Malaysian Version of Aidilfitri

There’s one thing unique about Malaysians: we’re able to aggravate everything & anything. We tend to re-culture ourselves with a our own version of religion/cult, politics, tradition, etc. This sort of evolution & progress, if I may, shows how creative we Malaysians really are.

Let’s look at Hari Raya Aidilfitri & how we Malaysian Muslims exaggerate & aggravate the festive.

Aidilfitri is like the winning race day, the celebration day for us Muslims after one month of fasting. We fast for a reason: to understand the feelings of desperation & of the poor. If we survive this ordeal, we should be able to make our conclusion that there are people out there who suffer & go thru life worse than us. With this in mind, we should be thankful with what we have.

But sadly, that’s not the case for some Malaysian Muslims.

I’m ashamed to see that there’s a big number Malaysian Muslims who does not take the month of Ramadhan seriously. They skipped a day of fast, or worse they totally skipped the whole 30 days. I’m not perfect either, there were days that I skipped fasting when I start to feel really really desperate, whether I was too thirsty or too hungry. When I start to indulged myself, the feeling of guilt comes by in a flash & I start to wonder if this was the right thing to do (not fasting, i mean). Being a moderate & flexible religion, in Islam, if you skipped a day, there are ways for you to pay back that debt you have with God. And it is between you & God.

Then comes Aidilfitri, which falls on the 1st day of Syawal. We celebrate the success of our test. We celebrate the meaning of life. We celebrate the meaning of togetherness. There are certain activities, so to speak, in the celebration of Aidilfitri which doesn’t exists in the core of Islam. But being Malaysians, we just do whatever we like… (sing to tune of T.I)

1. Duit raya. The act of giving duit raya doesn’t really exist in Islam at the core. This act was copied from another celebration, Chinese New Year. Yes, we Muslims shouldbersedekah, I agree. But as usual, we Malaysians put that concept one up to another level. Now, it has become an act to train our children to be beggars, golddiggers & worst of all, to love greed. Kids nowadays are not thankful for the gift of duit raya, theydemand for it.
2. Baju raya. In Islam, it is a sunnah (an option for a good cause) for us to wear beautiful & new clothes on the 1st day of Syawal. It’s a sunnah in Islam, but a culture in Malaysia. I’d like to call it the Raya Fashion Show. Glitter here, bling bling there. Most of us forget that one of the teachings of Ramadhan is for us to know how to be frugal. But no, not for us Malaysians. It’s like a one big Malaysian Top Raya Model competition. And to make it worse, we overspend.
3. Bulan raya. Malaysians celebrates Aidilfitri for a month. In truth, Aidilfitri is meant to be celebrated on the 1st day of Syawal only. But we celebrate it for a month. Wow. Seriously wow. Of course, the month of Syawal lasts for 30 days & by our Malaysian way of logic thinking, Aidilfitri is automatically celebrated for 30 days. Truthfully, this is one hype I really despise as this festive has been commercialised to the extend that we Malaysians accept that is the way to celebrate Hari Raya.

There are lot of weird things that doesn’t exist in Islam regarding celebration of Aidilfitri, but these are the top 3 that I think requires a lot of re-thinking in our part as Malaysian Muslims. Think about changing ourselves first before you start thinking to change other people.

Don’t believe the hype.

kudos/courtesy to : mr buyot