The presence of the holy month is vivid everywhere. The government announces special timing for the office, bearing in mind the hardship citizens have to undergo. The markets display special merchandise to meet people's needs, there are early morning sessions in TV channels for the viewers to watch.
Print and electronic media is abuzz with programs and publications on the culture of Ramadan in other parts of the globe along with feasts and events of various kinds and of course, advertisements. There are calls early in the morning to get people up for their sehri.
The evenings see overcrowded roads, people heading home, all kinds of shops on the roadside, vendors on the footpath selling all their delicacies for iftar. Old Dhaka, Baily Road, and prominent hotels and restaurants go berserk in their pursuit to meet peoples' taste buds to the best of their abilities. The fervour is the same throughout the country, even in remote areas.
It is amazing to watch all the hustle and bustle come to an abrupt halt immediately before iftar. It remains so for a few hours with the streets almost deserted. And then, it begins again. Some markets remain open past midnight for the special Eid shopping. There are some who would retire only after they finish their sehri. The body clock gets used to the new timings for meal, bedtime, and work.
One also wonders: How can people manage to attend such long prayers where they stand in silence and remain disciplined for a good part of the evening? Arabic being a foreign language, most of us do not really understand it.
In the holy Quran, there are many repetitions so if someone listens carefully, it is possible to follow a few words and make out what is being said. Moreover, in a good number of mosques these days, the imam offers a summary in Bangla of the major points included in the recitation every evening immediately before the prayer.
Ramadan calls for restraint, to be wary of evil. It tests our ability to resist temptation and tests our physical fortitude to a great extent. Most Muslims do practice the fasting part of it quite diligently, even though they are not in the habit of regularly practicing other rituals such as the praying five times a day throughout the year.
Doing so much for piety in our endeavour to satisfy the Almighty, it is very strange that we utterly fail to practice restraint when it comes to making people suffer in a plethora of ways.
We do a lot of charity work, some of which are obligatory. It is important to decide on and select the individual or organizations where our charities could go. Muslims follow clear guidelines on this manifested in the holy book and explained by scholars in this regard.
But some areas remain neglected which are very vital for us to realize. There are persons who lead life well below the poverty level but do not let others realize.
Taking bribes in our offices unfortunately go unabated, profiteering in all kinds of commodities go unhindered.
Some of the items such as imported dates for instance are sold at exorbitant prices to make extra money.
The Consumer Rights association is out and trying their best to have some kind of control. They have carried out a number of operations, some of which are reported in the media.
As it was disclosed that no dates have been imported beyond Tk100 per kg, it is astonishing that there are dates being sold at Tk1,600 per kg. How would the businessmen justify this?
The broiler chicken is another case in point. The market price remained fluctuating from Tk 280 to Tk 160 for what appeared to be no justifiable reason.
More interestingly, when the Consumers Rights body had a meeting with the big firms and agreed on Tk190, it was actually being sold at a lower price of Tk160 per kg.
Analysts say this was aimed at getting the small producers out of the market. These are very basic commodities for the common people. If such games are played just for making extra money at the discomfort of so many, where is the teaching of Ramadan?
Brig Gen Qazi Abidus Samad, ndc, psc (Retd) is a freelance contributor.
