the whole nation of islam is really quite fascinating, not necessarily from a studied standpoint but to see it and interact with it in technicolor. to see how religion plays a part of daily life and to then be somewhat a part of it due to environment...it gives quite a jolting view on people and how strong mental psyche in human beings is. it's amazing how a faith is still able to superced temptation even in today's techologically advanced society designed to capitalize on "sin".
i spent my last day in singapore with haidah. (i'll miss u haidah). coincidentally, while she spent the day starving or "intensifying her faith", i seemed to have forgotten to eat all day. and after a quick stint in the gym, i was starving by the time haidah came to pick me up. we headed to geylang to peruse the bazaar shops and let our clothes/hair fully inhale the smokey flavors of all the deep fried street food, cuz that was the only thing eating around that area at 6pm. around 6.30 we headed to the muslim side of the hawker center. while walking through the aisles to find a table, i literally couldn't stop staring at everyone, staring at the crowd, the scene, the atmosphere, the ambiance, the aura.
every table was filled with men, women and children sitting there, seemingly exhausted, fatigued and (arguably hungry-so they claim). the stalls were taking advance orders for drinks, roti, mee goreng, satay etc for the mad rush that was to ensue once the radio announced the 705 prayer for today. i expected a mad rush of starved barbarians scarfing down heaping spoonfuls of porridge and eating the skewer that came with the satay. however, when fast was broken, most people went straight for their beverage and then routinely followed towards their meal. (one forgets how hard it is to live without water, i must say, it's quite a feat). it's quite naive for me to chalk up images of "castaway" starvation when these people live their life as a faith and have done it since age 7.
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