So, most of the videos I watched is about social experiment doing a fast in Ramadhan for the first time, while their Moslem's friends told them about the meaning of fasting. Those guys, who were willing to spend a day to do a fast, started to ask many questions. Like "how long do you do the fast?" or "when do you need to start and when is it gonna over?" or "what do you need to do during the fast?" or "is it any exemption to not fast on Ramadhan?" or a classic simple question "why do Moslems fast?"
I have been there while my bosses asked me about Ramadhan Moslem things on their first year being in Indonesia. I was confused how to answer their question, been afraid of not gave them a proper answer that satisfy their curiousity.
I found it hard to describe, I found it hard to explain.
Being born as Moslem in Moslem country, makes me not wondering too much and only do what my parents do, and what my surrounding does. I had been on stage where I asked a lot about what I need to do or dont, and simple answers from my parents can drive me to do what they do. Because, why not? Most of people also do that, so why dont I? Being a grown up, I start to realize the meaning of what I have done and what need to be done. But it seems that what I have known is not so deep and makes me confuse to answer, even, a classic simple question from others.
When I was in Italy for Convention of the company, there was a night when we had a fancy dinner, up in the hill. The chefs did the grill and stuffs, we have many types of pasta served on the table, and also some bottles of wine and beer. A friend of mine beside of me, gave me an empty glass and started to pour the wine, and I stopped her, be like "Oh, no, no, no, I dont drink". And the questions started.
Her : "Nah, it's OK" (start to pour the wine)
Me : "No, no, no, honestly I dont drink"
Her : "Just take one glass, you'll be fine, believe me. You wont get drunk by only take one sip"
Me. : "No, I cant. It is prohibitted on my religion. We need to not to drink"
Her : "But why? At least you try" (grab my glass closer to her and start to pour"
Me : "No, I am fine, really"
Her : "But why you cant drink?"
Well, I didnt have a single proper answer in my mind. So I just gave her a smile and she replied me "Itis so strange"
If I were her, I could be like her also, because I didnt understand why and I didnt get a meaningful answer for that.
Then, there was a cheerful lunch after we went around of the Expo. They served grilled pork, fruit that I dont know, and something looked like pickles. And of course I grab the fruit and pickles, what else dude? And one friend got closer to me saying "Try this (he appointed the pork), it is super delicious". And yeah, dude, it looked extremely delicious at the point when you starved a lot from lossing so much energy because of a long walk at the expo. But I said "No, I am fine. I cant eat pork actually". And guess what? The interogation begun.
Just yesterday, I had a guest from Korea, he asked me about fasting in Ramadhan.
Him : "I have an English teacher for my kids, and she said that she didnt fast in the first day of Ramadhan. Is there any exemption?"
Me. : "All moslem must fast during Ramadhan. It is mandatory. But, yeah there are some exemption."
Him : "Eergh, it is confusing"
Me : "Yeah, the people that (blablabla, I started to tell him)"
And he asked a lot. In the end of story, I just felt enough from those questions and simply gave him smile to end the topic.
By this morning I realized, many people want to know more about Moslem, especially for those foreigners that live in Indonesia because most of us are Moslem. But, they could not understand easily why Moslem do that and dont, because we dont give them a straight proper answer. Maybe it is only me that do not have proper answer, but I believe could be anyone else just did the same as I did. My Korean guest that I mentioned, is living for more than 2 years in Indonesia, and I believe that he already asked same question to many people, not only me, but still he throw that question again. It looks like he never satisfy with the answer he gets.
By having this on my mind, absolutely I need to know deeper why we do and dont, and try to learn to describe in a beautiful way. By letting non-Moslem know what we do, will spread good vibes, right?