So the 27th of June marks the first day of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month. Muslims all around the world are fasting from dawn until dusk. This is my first ramadan as a non believer, and I thought I'd share with the forum my thoughts on it.
Considering that in the previous years I fasted as required (since I was 8 years old), this month will be...awkard, for lack of better words. I am still a closet atheist and my family automatically assumes I'm fasting. It doesn't end there as a few of my coworkers are also muslim (moderate, half ass ones, I would say). Nonetheless, there is pressure to fast from multiple angles and I cant just stand and say "I don't want to fast because I don't believe that stupid crap." This is the kind of thing that would make my family ostracize me and effect the relationships with my work partners.
My thoughts on fasting are, as you would expect, critical. I find the concept of it rather disturbing actually. Many muslims would boast "Oh, well, we fast because it is a form of empathy towards the less fortunate who cannot feed themselves." This is nonsense. What empathy is there in starving yourself then unleashing on a full blown feast (iftar dinner). Aside from that, many muslims also like to claim that it has health benefits. This is also wrong or at least very questionable. With long summer days such as these, not eating OR drinking for over 12 hours is, undoubtedly, unhealthy. Fasting would always cause me to gain weight as your put your body into starvation mode and whatever food intake comes in, your body would immediately store it as fat. I would gain an upwards of 10-15 pounds from a month of fasting, even when limiting my dinner food intake.
I'd just like to see what you guys thought about my situation; a situation a lot of muslims are in around the world. If you have any questions definitely ask away! :)
Fasting all day, and then filling up after it gets dark? Hell, I do that sometimes when I get busy. I don't see it as a sacrifice. I make up for it when I get around to eating. It's probably not the best way to take in nourishment, and I don't know of any doctor that would recommend it. I guess the business community has not figured out how to hijack Ramadan the way Corporate America has hijacked Christmas, which is toward the end of America's holy month that starts with Thanksgiving and ends with a big drunk on New Years Eve. Well, actually, the whole month is kind of a big eating and drinking thing, making it something that is meaningful to a wider segment of the population. We don't start fasting until after our holy month, and then, hardly anyone is actually committed to the idea, but everyone says they're going to have to lose weight after the holidays.
The control that religion has over the minds and actions of the faithful is truly amazing. And yet these same people preach about their freedoms to practice their religions. :wall: Solitary
In front of my religious mother, I will be fasting. Behind her, I'm gonna eat and drink like usual. At night, I'm forced to go to mosque to do Tarweh prayer, gonna shut off my rationalism and hearing some bullshits for about an hour and half and then go home and being back to myself. In the office, my new coworkers mostly already knew that I never prayed Dhuhur, Ashar and Friday prayers. One of them even has already asked if I was Muslim and I answered, "No." So yeah... maybe I'm just gonna act as usual. My coworkers are mostly Christian, but one of the middle aged woman who sits opposite of my cubicle is a Muslim, so I just don't feel like drinking in front of her or something like that. :/
Totally get how you feel Wiz. The act you have to put on and the bullshit enduring is not easy. Now that you mention Friday prayers and Tarweh, it is pretty tough to sit through sometimes. Hearing the preacher spew out a bunch of balogna, of which racist and hateful messages are plentiful even in a moderate congregation, one day is enough let alone a whole month.
When it comes to the faithful, I know a great deal of Muslims who don't even know what faith is. For example, when I was a Muslim I would still talk to and hang out with girls, have a bunch of non Muslim friends etc. And I know a lot of people who do the same. It's just that I went through some cognitive dissonance that grew into major doubt and eventually apostasy.
I'm at work as I type this and my "Muslim" coworker is the type of guy to talk to me about hot girls and big asses then he flips the switch and becomes some sort of Sharia Officer. He went to check on our other coworker to see if he was sneaking any food during the fast...I just chuckled, but in my head I thought "What's it to you? Like really?"
Quote from: inflection2495 on June 28, 2014, 11:22:47 AM
Totally get how you feel Wiz. The act you have to put on and the bullshit enduring is not easy. Now that you mention Friday prayers and Tarweh, it is pretty tough to sit through sometimes. Hearing the preacher spew out a bunch of balogna, of which racist and hateful messages are plentiful even in a moderate congregation, one day is enough let alone a whole month.
When it comes to the faithful, I know a great deal of Muslims who don't even know what faith is. For example, when I was a Muslim I would still talk to and hang out with girls, have a bunch of non Muslim friends etc. And I know a lot of people who do the same. It's just that I went through some cognitive dissonance that grew into major doubt and eventually apostasy.
I'm at work as I type this and my "Muslim" coworker is the type of guy to talk to me about hot girls and big asses then he flips the switch and becomes some sort of Sharia Officer. He went to check on our other coworker to see if he was sneaking any food during the fast...I just chuckled, but in my head I thought "What's it to you? Like really?"
My mother always make her sons go to mosque every Subh, Maghrib and Friday prayer. My brothers and I always go to someplace else til it's the time people usually go back from Mosque, so the joke's on her really. Even after I stopped doing Friday prayers, sometimes I can till hear the Ustadz from loudspeakers, spewing idiotic dogma, hateful message, sexism, superiority, so called morality, and any other face palm inducing "advice" to the masses so I certainly won't miss Friday prayers, at all. But Tarweh is different cause sometimes my mother comes along with us, so we've to be at the mosque til it's over. :(
About your coworker, yeah, it's called Hypocrite or Munafiq? Really, most of the Muslims here are like that too, also, double standard. Very annoying.
There's something about fasting though which is very interesting to look at. If they consider fasting in Ramadhan as a Test to suppress your desire, then why you frown upon non Muslims eating and drinking in front of you? Surely you've got to suppress it to pass the test? Then why are they so pissed off when we eat and drink in front of them? it's like doing Final Exam but refuse to read and solve the problems on paper. I find it a bit funny and confusing. :D
Quote from: drunkenshoe on June 28, 2014, 04:11:22 PM
Sorry to hear all this bullshit, Wiz. I wish I would be living alone at the moment and that you could tell them you are visiting another muslim country to 'share and cherish' your Ramadan experience in an international scale. We would probably have more fun than you could think of. :wink2:
Thank you shoe, life in Ramadhan is especially hard for Ex-Muslims who are still forced into the closet like me. Hope someday I can get away from all this bullshit.
Quote from: SGOS on June 28, 2014, 09:14:24 AM
Fasting all day, and then filling up after it gets dark? Hell, I do that sometimes when I get busy. I don't see it as a sacrifice.
This. If you're gonna fast as a part of a stupid religious ritual, do it for realzies. That means no eating, period, for the duration. If Gandhi could fast for 21 days, so can you. Hell, do better than that Hindu prick!
Indeed, I don't even know how this some sort of test of discipline. Starving for hours does not make love or cherish food any more than I already did. The peer pressure that Muslims place on others is profound; probably more than any other belief system. The saddest part is it doesn't end at just accepting some creator entity, but it also entails that you believe in magical dust devils, bizarre stories, and wild punishments for trivia things. Belief in all this really does, to some people, become a major part of how they see you. Simply telling the you don't buy into this can tarnish your relationship with a person who would otherwise have full respect for you.
I had a friend at work tell me he would be doing this soon. I told him to make sure he drank plenty of water before it started each day. We work inside so there won't be any direct exposure to the sun, but I still hope he listens.
I had a Bahi' friend who fasted that same way as part of his Christian/Muslim religion. He made a big deal about it, and he was very proud of himself for doing it. When it came time for his evening meal, he made a big deal out of breaking the fast and finally getting to eat. Watching it from my atheist perspective, both the ritual and his pride, as well as his show of piety over his minor sacrifice seemed pointless beyond words.
I move that we use this holidays full and proper name
Ramalamadingdong.
Quote from: drunkenshoe on June 29, 2014, 07:59:55 AM
But the food, I am telling ya...!
Well, a feast is an enjoyable thing, no doubt about it. In the US, we celebrate Thanksgiving, which for a kid, is not nearly as exciting as a Santa Claus or Easter Bunny type holiday. For me it was a time when my grandparent's relatives came from all over the country to be together. There were never any kids my age, and while the relatives were nice to me, it lacked an aspect of play. But Thanksgiving Dinner! What a feast! And even to this day in my opinion, there is no meal that compares to a Thanksgiving dinner. We only do it once a year, probably because it's so much work, but the leftovers last for a week, so the eating event goes on for days as all the goodies get microwaved and enjoyed over and over.
Quote from: StupidWiz on June 28, 2014, 05:26:48 PM
Thank you shoe, life in Ramadhan is especially hard for Ex-Muslims who are still forced into the closet like me. Hope someday I can get away from all this bullshit.
Any type of religious ritual is annoying to me. Even when I was a Christian, the pointlessness of rituals annoyed me. The lighting and snuffing of candles during the service, the alternate readings between the congregation and the minister, the weekly reciting of the Lord's Prayer, saying grace before a meal, or the sacrifices of Lent. Even as a Christian, these things seemed so inconsequential to the process of worship. If you have to kiss the Sky Daddy's ass, just kiss his ass. The mumbo jumbo just makes it seem silly. The feast of Ramadan may be wonderful, but it's wonderful for reasons that do not require religion.
If I had to define the word ritual without looking it up in the dictionary, it would be something like: Pointless activities that create an impression of a magical purpose in an attempt to achieve some connection to the supernatural.
Hell, if you need to connect with the supernatural, just go ahead and fucking do it. But you can't, can you? So you create various layers of bullshit ritual, and then you claim you are communing with the unseen. It should insult everyone's intelligence.
Quote from: drunkenshoe on June 29, 2014, 08:26:27 AM
Something funny, probably not known. Secular families celebrate new years eve here, the next morning is official holiday. The funny part is that that particular feast is when we eat turkey, mostly done like in your thanksgiving style and it's somehow became traditional to eat mashed potato with it -along with specific cuisine here- and drink red wine. (Or any alcoholic drinks) I always thought it is similar to thanksgiving. We used to do that all my child hood and the leftovers fed us for a week. And with all that christmas decoration. Usually done by highly secular families with children. In general it's a sign of secularity I guess. Irony.
Roast turkey is so good, and the gravy smothers the mashed potatoes. The whole dinner is such a savory complex combination of tastes that work together. Cranberry sauce contrasts with, but complements the turkey, and the dressing sops up all the succulent cooking juices that would ordinarily go to waste. It's no wonder many other countries have a similar feast. With or without some type of religion, the merits of the feast stand on their own.
Christianity has tied itself with Thanksgiving and has special services connected with the holiday. I think Christianity would like to try to steal it and claim it as its own the way it does marriage, but Thanksgiving remains somewhat secular in the US, although the distinction is somewhat burred for many people. It's a time when usually secular type people take the time to say grace before a meal.