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Shops vie with mosques at Eid
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Kharin
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In heaven all the interesting people are missing.
  
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Shops vie with mosques at Eid
« on: 2003-11-25 05:06:45 » |
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In the past, one thing we've discussed is the relation of materialism to fundamentalism (i.e. is there one); this article suggests some interesting dynamics on that front.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/3234180.stm
By Alastair Lawson
BBC correspondent in Dhaka
As the festival of Eid al-Fitr marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, Islamic scholars in Bangladesh are warning against the commercialisation of the biggest date in the Muslim calendar.
They are particularly concerned that materialism seems to be ousting the mosque as main focus in the lives of middle-class urbanites.
"The end of the period of fasting, called Ramadan, is supposed to be celebrated quietly during Eid by giving presents within the family and by giving to the poor," said Professor M Shamser Ali, one of the country's foremost experts in Islam.
"Instead some middle class people are turning this holy ceremony into a shoppers' frenzy, spending frightening amounts of money on clothes and other accessories that they don't need," said Professor Ali.
"It is not just in the shops where there is greed. In restaurants too there is gluttony on a monstrous scale."
"Some middle-class people seem to have forgotten that Islam says it is acceptable to eat and drink - but it is unacceptable to be wasteful."
Professor Ali says the Eid ceremony is fast going the same way as Christmas in the West, which critics say has lost its spiritual significance because of excessive commercialisation.
In Bangladesh, there is little doubt that shops in towns and cities all over the country have done a roaring trade in advance of Eid, while restaurants at nightfall are full to the brim.
Nowhere is the retail side of the ceremony more apparent than in the Aarong chain of handicraft and clothes stores.
Here saris sell for as much as $180, while traditional knee-length trouser suits, or shalwar kameez, can be even more expensive.
"Its true that in the run up to Eid people are encouraged to spend, spend, spend," says Aarong shop manager Nizam ul-Haq.
"It is also true that each year we do more and more business in advance of the ceremony.
"I think this is because there is more middle-class spending power and more people with disposable incomes."
"They have an Eid bonus, they have spare money and they want to spend all this money on kids and the family."
But not everyone thinks that the emphasis on shopping and bargains ahead of Eid is necessarily a bad thing. Mafhuz Anam is editor of the Daily Star newspaper.
"I see it as a natural evolution of festivities in the modern world," he said.
"In Bangladesh, Eid is emerging as the biggest economic event.
"I know of sari producers and garment makers who do their whole year's business on this particular occasion - for the rest of the year they basically break even.
"It is unimaginable the amount of buying and selling that is going on at the moment."
"But if you take modernism in general you could say that the spirit of Christmas has also been lost."
"I think that as we have become more humanist in our lifestyles, we have become better human beings from more secular values."
Mr Anan says that it should be remembered that only a small minority in this country of 130 million people are taking part in the retail bonanza.
Half the population still earns less than a dollar a day and can't afford the shopping frenzy.
This silent majority remains devoutly religious.
For them, prayer is still more important than retail at this most holy of celebrations.
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DrSebby
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...Oh, you smell of lambs!
     
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Re: virus: Shops vie with mosques at Eid
« Reply #1 on: 2003-11-25 05:42:18 » |
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...i love the part where it's said, "...islam says it is acceptable to eat
and drink...".
what about breathing, pissing and shitting? is that acceptable too? or
should action be taken to prevent it? no wonder this religion is so popular.
DrSebby.
"Courage...and shuffle the cards".
----Original Message Follows----
From: "Kharin" <kharin@kharin.com>
Reply-To: virus@lucifer.com
To: virus@lucifer.com
Subject: virus: Shops vie with mosques at Eid
Date: Tue, 25 Nov 2003 03:06:45 -0700
In the past, one thing we've discussed is the relation of materialism to
fundamentalism (i.e. is there one); this article suggests some interesting
dynamics on that front.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/3234180.stm
By Alastair Lawson
BBC correspondent in Dhaka
As the festival of Eid al-Fitr marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan,
Islamic scholars in Bangladesh are warning against the commercialisation of
the biggest date in the Muslim calendar.
They are particularly concerned that materialism seems to be ousting the
mosque as main focus in the lives of middle-class urbanites.
"The end of the period of fasting, called Ramadan, is supposed to be
celebrated quietly during Eid by giving presents within the family and by
giving to the poor," said Professor M Shamser Ali, one of the country's
foremost experts in Islam.
"Instead some middle class people are turning this holy ceremony into a
shoppers' frenzy, spending frightening amounts of money on clothes and other
accessories that they don't need," said Professor Ali.
"It is not just in the shops where there is greed. In restaurants too there
is gluttony on a monstrous scale."
"Some middle-class people seem to have forgotten that Islam says it is
acceptable to eat and drink - but it is unacceptable to be wasteful."
Professor Ali says the Eid ceremony is fast going the same way as Christmas
in the West, which critics say has lost its spiritual significance because
of excessive commercialisation.
In Bangladesh, there is little doubt that shops in towns and cities all over
the country have done a roaring trade in advance of Eid, while restaurants
at nightfall are full to the brim.
Nowhere is the retail side of the ceremony more apparent than in the Aarong
chain of handicraft and clothes stores.
Here saris sell for as much as $180, while traditional knee-length trouser
suits, or shalwar kameez, can be even more expensive.
"Its true that in the run up to Eid people are encouraged to spend, spend,
spend," says Aarong shop manager Nizam ul-Haq.
"It is also true that each year we do more and more business in advance of
the ceremony.
"I think this is because there is more middle-class spending power and more
people with disposable incomes."
"They have an Eid bonus, they have spare money and they want to spend all
this money on kids and the family."
But not everyone thinks that the emphasis on shopping and bargains ahead of
Eid is necessarily a bad thing. Mafhuz Anam is editor of the Daily Star
newspaper.
"I see it as a natural evolution of festivities in the modern world," he
said.
"In Bangladesh, Eid is emerging as the biggest economic event.
"I know of sari producers and garment makers who do their whole year's
business on this particular occasion - for the rest of the year they
basically break even.
"It is unimaginable the amount of buying and selling that is going on at the
moment."
"But if you take modernism in general you could say that the spirit of
Christmas has also been lost."
"I think that as we have become more humanist in our lifestyles, we have
become better human beings from more secular values."
Mr Anan says that it should be remembered that only a small minority in this
country of 130 million people are taking part in the retail bonanza.
Half the population still earns less than a dollar a day and can't afford
the shopping frenzy.
This silent majority remains devoutly religious.
For them, prayer is still more important than retail at this most holy of
celebrations.
----
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BBS.
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"courage and shuffle the cards..."
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rhinoceros
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My point is ...
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Re:Shops vie with mosques at Eid
« Reply #3 on: 2003-11-26 12:57:48 » |
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[kharin]
In the past, one thing we've discussed is the relation of materialism to fundamentalism (i.e. is there one); this article suggests some interesting dynamics on that front.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/3234180.stm
As the festival of Eid al-Fitr marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, Islamic scholars in Bangladesh are warning against the commercialisation of the biggest date in the Muslim calendar.
They are particularly concerned that materialism seems to be ousting the mosque as main focus in the lives of middle-class urbanites.
"The end of the period of fasting, called Ramadan, is supposed to be celebrated quietly during Eid by giving presents within the family and by giving to the poor," said Professor M Shamser Ali, one of the country's foremost experts in Islam.
"Instead some middle class people are turning this holy ceremony into a shoppers' frenzy, spending frightening amounts of money on clothes and other accessories that they don't need," said Professor Ali.
"It is not just in the shops where there is greed. In restaurants too there is gluttony on a monstrous scale."
<snip>
[rhinoceros]
I think this article confirms that what we often called fundamentalism is not immune to the market, neither is it immune to any other aspects of life. It is not an idiotic article, as someone hastened to say. If you think of it, you can get some insight by noticing how people try to reconcile their beliefs with the driving forces of real life, and they even do it in an active way.
In other news (somehow unrelated to the above), there was an article on "freecycling" in Salon:
From each according to his junk, to each according to her need
Need a pile of dirt? Got a pile of dirt? It's Christmas every day in the new world of freecycling.
http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2003/11/25/freecycle/index_np.html
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