CC Pung’s dose of philosophical musings.
Justice of Peace.
Tokoh Wartawan Sabah and Labuan.
The fasting month is almost over.
Observing dawn-to-dusk fast in the month of Ramadan is one of the four tenets of Islam.
Aside from abstention from food and non halal things, the month also commands followers to be prayerful and reflective of their conduct such as patience, forgiveness …. generally be nice.
It’s just as well that what’s now known as the ‘socks issue’ occurred in Ramadan.
It was an excellent opportunity for believers to demonstrate all the virtues promoted in conjunction with Ramadan.
But alas the not-so-virtuous things happened.
Since the offensive socks were discovered at an outlet of a convenience store chain, it understandably caused an uproar among Muslims.
In Ramadan, I would have expected religious and political leaders to call for forgiveness for the offenders in the spirit of the teaching about Ramadan.
But the opposite happened.
Every other social media posts I’ve seen has been of netizans warning and threatening non Muslim to stay away from commenting on Islam.
From the Umno Youth leader to dozens of defenders of Allah were calls to ignore the convenience store’s apologies and demanded ‘punishment’ for the offenders.
This despite the fact that the police were investigating and the store owners have been produced in court.
Meanwhile, at least three branches of the store were reported to have fire bombs tossed at their premises.
There are also repeated calls to boycott the store and for the store to close, and its owners proceed to try other trades.
I recall a tik tok post I read where the author wrote, and I paraphrase “don’t tell me about your religion, show me what you do or will do in a given situation…”
I will not claim to know how my Muslim friends feel over the socks issue.
But I do recall times in my life when I was so consumed by anger and resentment over an offence that getting even was, at that instant, my obsession.
But then I’m not a Muslim and barely understood the meaning of Ramadan ….
“Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri”
Editor: The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of Talantang.
