November Editorial 2005

What is the most challenging period in our life time ? This may sound philosophical but in reality it is not at all. We all face it every step of our life time, from the moment we are born, not counting the period before birth when it is our mother that faces it. Today in this ever changing and fast world , what with our technological advance and inventions that supersedes our very own imaginations, we are all facing tremendous challenges trying to adjust and live with the time we are in today. The ordinary man is baffled by the things that affect his life. For one thing, he has no more privacy, if that is even the correct word to use any more ! Just take the simple My Card that all Malaysians must have by the year’s end. With all the inbuilt features that it has, and we all subscribe to it for the sake of convenience, it seems, we have virtually sold our life privacy to the authorities that be. However, that is what we all seek for and want for ourselves these days. We all want convenience. Convenience to have others do things for us, seek for us, think for us and imagine for us and in the end we become exhausted without realizing that we are ourselves at fault from the very beginning for letting others encroach on our life.

These days, to get myself drift from all these happenings, I chose to go back in time. For instance I recall the time when Ramadan first came into my life ...

The month of Ramadan remains a fascination to me even when I was a young boy then. The very thought of having to go without food and water for more than twelve hours and in some countries could even be more than sixteen hours is beyond my believe and comprehension then. How could any one endure this hunger and hardship ? Thus in those early days, I used to fast half or three quarters of the day only and at times broke fast early secretly and continued to pretend to fast when confronted by the elders. Come breaking fast time, the food and more especially the water or those sweetened drinks taste just wonderful and refreshing, not to mention the overeating that takes place later. But therein lies the fun of the fasting month for us young kids. Do these feelings still prevail today with us old folks ? Of course they do but with a touch of difference though. Much as we like to indulge in tasty drinks and food, we cannot sustain in quantity consumption like those days. Just a little food and some drink, we already feel full and satisfied. But this is what puzzle and fascinate me today why hotels coffee house flourish in the fasting month. It's food galore at these places and so are at the evening food stalls which mushroom all over town. More often than not, these foods are not consumed and lay waste for the rest of the night. When the stomach is hungry, the eyes are even much more hungry when they see food out there. That's what temptation is all about. No wonder Adam was banished from Heaven when he submits to temptation by Eve and Satan ! That genes are with us right to these days.

The thought of going Umrah again after the years of absence since 1999 when we last did it during the fasting month became a reality, after one of those regular gin rummy sessions we have been having almost every weekend at our house. The game becomes an addiction to all of us , especially to Nuruaini, as said by our brother-in-law Dr. Sabri. But of course the wife maintained that he was more addicted to the game than her, when he reminds her to inquire if we are available for the game on the weekend following the last game we had. All told, we are all addicted gin rummers, if there is such a word. The card game of gin rummy was said to possibly derive from mah jong, in which cards are picked up and discarded with the object of forming melds of three or four of a kind, or three or more of the same suit in sequence. A 52-card deck is used, and six, seven or ten cards are dealt according to the number of players - two to six can play, although with us, the group could even be nine at times. Of course to make the game more interesting and less argumentative we unanimously decide on our own house rules on the game. We play thirteen cards for all games. I have always been accused of by the rest as a manipulative player who create rules to suit my potential winnings in the likely event of an unexpected winner. The whole scenario became noisy and argumentative at times to the extent that if an outsider were to happen to be around at the time, he would have concluded that we are quarreling over something very great indeed ! From our own game experience so far, both Sabri and I, have always been out numbered in our argumentative conclusions by the ladies, which as a whole make the whole game ever more interesting and stimulate ! Attempts to "cheat" turn out to be hilarious though at times fill with ridicules but at the end of it all, who cares ! Incidentally, abiding by the Islamic rule of abstainance from gambling, we naturally do not indulge in a any money stakes at all our gin rummy sessions. We merely play for fun, although we have heard remarks by our house helppers, "these people are going Umrah, and still they play this card game" !

When we think of Ramadan, we cannot help thinking of the relevant historic events in the life of our Prophet Muhammad. It was in the month of Ramadan in the year 610 which marks the birth of Islam - the year of the Revelation - namely the Prophet's first encounter with the Angel Gabrielle, who commanded him to "Read in the name of thy Lord who creates man from a clot of blood. Read and thy Lord is most generous, who taught by the pen, taught man what he knew not" (Qur'an 96:1-4) .The divine messages received by the Prophet which constitute the Qur'an began when he was around the age of forty, and it is not known whether any part of them was recorded during his lifetime. However, they were passed on by remembrancers, men who, with a lifetime of training, had acquired formidable powers of memorizing texts. These same technique has been taught to the "hafis" of today, when children at the very early age of six and above are taught to memorize the holy Qu'ran. This tradition to know and to memorize the Qu'ran is the insurance to Islam that the Qu'ran will forever be preserved and remain unaltered for all time.

The Qu'ran was certainly written down shortly after the death of the Prophet, in the time of the first Orthodox Caliph, Abu Bakar, and the text was later codified under Caliph Uthman between 644 and 656, thus giving the content of the Qu'ran the form in which it is known today.

Inspired by the messages he received, the Prophet began to preach to the people of Mecca, exhorting them to abandon their idols and submit to the one and indivisible God or Allah. However, he gained few followers and provoked much hostility, so when invited to go to Yathrib, an oasis town 340 km (212 miles) to the northwest, he journeyed there in 622. Yathrib, which was later renamed Madinat al-Nabi or Medina, the City of the Prophet, was the Prophet's place of residence until his death in 632. The year of his journey, the Hijra, marked the decisive moment in his prophetic mission and was proclaimed by the first generation of Muslims as the first year of the Muslim Era. While in Mecca, the Prophet had preached as a private citizen, in Medina he became a religious leader and head of a community, as well as wielding both political and military power. The Prophet's legacy included a new faith in the one God and the Qu'ran, as well as, through wise alliance and success in war, a new state dominating western Arabia. He also established the Muslim belief that he is the last of God's Prophets, who - by founding Islam -completed the work begun in God's name by Abraham, Moses, David and Jesus Christ and established the ultimate monotheistic faith - Islam.

For us Muslims, the Qu'ran explains all that man needs to know in order to live a normal and spiritual life ; at the same time its precepts present him with a massive spiritual challenge, because nothing stands between the individual and Allah and there is no one to intercede for him. Forgiveness cannot be won by merit, but flows only from Allah's grace, though a man may make himself worthy of forgiveness by leading a life devoted to serving Allah. There is always the choice between the path that leads to Paradise and that which leads to disaster on the Day of Judgment- a path that lead to Hell. But the greatest salvation for oneself can be achieved in the month of Ramadan. Surah 2 Baqara 183 and 185 respectively stated " O ye who believe ! Fasting is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you, that ye may learn self-restraint " ; "Ramadan is the month in which was sent down the Qur'an, as a guide to mankind, also clear signs for guidance and judgement between right and wrong. So everyone of you who is present at his home during that month should spend it in fasting, but if anyone is ill, or on a journey, the prescribed period should be made up by days later. Allah intends every facility for you ; He does not want to put you to difficulties. He wants you to complete the pescribed period, and to glorify Him. In that He has guided you ; and perchance ye shall be grateful".

The first Umrah for my young family dated back to 1982 . As usual it was a snapped decision that I made to do it much to Ainul's suprise and delight of course. To her it was the chance to go overseas, an addiction which remains till today . Whilst Mecca and Medina were fascinations for all of us, especially when we saw the Arab people and their way of life and the stunning size of the Prophet's mosque in Medina and the Kaabah in Mecca. Of course the children could not help asking questions about the Kaabah and the "air zamzam". But the irony of it all was that, we brought our decks of cards which we obtained in-flight to keep our children occupied during the in-between prayer hours. Thus we were occupied with card games in our rooms ! When we look back at this, we feel very guilty indeed, religiously speaking, but then, we were ignorant and somewhat innocent then, not having the religious knowledge that we have today that forbid the indulgence of card games which might make us forget our prayers at the call of prayers or azan. We had very good time at that first Umrah, and this led to several others later years until Ainul went for her first pilgrimage with her parents in 1984 which was followed by the two of us and Farah doing it in 1994. However, the best experience of the Umrah was in 1999 Ramadan when we chose to Umrah at the second half of the Ramadan month. In Medina we were delighted to experience the extreme Arab hospitality when at breaking fast time, we were literally shepherd in by our Arab hosts to be their guests at designated dining spots in the Prophet's mosque. The food that was served was a plenty but of course their kind of food which consist of whole-wheat pan caked type bread, variety of dates, gravies to match the bread, yogurt and drinking water or beverages. They would spread their special plastic food laden mats all along the prayers carpet rows in the mosques and the various foods are laid there at individual intervals. No one will go without food. Thus we ate to our hearts content and before long it was all over and what remains on these special food mats are all rolled up and removed from the mosque very efficiently without a food trace to dirty the place. The Magrib prayer commence soon afterwards for the congregation whose tummy is now back to normal after the day's fasting.

There was marked difference to the hospitality earlier described in Medina to that of Mecca. Over there, nothing seems to be organized and we get only random handouts by individuals. However, having been forewarned on this by our guides, we naturally make sure that we break fast at our hotels first before going to the mosque for the Magrib. Mecca is the typical big city rat race environment and atmosphere and the saying that nothing can beat the gentleness and the hospitality of the people of Medina, who first welcome the Holy Prophet during the Hijrah. This is something like the people of Penang, who are always very friendly to outsiders especially when it comes to asking for food stall or restaurant directions, but this is another story I will divulge in later episode of my writing to you fellow readers.

All told, there are many true life experiences in these Holy cities of Medina and Mecca and more so in Mecca. It is said and indeed we are always advised by our guides, when in these two Holy cities, we must always see, utter and think the bright side of life and remain positive in thinking and actions. We have to have complete faith in Allah and enjoy the privilege of His divine invitation to see and pay homage to his cities where Islam had its birth. In short we are His guests and as His guests, we are expected to behave. Thus we cease to utter any bad words on anything and on others, eat what is given and accept what comes our way, be it good or bad. We repent on our past misdeeds or behavior and strive to emulate the religious life of the Holy cities when we go back to our homelands. Thus it is both a physical and mental ablutions for the Muslims irrespective of races and standings in the society. Everyone stands humble in the presence of Allah and His cities. Humility becomes the objective of this visit and yet how many really emulate permanently this life's philosophy and practices in the later years after their home returns. We all have very short memories and in no time we are back to our normal self and lifestyle. Hence the need to Umrah every so often as reminders to ourselves for the need to change to the life expected of us by Allah. We try but we are only human !

The first time we experienced something unexpected was during our first Umrah in 1981 when we brought all the four of our children . On landing at Jeddah which was the first port of call for all who intend to visit the Holy Land, we were welcome by our travel agent's representative, who ushered us to our minibus, good for fifteen passengers. As soon as we alighted the vehicle, we saw our guide involved in an apparently serious argument with a big Arab man and the next thing we saw, there was fist fights between them which ended with a big punch and slapping by our guide on the Arab guy. When finally our guide who was also the driver of our vehicle got into our vehicle, he told us the Arab guy spoke rudely to him about taking all of us into our vehicle and accused our guide for stealing off his passengers. It was no cause to fight over such thing but then that's Jeddah and a way of life there for the rugged persons ! Jeddah is the first port of call for anyone going to the two Holy cities of Medina and Mecca. It is also the last frontier for the non-Muslims. In short it is just like any other cites of the world, with the exceptions that it of course has no night clubs, discos or any particular night spots that the nocturnals like to indulge in.

The driving for the next two hours to Mecca was hair raising. We were driven at breakneck speed and very recklessly too and on two occasions we nearly had accidents when we grazed and knocked the sides and fenders of two vans and cars. To our driver, it was as if nothing had ever happened. It was a relief and a miracle that we arrived safely in Mecca.

The first sight of the Kaabah was awesome for us and the children asked a lot of questions about the Kaabah to which we tried to give reasonable replies which we ourselves were not convinced if these were the right answers ! It was fascinating to see so many people going round the Kaabah in a seemingly endless circles until we did it ourselves to realize just how much we had to walk to complete the seven circled walk. Later on when we had to do the Sa'ie from Safa to Marwah, we felt exhausted by the long walks. At this place, at the sides, we saw adults and little children seated with their palms opened on their laps and people giving them alms. The next thing we knew, Izzat who was then eight years old, decided to rest by the side and he later told us, people wanted to give him alms too !

On another occasion, when we were about to leave Mecca for another Umrah to Ta'naim, a town eight kilometers away from the Holy City, Izzat being a very energetic boy decided to leave us to go to the taxi that would take us to Ta'naim. Ainul shouted to Izzat to be careful or he would knock the taxi's door . Before she could finish her warning, we saw the taxi's door opened and Izzat's head directly knocked it. We saw blood on his forehead and the Arab driver exclaiming "Astagfarrallah !" and simultaneously placed his huge palm on Izzat's injured forehead. We rushed over to see the injury but miraculously there was no gaping wounds but a slight bruise only and no further blood. At that instance Ainul recalled the warning given to all of us earlier by our guide that when in the Holy Cities of both Mecca and Medinah we must never think and say anything negative to avoid any mishaps that will befall those who do.

On other instances, we could not help being extra careful with our slippers whenever we entered the Great Mosque to pray. It was the practice that almost everyone brought their slippers into the mosque and placed these by their sides or placed them in the allotted slippers boxes at the mosque's entrances or along the prayer rows. The place being huge and the doors numerous, we have to remember where we left our footwears. Everything went well with my slippers during the first three days of our stay there, but towards the end, I said to myself I could not see why anyone could lose their slippers if they take pain to remember where they put theirs in the first place. To my suprise, when I wanted to retrieve mine, I just could not find my slippers ! Try as I might by retracing back my footpath, I failed to find them ! Then I realized I was boastful. The slippers that I had to buy later were of very poor quality and more expensive too. Teach me for my arrogant thoughts!

All told we all had a grand time in Mecca because the food was excellent although new to our taste buds . On the last day of our departure, after a hearty breakfast which consisted of bread , butter and eggs and plenty of olives to Ainul's delight, a thought came into my mind. I wondered why anybody should be sick in Mecca when the food is so good . We were again driven in a mini bus to Jeddah where we would board the plane to go home after a night stopover in the sea side city to allow the ladies to do some last minute shopping, which they have enjoyed earlier on at both Medina and Mecca. We were about eight kilometers before reaching Jeddah when all of a sudden I had a funny purging pain . Trying to stop from instant purging, I began to sweat. On inquiry to the driver if I could stop over to relief myself, I was emphatically told it could not be done as we were about to enter the city streets of Jeddah, but he assured me our hotel was approaching fast. I could not remember what really happened next. All I knew was, at the very sight of our hotel and when the vehicle stopped I found myself rushing out and heading for the hotel's lobby. Frantically I looked for the rest room and could not find it at first. On asking the hotel bell boy, I was shocked to be told that I was in reality standing at the very door of the rest room that I was seeking. It was not a moment too soon when I finally relieved myself of the pain and the anguish of a good purge ! It was just in time. A moment further delay would have been a very embarrassing scenery for me.

Again, I realized later that I was boastful in my thoughts. Can these real incidents be coincidence ? I tell you that they most certainly were not, as later events when we Umrah again proved another more vivid experience. Such incidence happened many years later.

The Kaabah has the black stone or hajar aswad embedded at a wall. Every Muslim who circles the Kaabah will attempt to stop and kiss the black stone, which to all intents and purposes seem to look shiny and attractive to the eye. During my 1981 Umrah, I had wanted to kiss the black stone and I was very near to reaching it when I saw someone vomited on it. At least that was what I thought I saw then. Almost instantly I backed out from attempting to kiss it. Thus for that Umrah, that was it. Now in 1989 while circling the Kaabah, all of a sudden, I saw the black stone was reachable without any problem because the usual mad crowd was not there. Thus I approached the black stone and place my palms by its sides to attempt to kiss it. All I could recall was that I found myself involuntarily kissing and licking it uncontrollably. As suddenly as it happened it was over leaving me shocked and puzzled by my uncalled for actions ! Later I realized, this was the punishment for my dislike of the stone many years past when I avoided it on seeing someone vomited on it. I was punished for my misbehavior and pride.

It was on this same visit when on another day I again had a chance to approach and kiss the black stone. This time around, I had the most beautiful experience of my life. When I kissed the stone, all of a sudden I felt as if I was floating in outer space with the beautiful blue sky surrounding me and I felt complete silence and peace. I was brought back to reality as if I had been there for a long time. I realized this could not be so because each time anyone kissed the black stone it could never be more than three seconds before you were pulled away by the guard guarding it or by the surging crowd. This was the miracle experience that I shall for ever treasure in my mind. These words could not describe what I felt then. I wish it can happen again. Indeed it never did even during my later Umrah.

In 1999, after my big Haj in 1994, we Umrah again but this time with Farah and Farahat joining us. Somehow, this time, I had a very bad left ankle sprain which make it very painful and difficult to walk even for a short distance. The ankle sprain had happened just a week before our flight there. Poor Farahat, he became my anchorman for almost all my movements at both the Holy Cities. The night of our arrival at Mecca from Medinah, it was raining very heavily. It was then the Ramadan and our first ever experience of fasting in both the cities. Since I had to perform the Umrah the very night of our arrival, Farahat had to work physically hard helping to push my wheel chair along the wet and later slippery terrain and metal lined slope into the Kaabah. He nearly slipped and injured when his foothold failed to stop the sliding wheel chair I was in. Of course I was frightened too. Had he and another Arab helper failed to stop the sliding wheel chair down the steel slope that night, I would be injured too. Luckily they managed to avoid a major catastrophe. This was my first experience being wheeled around for both the Tawaf and the Sa'i.

On looking back at that time, I suddenly realized that a month before the Umrah, I was thinking to myself just what it would be like for those people who had to perform the Umrah on a wheel chair
!
It was on this trip too that I again became concerned over my slippers. On a Subuh prayers one morning, whilst performing the final sujud, suddenly my thought went to my slippers and worry that they might be lost again. Sure enough, I went back to my hotel barefooted ! The next Subuh, after I had bought a new pair of slippers, and when I did my final sujud, I prayed to Allah for forgiveness in being so minor in thoughts and negative as such thing and that I will never again think about silly things such as lost slippers and instead devote myself to pray only to Him. Miracle of all miracles, as I came out of the mosque, and as I arrived at the steps leading out of the place, right there in front of my feet , were a pair of slippers that resembled the ones that I lost the other morning. I examined them and sure enough they were my slippers ! After waiting there for some time if anyone would claim them, indeed nobody did. So I got hold of them.

On another Umrah, which year I cannot recall, but this time Dr. Sabri my brother-in-law was with us. I performed Umrah for my late grandparents as well as my late father. On one such occasion after performing the one for my father and as I was praying after completing the Kaabah circle and I was in the position of the final sujud, I suddenly felt as if someone was looking at me at my right side. I ventured to look to my right. There was clearly a person doing the sujud and smiling in my direction. As I attempted to look more directly, I thought I saw my father's face in this person. Indeed I could not mistake that it was my late father and he was smiling at me. When I finally got up, he left the place and I never saw him again ! Strange indeed but it did take place. That's Mecca.

These incidences that I wrote are not uncommon to everyone who goes Umrah. I can only relate to you my experiences but others of my readers might want to add on theirs as well, which is most welcome at the end of this article.

This time around, September 2005 and again Umrah which almost coincided with Ramadan, Ainul and I have the company of Mahatun and Fadzlinatun, the latter making her maiden trip to Umrah. The fares for this trip was almost doubled what it was then and we were told if we had gone towards the last fort night of Ramadan, the cost is almost level to the actual Haj itself. In fact the cost of the Haj from now on and the coming years would almost double what it used to be. The strange part about all this is, despite the rising costs, more and more people go to Umrah and the Haj !

This time the Umrah's places of interest have changed a great deal. The hotels where we used to stay for both the Haj and the Umrah which were then very near and almost across the road to the two great mosques, have completely disappeared as a result of the expansion of the mosque and its compounds. There are more and bigger hotels instead and the usual shopping areas for the ladies too have changed and the new ones that have come out have more wares or things to offer. As usual, almost everything sold in these two cities are imported from other countries though the vast majority came from either China, Taiwan, or India. In fact whatever things usually brought back by our pilgrims from there could all be obtained in our country. It is a small world after all ! This makes me think often times why our ladies love to shop overseas when in fact we now have virtually the same things at our very own door steps already with the mushrooming international departmental stores here. I suppose it is the thrill of shopping overseas and the envy that this generates amongst their friends that they have been there and thus the proof thereof !

Did we experience anything unusual this time around ? I did. It was at the Prophet's mosque in Medina. It is the prctice for all Muslims whilst at the mosque to visit at least once the graves of the Prophet and his two very close compa Abu Bakar and Omar. This visit is usually done after the sunat prayers at the Raudah, another Holy and Sublime place in the Holy mosque . Thus it was, after the Raudah, I went over to visit the Prophet's grave and upon reaching it, I started to read the prepared text from our Umrah guide book . It was not a moment too soon after I uttered the Bismillah, when I started to cry uncontrollably. Both tears and running nose overwhelmed me, despite my inner thoughts wondering why it should be so. I did not stop crying until I became conscious that I was called upon by the sentry guard who always position himself by the grave's metal gate. He stepped forward to where I was standing and deamded to look at mu guide book. After glancing through it and passing it back to me, he told me, I should not utter prayers towards the grave but only read it. When in prayers we always have our hands raised with open palms. It is this posture which he disallowed me to do, saying that I should not "do'a" to the grave as this would constitute worshipping to another diety , or " menduakan Tuhan". I walked out of the mosque feeling refeshed but remained puzzled at the unexpected emotional outburst that I had then.

As far as I can recall, there were only three instances in my life when I did cry like that. Once was when the late Inspector General of Police Tan Sri Abdul Rahman Hashim was shot by unknown assassins. It affected me then because he had always been very kind and close to both of us. Being Ainul's uncle, he had always cared for us in his own ways and on many occasions proudly proclaimed to his friends about my work in Felda. At one time, when he was officially visiting Kuala Trengganu, where we lived then, he refused to stay in the official residence prepared by the State Police and instead chose to put up the night at our two bedroom house, which by any standard was not only small but not really congenial for the number one man in the Police Force. Worse still since my elder brother occupied that spare room, Pa' Chik Man, as we fondly called him, did not mind the idea of sharing the room with my brother ! Such humility in a great man ! Interesting to note here,since both of them were great snorrers, we experienced the battle of the snores that night. Ainul prepared Pa'Chik's favourite breakfast , which was steamed fish to which we saw him relishingly eating it. On another occasion when I cried was when my best friend Din Ahmad unexpectedly passed away with a heart attack after a morning walk with his wife. I had regreted not finding the time to talk to him the previous evening when I was about to leave for home after a game of squash. Din had returned from Umrah just two weeks when he commented to me that the prayer mat in the club's prayer room smelled like a dead person. I had contradicted his statement when I told him, I just prayed on the same mat but it was not at all smelly. He insisted to talk to me about it later on after my squash game, to which I felt then it was not such an important matter to waste my time on. Thus I left for home without talking to him on the matter.

Now that we are back home after the Umrah, we hope to emulate the lifestyle that we went through whilst we were there. Peace be to oneself as it should be to others always. While submitting ourselves to Allah's devotion, we have the ultimate duty to try to make the world a better place for everyone , without envy and jealousy, dislike and hatred, and instead a life of appreciation and understanding, of love and beauty, and a helping hand to those who are in need of guidance and help. And above all of course, to fully observe the five tenets of Islam.The latest Umrah had been very trying for the two of us. Both of us had symtomatic fever and very bad cough and running nose. To add to these, both my knees gave problems and ached quite badly. Even when we got back home, we needed a lot of rest to recover from the ordeal. It may be because we fail to realise that we are no longer young. In those days we could do no less than four Umrahs per visit to Mecca but this time around, twice for Ainul and only once for me.I wonder what it will be like in future visit there - only Allah knows !

That said, may I take the opportunity of wishing you all a very happy and prosperous Hari Raya I'dil Fithri and to ask for your forgiveness for any shortcomings in this month's ramblings.

God Bless !