Daily Times

Pakistan’s markets are flooded with food and their prices are gone up, almost touching the sky, with the onset of Ramazanul Mubarak, the Muslim’s holy month of fasting. A month teaches to consume less and to pray more for blessings of Almighty. A month makes the rich Muslims feel the misery of the deprived ones and poor. A month makes every Muslim to thank Almighty for every blessing. A month to do every good deed that is possible. A month to promote voluntary community services for the sake of humanity.  A month makes Muslims to learn the easy ways to earn heavens through prayers and the welfare of people. A month stops killing of human beings by suicide bombing or any other means to earn the Jannah. A month teaches tolerance to listening the conflicting point of view and give breathing space to each other. A month promotes equity, equality and protection of rights for women, minorities, deprived ones, poor and even for animals. A month promotes giving and forgivingness. A month promotes respect and honour for all, without any discrimination of caste, creed, religion, and social status.

I don’t know exactly as how many pages I need to describe the teachings and blessings of this month — the Ramazanul Mubarak. And, I don’t know as how many pages exactly I need to describe the rise in all the ill practices being done in the holy month of Ramazanul Mubarak in my country. How many of us — the ‘great and extremely pious Muslims’ of Pakistan actually learn, practice and promote the essence of the holy month?

Being a humble Muslim, I feel ashamed on all the malpractices being done in Pakistan which are contrary to the teachings of Islam and the essence of the holy month in particular. It is really shameful for the government that puts a ban on eating openly but can’t do anything to stop extreme price hike in the food items, quite openly. What to say about religious charity? The rich of Pakistan donate billions to mosques and madaris, the poor remain in rags, hungry and shelter-less in their neighbourhood. The traders and shopkeepers wait for this month to open the gates of their stored stocks and supplies at highly exaggerated prices. The monitoring agencies go blind. No check on profiteering because we are Pakistani Muslims.

Under a repressive whole, the self is divided into inner and outer halves, a situation akin to schizophrenia when the only possible freedom is either to exploit the labour of the other fellow being or to be exploited

I felt a slap on my Pakistani Muslim face when I read the news of reduction in the prices of all essential commodities and food items for the Muslims living in the kafir non-Muslim countries. The kafir governments did it in the religious respect and honour of the holy month of Ramazanul Mubarak, and to facilitate religious rituality of Muslims of their countries.

If Islam is all about to have a Muslim name or a beard, or living in a country termed as Islamic Republic is sufficient. Don’t we need to be more humane and caring towards the marginalised and under-privileged especially in this month of blessings.

Let’s examine the Pakistan’s great Muslims behaviour towards the supply and demand of the food items. Food — a basic element that every human being needs to survive. A general observation is that in Pakistan the prices of food items go double in the holy month. The consumption per person goes triple for those who can afford it. Ramazanul Mubarak is the month for extremely high food waste.

It was also proved in a research supported by the Development Communications Network and conducted by the students last year in Islamabad and Rawalpindi. As many as 50 hotels and banquet halls were engaged in the study. The Islamabad Serena Hotel revealed that commonly their guests waste volume of food that can feed about 200 adults a day at an average of two meals. The food waste go times high in the holy month — approximately 600 to 700 people can eat a day from the wasted food. The reason is buffet iftar/dinner parties that give ‘ample opportunities’ to waste food. If we multiply the iftar-cum-dinner parties in a city any given day, we would come to know the total food waste at an average a day in a city. So, a Muslim country’s accumulated food waste could be calculated quite easily. The total volume of food wasted in the holy month would be very high in Pakistan. I wish if we could drive any mechanism to reduce food waste in Pakistan.

While observing the rituals of the holy month of Ramazanul Mubarak, just look back when there were no buffet parties and grand iftar-diners, and every guest was served with reasonable meal in a plate with a privilege to ask more if required. There was no food waste or a very little. Not many poor were left hungry or without clothing or without shelter in the neighbourhood of the rich. Mosques and madaris were less in numbers, but they were full of faithful and love. There was no hard-lined religious or social segregation. Tolerance and patience comparatively were at high. All types of conflicts were less in number and harmless. Can’t we go back to same traditions of ours?

The writer is an Islamabad-based policy advocacy, strategic communication and outreach expert. He can be reached at devcom.pakistan@gmail.com. He tweets @EmmayeSyed