ennui

  I like to think of my complicated relationship with religion as being informed by both my quarrels with its theology and also with its social manifestation. When adhered to faithfully, there is an undeniable relegation of women to a passive (if not secondary) status. Where I do find meaning in religion is in its instrumentalization as a call to action. During my religious education, I remember the explicit discouragement of living the life of a recluse. Retiring from society, and being unbothered about what ails your fellow citizens was considered inherently unislamic. The privilege of disengagement is obviously something only afforded to the more well-off sections of society. Islam, as a religion born from a call to action, makes sense as one refusing to endorse such disengagement. Prayer, to the believer, is as much about standing up to injustice as it is prostrating before God. There is, of course, the story of Abu Dharr expressing shock that a man who finds himself hungry d...