Last Ramadan I have been spending less time online and more time trying to get a deeper understanding of my faith. As an Indonesian Muslim in today’s society, I often feel like I don’t really belong to the community. The things I saw in the popular media, the things I heard from my extended network, none of them are in line with my values and beliefs. Then it got me thinking. Have I been losing my faith? How could they be saying things that seem to be contradictive with the Islam that I was brought up in, the things that I believe in? What is wrong and what is right now?
Since it was Ramadan and it was a perfect time to connect more with my spirituality, I decided to learn more about Islam. I chose to avoid learning from Indonesian sources because I simply can’t relate to their narrative. I’m nowhere near a pious but for sure I believe that Islam teaches modesty, peace and compassion, while a majority of Indonesian Islamic scholars I see nowadays tend to use fear and anger as their narrative. While that kind of narrative might be suitable for some people, that is something that I know for sure are against my beliefs.
A month then passed but I feel like I haven’t learned enough. Of course, spirituality is not something that you can learn instantly. I believe it’s a lifelong process. However, I think I have found an answer that can at least make me more comfortable being in today’s society. During Ramadan, through my search and all that, I was reminded that spirituality and religion is a very personal thing.
One can learn from the same scholar but came home with different perceptions. One can even be raised by the same parents and have different opinions. One can have a strong belief about a particular issue and free to say it out loud, but I believe that one does not have the right to force anybody else to have the same belief, nor declaring that those with different beliefs are wrong, or worse, less worthy.
I mean, who are we to judge? for all we know, only God knows the ultimate truth 🙂
So that’s the key takeaway from my Ramadan this year. As always, it was an incredible month and I feel blessed to be able to experience it.
To my fellow Muslims, hope you had an eventful Ramadan and to everybody else, I hope you had a nice summer break. Peace! 🙂
Christa Bercerita 
Yups, I do agree with you. Islam teaches peace and goodness. In many cases, I see that it’s not the belief or the religion which is wrong, but the followers of the belief or the people of the religion who are sometimes very reactive and practice wrongly.
What I believe about religion is:
Preach your religion with the real message it brings not with the sorrow or even the force for other to convert
Iya, aku juga ngga setuju kalau agama jadi memaksakan, tapi banyak yg kulihat seperti itu akhir2 ini sayangnya 😦
That’s why we should learn more deeply about our own faith.
Selamat Hari Raya Idul Fitri yah Ta, mohon maaf lahir dan batin kalau selama ini ada salah kata…
Btw, agama itu kan cuma sarana, jadi balik lagi ke individu masing2 gimana. Nggak cuma islam aja kok yang begitu, agama lain juga ada cuma gaungnya gak gitu heboh karena kan negara kita lebih mayoritas Islam…jadi jangan terlalu dipikirin, hanya karena segelintir oknum yang memanfaatkan isu agama demi kepentingan pribadi/golongan. Semua agama pastinya mengajarkan kebaikan 🙂
Makasih yaaa Fel, maaf lahir batin jugaa dariku 🙂
Iya bener yang kamu bilang, tapi aku akhir2 ini merasa nggak merasa bagian dari Islam padahal aku Islam gitu lho.. karena yg lagi sering dihebohkan sama orang2 Islam kebanyakan di media akhir2 ini gak sejalan sama aku, makanya aku resah dan gelisah kemarin hehehe. Tapi ya bener ujung2 nya aku percaya kok balik lagi ke masing2 individu. Sayangnya banyak yg sekarang lagi rame di media koar2 itu nggak percaya begitu yah 😐 *mantau aja* *nyimak* :))))))))))
You are very cool! Makin banyak orang aneh berkeliaran ya Chris, dan itu ditunggangi kepentingan politik, mostly. Sedih. Tapi, biar kita jadi duta Islam yang damai dan indah 🙂
You are cool too, Ji! 😉 Iya mari kita tetep cool menghadapi situasi yang sering bikin panas inii hehehehe 🙂
That is such a really nice reflection-work indeed Chris!
Thank you Ko! 🙂
Sayang juga ya, padahal Indonesia termasuk negara yang toleransinya tinggi. Tapi, karena kasus-kasus tertentu jadinya malah terpecah belah.
Semoga kedepannya lebih baik 🙂
Slmt Idul Fitri mba. Ya mau bgmn lg Indonesia sdg saing2an pengaruh. Sbg pengamat yg srg melihat kondisi lapangan antar masjid bnyk sekali cerita dan melihat transformasi . Kl blh jujur tdk semua sumber dr Indonesia demikian Chris. Ada jg yg adem, menghargai hierarki keilmuwan, dan tdk melarang kita utk belajar dr yg lain. Tdk cocok bkn berarti salah. Just find the right teachers. Semua org punya pencarian msg2 sesuai kondisi…semoga nanti bs menemukan itu ya 😊 Nice post.
Terima kasih 🙂 Betul betul, tidak semua sumber memang begitu, tapi sayangnya yang kebanyakan aku lihat di media mainstream begitu… aku sempet nanya kan di Twitter, kira2 aku musti denger sumber siapa di Indonesia kalau mau dapet ajaran yg adem. Ada beberapa nama sih, aku baru sempet denger2 di youtube sekilas hehe.. Dan lagi2 benar, tidak cocok bukan berarti salah, tapi disini aku cari yang cocok sama aku 🙂 Thanks for reading!
Selamat hari raya ya Chi, bagus deh foto keluarganya 🙂
Makasih Fe 🙂 itu foto di garasi padahal, modal editan VSCO jadi lumayan yaaa.. hahaha…
Christa, I experience as you do and I think a lot of people do, let’s keep thinking
And never stop learning 🙂
Indeeed Christa
Reblogged this on By the Mighty Mumford and commented:
THIS IS GOOD TO LEARN ! 🙂
thanks!