Lao Tzu once said, ‘There is no calamity greater than lavish desires. There is no greater guilt than discontentment. And there is no greater disaster than greed’.
It was 1st March 2025, first day of the month of Ramadan and I and my husband decided to go for Umrah. I was immensely happy to be in the house of Allah and so were other people who had come to perform Umrah from far off places. The premises of harm were packed with people, some circumambulating, some in prostration and some asking for Allah’s blessings with tearful eyes. The ultimate goal of all was to seek forgiveness for our entire sins we all commit every nano second.
I witnessed every one of us remembering our lord ‘Allah’ in mandatory five prayers and beyond. Every eye was flooded with tears, every heart sighing and every hand raised, every lips talking to Allah. All had come with ample wishes and dreams, asking Allah for his blessing in the month of Ramadan. The timings for the wishes to be heard were apt. There was a double guarantee. It was Allah’s house and the month of Ramadan.
For awhile, I mulled over – what brought our fall? Our forbearers were in heaven closer to Allah. What for are we in this world when one day that we have to renounce it? My thoughts kept randomly searching for answers. The easy and most acceptable answer is because the Adam (PBUH) father of us all, erred along with our mother Eve, thus we are here for a punishment.
With a heavy heart, I started to survey the premises, soothing and serene yet filled with our relentless greed of people. The hunger to occupy closer circle during circumambulation. The desire to touch the walls of Ka’aba (House of Allah), the greed to lay our hands on Makaami Ibrahim. This covetousness hasn’t left us even after the fall of human being some 13.8 billion years ago. Certainly unrestrained greed leads to callousness, arrogance and even megalomania. When the greed dominates us, we ignore the harm our actions cause others. Greed is not geographical but omnipresent and is prevalent in everyday life.
We know the spirit of fasting is to control small urges. The essence of fasting is to experience hunger and thirst and sympathize and empathize with those who have meager resources of survival and a complete surrender of one’s self to Allah. Knowing the soul of fasting is to restrain, yet we can’t control the greed and that is a pity.
As Nietzsche mentioned, ‘human nature’ is ‘fundamentally flawed’. He is precise in his observation. We all have flaws, however, at times, we as humans need to bottle up certain imperfections. Back to the house of Allah, the Masjid inside was chock-full and the Magrib time was drawing near. Everyone was trying to grab small space to offer prayers; nevertheless, some people ravenousness has reached to meteoric heights. They hesitate to make way for others. This is not a scene of some Jamia but house of Allah.
All were busy praising Allah, loud and quiet, trying to please the King of Kings – Almighty Allah. The volunteers began to distribute snacks for Iftaar. Alas! Here also the unremitting appetite to get more even though others stayed empty handed didn’t bother people who fled thousands of miles to seek the forgiveness of Allah. There were people who stocked more than two packets. I asked one for what? The face was blank. None of us have any guarantee to see the next ray of light then why store what was meant to be for someone else’s morsel. Especially women didn’t spare ‘Zam Zam (Holy water) without bothering what others will have to break the fast. Observing this horrid scene of greed fill the belly beyond full, I realized, undoubtedly, human desire knows no bounds. Humans will never be satisfied or perhaps human beings existence is defined by his/her greed. The 16th Century thinker, Thomas Hobbes rightly said, ‘Man is in essence a greedy being.’ There was a time when Satan lured Adam with an Apple but took away paradise and we all are repeating the fall every day even when closer to Allah.
©Sumera B. Reshi
