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Trials and tribulations

26 November 2005, 18:00 PM
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
By A Mahasen, Dhaka
26 November 2005, 18:00 PM
During the recent Eid ul Fitr I received a greeting card from a bank. It carried a simple message, with a simple illustration of the moon in five declining phases, from the full moon to a crescent. Below was a quotation from the Holy Koran in English: "And for the moon we have measured phases, until it returns to a tiny crescent."

I was attracted by the originality and simplicity of the deep message. I pondered on life, and I was reminded of the trials and tribulations in a human life. As a science student, I recalled the sine wave, with the positive and negative peaks above and below the zero axis. The sine wave of civilisation also shifts (east to west as we see in our history; and now the movement is reversed: from the industrialised West peak to the East once again).

There are no straight lines and right angles in Nature. The tides and phases are a part of the dynamics of the cosmic universe. The materialists hanker for constant states of prosperity. Adversity is a test for tolerance, patience and introspection for the created.

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Attending prayers in a mosque is a social equaliser, as the social status of the other devotees are not revealed; and community interchange takes place after the prayers.

There are seasons and timings for each phase of life, in a nation, society or individual.

Notice how evil minds hide in pious postures.

This is not the end of personal reflections. Religion has to take root inside first, before it is displayed outside for public view. Man is not the judge.