Today, October 16, 2004 is the first day of fasting here in T.O. No, it is the second according to some. That brings me to my two pet peeves.

1: All Ramazan long we will hear about its fazeelat, the dos and more importantly the don’ts. We hear incessant talks about controlling naf’s, charity for the down trodden, control over eyes, tongues, hands lest another person is offended.

What bothers me is the over emphasis on piety during this month only that is drilled down our ear drums from every minaret or its cyber equivalent.

Should Muslims not strive to be good human beings in other months? Why this overt emphasis in Ramazan only? Yes, am exaggerating slightly. Most Muslims pay just a little bit more lip service in this month than others.

Being a good muslim a good insaan should be a year round proposition and endeavour. Control and restraint exercised during Ramazan should lead to it. Does it?

Majority of the dormant Muslims (read: you and me) are Muslims by default. And practice Islam without using our God given brains. The mullah’s hand-me down edicts propel us into regression (if that is possible!) In a religion that implores every Muslim to read, understand and follow, we the people of the Book do not read, nor do we make any attempts to understand the spirit behind Islamic injunctions instead relying on hand-me down edicts from our select brand of ulemas.

There are a few learned ulemas out there, but sadly, most of them aren’t. The overwhelming majority of the current crop of ulemas behave like any other interest group, only interested in protecting their turf.

They spend precious oxygen over obscure doctrinaire and hermeneutic issues than over everyday issues effecting the Muslims. They indulge in seemingly earnest discussions over ushr (usury not the mislabeled ‘interest’) or halal soaps than over honour-killings or other social ills that afflict us.

These are the vested interests, the Muslim pied pipers that are leading us towards regression. The sad part is the educated Muslims of today follow them blindly. Am not discussing the lapsed, or cultural Muslims or those who have confessed to leaving the faith. Nor the tunnell-visioned fundamentalist bigots whose version of Islam is extremely exclusivist and who advocate self immolation for their perceived and perverted causes.

These pseudo aalims have turned this religion into a mockery. They have made us a good for nothing fatalist. Sub kuch Allah ki marzi nahin hay yaro, Allah ki marzi is the last thing one should seek. First we have to give it our 100 % effort.

Amal, deed or effort is the first requirement in any endeavor. And then we leave it to fate, chance or Allah.

How would you feel if the over a billion Muslims celebrate their two Eids each year on the same day?

This brings me to the second peeve.

2: Unnecessary and divisive debates over the sighting of the new moon . This afflicts us at least three times a year: Ramazan, and the two Eids.

These pseudo aalims!

Ask them about As’r prayers time in T.O. on Nov 11 and they will look at the chart and tell you 3.14pm. In mosques around the globe hangs a printed chart that gives prayer times for all the five obligatory prayers 365 days of the year. And the muezzin delivers the azans according to those pre-calculated times.

For As’r prayers they do not thrust their staff in the ground like they used to in the days of Muhammed (saw). (If the shadow of the staff on the ground is 1 ¼ of its length it is As’r time.) Today they look at the calculated chart and then look at their wrist watches. This is a simple but effective use of reasoning that is allowed in Islam.

But they balk at using the same reasoning, the same calculations that would tell us when the new moon would rise in a certain locality. No, God forbid that would be akin to blasphemy! That would be venturing into their territory. (God bless you Abu Hureira -- the lover of cats). Only they have the power to declare the sighting of the new moon. Vested interest did I call them?

The more we study Islam, the more they would lose their hegemony over us.

’No brother in Islam you cannot do it yourself…you do not know the language, its nuances…brother you go to the cardiologist when it concerns your heart, you go to the lawyers for legal matters, brother…’ they try to dissuade us if we attempt to question them or study Islam.

Not true!

’The message was revealed to jaahil Arabs. Ok, if this word is too strong for your taste then replace it with simpletons,’ I reply. There are no nuclear formulae or codes in there. Deep down it is a (simple) code of living that ensures we become better insaans. And remember it came for the simple folks in a simple language, with parables and stories so that those simple folks would understand its import.How difficult that simple egalitarian message is to grasp for us today?

Have a good Ramzan! No, have a good day! One day at a time for the whole year!