Lesson in self-control

WHILE Trinidad and Tobago observes the Muslim festival of Eid Ul Fitr in traditionally peaceful style, it is difficult not to be perplexed by violent events taking place in other parts of the world. The confusion arises also from our own experience of Islam which historically has comprised a stable, productive, harmonious and patriotic element in our multi-religious society. Yet perhaps the most traumatic event of our recent past was perpetrated by a group that preaches, teaches and practises the Islamic faith, a sect that attempted to violently oust the country’s elected government.

No adult citizen who lived through those terrible events of July 1990 will ever forget them, even though they may now be regarded as something of an aberration. But that uprising, however puzzling it may seem, can never erase or detract from the valuable contribution that members of the Muslim community as a whole have made and are still making to the development and shaping of our national society, particularly in the critical areas of moral conduct and family life. In an age of moral decay, members of the Islamic faith in Trinidad and Tobago remain a bastion of moral and ethical strength. Apart from the constructive part Muslims play in the commercial and professional life of the country, the spiritual values they uphold are what must commend them most as the rest of the country joins in their celebration of Eid-Ul- Fitr. Certainly their religious adherence to the month-long Ramadan fast and its significance as a necessary exercise in self-control and self-denial must remain a critical lesson in personal discipline and restraint for the rest of the society at a time when the pursuit of sensual pleasure and satisfaction has become a decadent obsession. The Muslims’ obligatory practice of caring and sharing particularly with the poor during these celebrations must also set admirable examples for the community at large.

Ultimately, what we see in the observance of Eid is the dedication and obedience of Muslims to the tenets and exhortations of their own faith which has, in fact, become legendary. Theirs is the kind of personal adherence that followers of the many other religious faiths in our country would do well to emulate. In his Eid-ul-Fitr greetings to the national community, Prime Minister Patrick Manning muses also on these matters. It is not difficult, he says, “to discern in many parts of the world the pervasiveness of religious fundamentalism, xenophobia, racism, aggressive nationalism and glorification of war and militarism.”

Meanwhile, he adds, “it is no accident that we in Trinidad and Tobago are able to recognise in our society a comparatively more peaceful reality. We are reaping the rewards of our determination to appreciate differences among us, to treat all in our society with dignity and respect and to recognise not only our rights, but also our obligations to one another. “The challenges nations face in this regard affirm our own need to continue to pursue such a path. Neither our diversity, nor the necessity to cherish it, are to be taken for granted.” This newspaper has made the point before, that Trinidad and Tobago may well be the only country in the world which has three distinct national religious holidays — which is not only a means of cherishing our diversity but also a way of expressing our obligations to one another. Eid Mubarak to all our readers.