Ramadhan Mubarak...

The holy month of Ramadhan is here again. It's already the 2nd day of fasting for many Muslims around the world. How long will it be this time before Syawal reach upon us? Hhmm..we know how time flies and the 'cleansing' semester seems to get shorter year after year.

Time might be going faster, but the Ramadhan challenge are getting tougher really. The act of fasting is supposed to re-direct the heart away from worldly activities and Muslims are expected to put more effort into following the teaching of Islam.

Today, it's not just a matter of fasting from dawn until sunset. Although fasting is the prominent act in this month, the challenge has shifted in this information age I think. See no evil and hear no evil; it has become more daunting for anyone to do this. It's easy to tell lies and it's easy for people to read or hear lies. Evil is just a mouse click away....

our prayers 'bandwidth' to Allah should be much bigger this month...the bigger the better!

I guess it boils down to the individual. Refraining from eating and drinking can be physiologically trained. And so does critical thinking. I feel our susceptibility to believing in rumours has its roots to our upbringing and education system i.e. spoon feeding. You feed us 'X' we'll always believe it's 'X'.

Just like fasting, we got to train our minds to do self-censorship and critical thinking. If the society is mature enough, maybe state censorship is not really necessary at all. Unfortunately, for this to happen, the spoon feeding system has got to go first.

But still, the month of Ramadhan provides the opportunity for Muslim to practise self-constraint. As much emphasis given to fasting, other teaching of Islam has to be highlighted and practised too, including to avoid obscene and irreligious sights and sounds. It is a form of self-censorship and I believe this value needs to be strongly inculcated in all Muslim hearts.

In this connected world, our faith to Allah is constantly being challenged. Fitnah has an effective vehicle or platform to penetrate and corrupt Muslim minds. It's the internet. We've seen so many efforts by people who wants to tarnish the religion in the eyes of the world. That's why we need be a strong believer. It has become more challenging for a Muslim to live in this interconnected world. But I would rather die in starvation, not in disbelief... this is my constant hope and prayers to Allah...

Selamat menyambut Ramadhan everyone.....