Sydney, 26 May 2017
Tomorrow will be the first fasting day for Muslim in this year Ramadan. Tonight they suppose to have tarawih. Then I remembered my tarawih moment when I was a kid.
As primary school students in Indonesia, we were given a task by our teachers to fill in the tarawih attendance book. The book must be signed by the imam of the tarawih. And also, we were required to summarise the sermon, which is usually held after tarawih. Or else, we were required to summarise morning lecture (Islamic talk show) on TV after we had suhur (pre-dawn meal). Ramadan was super sleepy and tiring time.
There is one unforgettable moment during my tarawih. I kept losing my sandals that I used to go to mosque. Even my sandals were ugly cheap sandals, the must be thieves that took my sandals or replaced my sandals with the other ones. Until one day, I brought a bike lock to secure my sandals. I hated when people then judged me if I was too over-securing my worthless sandals.
When I grew up, and Indonesia had entered the reformation era, freedom was such an euphoria for many people. Thus, the freedom was mistakenly abused by radical Muslim movements, such as FPI, to oppress other Muslims (includes non-Muslims) who don't do the fasting. They raided and destroyed food stalls and cafes that opened during fasting time. They said, it didn't respect people who were fasting. But by doing the raid and destruction, they forgot if they had not respected other people who were not fasting. Isn't it the level of people who were fasting and who were not, actually equal? Either one, they both deserve to be respected. So why did they push their belief to others that were not fasting?
