Perhaps little do people know what my true dream is. When Lester and Jac kept pushing me to read the Alchemist, I wasn’t expecting much from that book. At the end of the day, most people just considered it as a fancy story with an instilation of hope. Indeed it was a fairy tale.
In this day and age, and the society we live in, it is very easy to just say we believe in something without really believing it, or rather treating faith as a side ornament which one look at when they feel like it. It is easy to call oneself a Christian, Muslim, Buddhist etc. without actually going to the church, mosque, temples and living a religious life.
After moving to High Wycombe, and meeting some Muslim friends, I have finally decided to be true to myself, and asked myself what it was that I really wanted in life. The answer always lied in living a more religious life. For a long time, I had always been very skeptical about what it means to be a Muslim β all the seemingly overwhelming political stance which comes with it, all the language and cultural barriers. However, today I am very happy with where I stand today, and in fact nothing much has changed. My world view remained the same, I am still politically neutral, and perhaps I am more tolerant to other people’s faiths and beliefs today than I had been.
Being a Muslim for me, is surprisingly simple. Its all about following the 5 pillars, that is 1) The belief in 1 God (Shaahada) , 2) Praying 5 times a day (Salat), 3) Fasting in the month of Ramadan (Swam), 4) Paying Charity to the poor (Zakat) and finally 5) Going on the pilgrimage (Hajj). Perhaps the biggest change is the fact that I now keep to Halal. That is all meat which is slaughtered in God’s name. I think I have given myself too much excuse in the past for not following Islam as strictly as I should have. Maybe it was the roast duck and the japanese gyu-don. But I am confident that nothing much will change at the end of the day. One thing I am more certain now than ever before is my tolerance towards other people, and I have not felt so much at peace as I have in these couple of months.
Other than that, I am having a very simple life nowadays. However, I think the simplicity comes from the fact that I have nothing to worry about, and that everything is taken care of. Of course the world is no where near perfect, news on Al-Jazeera and CNN brings more bad news than good ones nowadays. Yeah, I am estatic that Obama won, but I also see that the world is as messed up as it had ever been before. Why are people even protesting against the execution of the 3 Bali bombers? At the end of the day, if they took what is supposedly God’s judgement on their own hands, they themselves would be judged by others as well.
Its quite amazing that I am walking down the streets of Colombo without really noticing people with big guns anymore. The other day my friend pointed to a coconut and asked me what it was (well, coming from Scotland, its understandable), so I said βThat is a coconut, and over there is a man with a big gun.β Oh well, that adds to the fun I suppose. Yesterday as me and my Indian friend went to the mall in a Tuk-Tuk (3-wheels motorcycle rickshaw), we got stopped at the check point. He forgot his passport and I got asked a lot of questions. I get a mixed feeling about the tye of treatment I get for having an English accent. One is a sense of respect from the people around me, but from the government officials, its more of a βwhat do you want from Sri Lanka.β Perhaps its the colonialism which left the country in bits and pieces. The Tamil Tigers are still fighting up North. But I have been told that we don’t get targeted because they don’t want to make a big scene internationally. But then again, I look relatively local, despite the westernised look of jeans and t-shirts β I am still an Asian.