A Hadith reveals that Hazrat Abu Bakr RA humbly solicited before the Prophet SAW that, “Oh, Messenger SAW, I Witness that you SAW are growing old. What is the reason? The Prophet replied that he is growing old due to the revelation of Surah Hud and similar like other Surahs.” A profound study of Surah Hud , reveals the fact that different Ummats or nations like Qouem e Noah, Lut, Shoiab, Aad, Thamud, Faroah and others were annihilated by Allah after they exceeded in the sins, misdeeds and criminal activities. The Prophet SAW was worried that his Ummah may also face the same wrath of Allah in case, it does not submit before the Will of Allah and hence his holy body indicated signs of oldness. With the dreadful and tragic wars engulfing and spreading like bushfire, in the world and killing innocent countless lives in its wake, is the talk which nowadays dominates the dinner table conversations, discussions and social gatherings, iftar parties, limited as they are. In the past years war and killing of humans would be denounced at once but we as humans have become so brute now that it looks a normal leaf of our lives and we believe in our merry making and enjoyment. Though the world is going through a critical stage and nobody knows what will happen next, yet criminal activities, black marketing, profiteering, flouting of norms and rates is common place in our Valley particularly during the Holy month of Ramadhan as I discovered on my visit to the local butcher on first day who was selling the meat at rate of Rs 700. I was shocked to see people pushing their way through, in complete disregard to civilized standards and their own safety, while the smug faced butcher sat high like an overlord watching his serfs. I tried my best to be in line and maintain decency as a citizen in the hope that others would follow the same, but to no avail. Another shock ensued when the butcher himself decided the quantity of meat that I should take, paying no heed to my need, thereby maintaining perfect disregard to the courtesy and social etiquette. Similar was the case with the fruit sellers who quoted sky high prices, knowing the customers hands were tied, with fruits being indispensable during the Holy month of Ramadhan. Take the example of milk seller who adulterated milk with water for monetary benefits during the month known as a Month of Repentance. The bitter experiences led me to introspect how even during the holy month; people who fasted dutifully here simultaneously committed moral and social wrongs that defeated the very purpose of Fasting. Profiteering, amassing ill gotten wealth- the deep cultural malaise afflicting our society, remains unchecked because we choose to condone rather castigate. What is particularly worrisome is that even crimes of moral turpitude, earlier unheard of, no longer prick our society’s collective conscience let alone warrant severe condemnation. Rather they are finding their feat within our social fabric, at the cost of our moral values that continue to erode. This is the society which damn cares for this moral degradation and instead is deeply involved in the squabbling and bickering of whether the eight Rakats or Twenty Rakats of Taraweeh are to be offered and whether during Namaz Loudspeaker is to be used or not and hence, wrangling among us which is a sign that we are an ill society. Take the case of a murder by uncle of a nephew and by nephew of his uncle in the central and north Kashmir during the month of Ramdhan. The reaction to these episodes by religious groups, media and other sections of the society was chaotic and doleful to the heinous crimes and the lukewarm reaction by the society perhaps marks a change and transition in our moral values which were the best practices of our age old society. My one of the offspring’s who had returned home after a long time, was sharing Sehri just besides us in our sitting room during Ramdhan when out of nowhere he said that he had been proud of our clean moral and cultural record when it came to criminal acts such as murders, illicit relations, conspiracies against family members, black-marketing, profiteering, hoarding and immoral activities but the squalid episodes and his other personal experiences had forced him to think otherwise. This sentence of his put us in a flashback mode. Having seen the larger part of the previous few decades, such crimes we can recall were never a part of our society or negligible. Our society may have had a number of problems, we may have been accused of being turncoats, collaborators, arrogant, irritating, unpredictable, rumour-mongers, even treacherous at some point of time, but never has our society had this “criminal” tendency to import to our valley of Saints and Rishies. But what is happening around our society now at present clearly enunciates, is our moral degradation and collective downfall as a society. We have gone from bad to worse and are breaching new boundaries in our “filth accumulation”.
“The month of Ramdhan was an entire month during which Muslims focussed on purifying themselves, tried to get closer to Allah, and grow in their knowledge/faith and morality. And now the month of Shawal has set in and on the Ist day of Shawal we are celebrating Eid. Our Ummah has been described as the best Ummah by the Holy Quran in Surah AL Imran , verse 110 and we ought to become an example of moral stand but if we persist in committing misdeeds, we may face the fate of those Ummahs of the past who were taken away as if they never prospered therein.”
As already mentioned a number of crimes have been normalised in our society as if they are a part of our routine schedule. The element of huge profiteering, black marketing, adulterating eatable and drinkable items and hoarding in the month of Ramdhan by business / shopkeepers community who fast for 30 days, offer every single Taraweeh and then on the auspicious occasion of Lailat ul- Qadre beg for mercy, has already received a social approval with the business Groups and shopkeepers not irked by their conscience to stay away from such practices. Here, it is heart wrenching and painful that our business sect increase rates more than the approved and legal fixed rates during the months and occasions like Ramdhan and Eid. Contrary to our business sect in our land, our Non- Muslims brethren cum shopkeepers outside the valley offer huge discounts during their religious months ,periods, festivals or occasions which gives a sense that how they respect the philosophy and value of such occasions.
The practice of corruption and bribery by other sections / persons does not achieve a breakpoint at any point of time. We have lost our moral decency to talk, the art of conversation is missing, our arguments turn into fights and abuses and without even looking at who is standing on the other side we start shouting. Such “social degradations” unfortunately have been normalized way back in our society and we blame the divergence or somebody else for way too long for these problems. Blaming something of a political nature for something which is societal in nature is tantamount to comparing apples with oranges. The threat that is lurking around like a tiger in ambush waiting for his prey is “normalisation of this heinous crime now”. It doesn’t take long before something is normalized and before it is relegated from front page news to page 5 news. When something is an exception and happens in exceptional circumstances, it gives birth to a reaction and strong rhetoric-muder cases being the example, but when something happens repeatedly over the period of time with one or two cases reported every single day, it just becomes a part of your life and you learn to live with it. The month of Ramdhan was an entire month during which Muslims focussed on purifying themselves, tried to get closer to Allah, and grow in their knowledge/faith and morality. And now the month of Shawal has set in and on the Ist day of Shawal we are celebrating Eid. Our Ummah has been described as the best Ummah by the Holy Quran in Surah AL Imran , verse 110 and we ought to become an example of moral stand but if we persist in committing misdeeds, we may face the fate of those Ummahs of the past who were taken away as if they never prospered therein.
(The author is veteran academician of Jammu & Kashmir. The views, opinions and conclusions expressed in this article are those of the author and aren’t necessarily in accord with the views of “Kashmir Horizon”.)
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