Ramadan, for people who are not familiar with, is the 9th month of Islamic calendar and known as the fasting month. During Ramadan, the Muslims are supposed to do spiritual reflection and improvement on devotion and it is believed that fasting help them to practice self- discipline, self-control, and empathy towards the less fortunate ones. However, on this short article, I’d like to discuss the issue of high consumerism in Ramadan while most people are practicing self-control.

Being raised in a Muslim family, I have this familiarity that Ramadan is a big deal. Families try to get together for dinner time and early breakfast before the dawn called Suhoor, grocery price is increasing (crazily, at least in Papua), majority of the people get to eat fancy and delicious food that they hardly eat during the year, many people think they need new praying attire, and just like Christmas, majority of the people will go home to celebrate Eid at the end of Ramadan.

While writing this article, I see on the current news that in some places in Indonesia such as Kuningan and Padang Sidempuan, price of beef has been increased yet it does not lower the demand. I still can recall how my late mom complains about the price of a kilogram of shallot, garlic, pepper, and peanuts at the market just a couple weeks before the Ramadan. She, including every moms out there have the mutual understanding that the price will keep increasing: one week before Ramadan, first week of Ramadan, and the last week of Ramadan. And they will share that “painful” complain when they are about to pray at the mosque.

From some ads that I’ve seen on electronic and print media in Indonesia, monetizing religion is quite effective to grow brand visibility and gross merchandise volume. The fact that Indonesia has 87% population of Muslims, Ramadan and Eid are heavily monetized from the local markets to street stalls to convenient stores to online shops. So many ads are made to be related to Ramadan or hijab, starting from food and beverage to toiletries to medicine to even cigarette, you name it. Online shops also offering discounts up to 70% including cash-back and free delivery.

As I mentioned earlier that Ramadan is the fasting month, but guess where most of the money goes? Food! According to the independent research from Tirto ID in 2017, 89.52% spending during Ramadan goes to food/dinner with friends and colleagues. Many people have this idea in mind that they deserve to eat more food after a whole day without food and water. Thus, they are willing to spend about USD 100–300 for their additional spending just for the Ramadan.

After all these years, what I find sarcastically funny is the fact that during Ramadan some people or big brands try to get as much money as possible by selling their stuff and on the other hand, people are willingly spending so much time and money for the goods. Then what is the point of fasting? Because not eating or drinking for a whole day is just another type of physical diet. While fasting in Ramadan requires us to go the extra mile, one needs to control all forms of temptation including physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual.

But here is what bothering me the most. If one of the important values of fasting in Ramadan is self-control towards pleasure in life, then how come some of us still have the drive to gain or spend as much money as possible when greed is something to be controlled? Or have our individual definition of the word enough got adjusted towards our realization about financial status? Or as Muslims, have we failed to reflect on our high consumerism towards ourselves in this holy month?

Can we have this Ramadan to reflect on at least those three questions above? And lastly, Ramadan Kareem for all of us who celebrate it.