam if a place doesn’t witness the moon then a pious person who has sighted it from a nearby place should come down and meet the Imam in person and testify else if he can’t come then he should sign a letter testifying that he did see and send across to the Imam. Then would Imam announce the Eid. That day the nearest place where moon was sighted was Gulbarga which was 500 km away from my place. And it was already 10:30 PM in the night.

I went back home and explained the story to my family. They all went to bed and asked me to wait at the mosque till the Eid is declared and wake them up and convey the decision before I went to bed. Again at 12:30 AM I went to the mosque and inquired the status. Someone said the guy who sighted the moon had come down to Hubli from Gulbarga. And he is denying to comedown to our town which is again 90 km away. Hence someone had gone to fetch the signed letter from him. Someone else said people from my town had acquired the letter and were coming down in a car. And it would take 2 more hours for them to reach. Then I asked him "Why can’t they just fax the letter?". His face brightened up. He went to the Imam to ask but came back disappointed. He told me that the Imam didn’t approve of the idea.

By the time the letter arrived it was already 2:30 AM. Then the Imam announced that there would be Eid. I returned home, woke my brother up and informed him and went to bed. I didn’t get sleep though. Lying on bed I was pondering over the events those had happened. Eid of Ramazan or Ramadan is the one most important day for any Muslim. And people from my hometown were making mess of it. So much of preparation is needed for the celebration of Eid. People have to get their clothes ready, arrange for food, women apply Mehandi on their hands, people like me should plan their travel, leaves. Most affected are the butchers who had to supply meat to the shops from the night itself. If there won't be Eid then people should arrange for fast. Amidst all this confusion and chaos the Eid was announced around 3 am in the morning. Why so much inconvenience to the people? One thing I don’t understand is that why are the Muslim clerics anti-modernity or anti-science? Why the letter which had to be brought down from Hubli couldn’t have been faxed?. If the person has sighted the moon in Gulbarga then why couldn’t he just take a mobile and call up the Imam and confirm? It would have taken just minutes.

When Islam emerged during the 6th century, it’s quite understandable that there were little means of communication. If the moon wasn’t sighted in a place, then someone from nearby place must have physically used to travel to the other place and convey. I am sure if there were mobiles and pagers, people would have used them and they wouldn’t have been declared haraam. But then why are we assuming that usage of any modern day technology is anti-religion? In fact we all use technology in our day to day life. Even a beggar in my place knows what a Bluetooth is and many illiterates have asked me "Tere phone mein WiFi nahi hai kya?". It’s just the matter of thinking what’s better for everybody. The intent was that if the moon is not seen at a place and if it is seen in a different place then with the confirmation of the person who saw the moon, Eid can be declared. Similarly is the case about photography. I heard that last year someone from Delhi denied his hajj pilgrimage just because his passport demanded him of a photograph. He argued that photography is not allowed in Islam and he wouldn’t compromise. Now, that the gentleman only knew that photos are not allowed but little did he know the purpose behind why photography is not allowed. It was to despise and discourage idol worship. I feel most of us go for the literal meaning of the scriptures and miss the real intent of them. People have become literalists. I think religion is not just rituals or external thing but it’s all about what you feel from within. It’s internal. Islam came as a blessing for the mankind when barbarism prevailed in the Middle East but today people are using Islam for wrong reasons. I myself am not spiritually educated much but this is what I believe in. It’s not about just following the religion blindly but more important is to understand the religion. It just requires common sense. It’s not just about educating or empowering the downtrodden, it’s also about changing ones mindset to accept the needed change for the betterment. There’s no wonder why 14 million Jews have won 180 Nobel prizes so far and 1.5 billion Muslims a mere 3 ! It’s such an irony that among monotheist religions Islam is the youngest but Muslims are the most backward. It’s high time people embrace modernity and not assume that anything modern is anti-Islamic. If I was the Imam and if I couldn’t sight the moon because of clouds then I wouldn’t hesitate a bit to go up in a jet over the clouds and sight the moon just to give a wonderful day(of Eid) to all those who are waiting eagerly. Today world is galloping at a rapid pace and if you are left behind you will be extinct. It’s very easy to loath Americans or Jews but Muslims don’t make an effort to be as developed as them. It looks as if Islam stops them from developing. No, it’s people’s mindset. Ulemas and clerics misinterpret the scriptures and blind people preaching that anything to do with modernity is a sin. Once Muslims were famous for art, music, architecture and food. But it’s a pity that today we see Muslim names mainly in terrorist groups, underworld dons, match fixers, law breakers and so on. Backwardness is a curse to Muslims just like how caste system is a curse to Hindus. If people don’t wake up and become modern they will not flourish, but perish. Time only will tell how the future unfolds. Today media is showing a terrorist offering Namaaz, I wish some day the same media will show an astronaut offering Namaaz in space. Insha Allah !

Tomorrow after one year I am again going home. Again there will be moon sighting. Again there will be preparations for the Eid. I just hope I don’t go to bed at 3 am in the morning pondering over that day’s events. Eid Mubarak to all!!