a 'kampung' folk through and through

It had been a tradition from generation to generation to hold ' majlis bukak puasa' @ the 'surau' near my house.... i was lucky this year - they hold it today & i arrive 'ngam2' untuk tolong sikit-siki ( jejak rasul tak sempat tengoktahun ni fanatik dgn jejak rasul sebab pengisian dia Ramadan di 3 tanah suci - nostalgic bila tgk Masjidilharam & Masjid Nabawi)...being a 'kampung' girl, i prefer this type of majlis bukak puasa rather than going to restaurant/hotel(Renaissance Hotel, for instance) ... bergelak ketawa sakan while getting the food ready( sampai lewat, tolong serve je lah & lastly, tolong makan=) riuh satu surau masa tengah get the food ready... No picture sebab xde umur lebih kurang yg pegi surau bwk henset... Dimonopoli oleh warga emas je walaupun dekat 100 orang yg datang... menu? Typical food ie ayam percik, sup tulang, solok lada & many more tapi i think better kot dari food restaurant/hotel berbintang-bintang tapi taste lebih kurang je plus expensive ( again, i'm budak kampung - time puasa i would go for traditional food or any other food yang memang familiar.... Sebab daging, ayam & udang naik harga, memang tak berbaloi untuk masak kat kuarters & makan sorang-sorang... Share? Malas naik tingkat atas untuk same2 bukak puasa/sahur... Lagipun, siap bukak puasa sempat jugak baca quran sepotong dua ayat before heading to surau untuk terawih.. I was puzzled actually bila ramai kata sedih bukak puasa sorang-sorang...i mean, bila ramai, borak panjang pulak(my habit bila jumpa geng), lepas tu abaikan quran terus...)...this kind of majlis je boleh jumpa makanan-makanan melayu yg biasa & bukan makanan bazar ramadan... Paling penting, time camni je boleh jumpa sape2 yg dah lama tak jumpa...ukhwah fillah....

rambling nonsense, again...

28 July - Ramadan is leaving too fast... Except the major hurricane causing a turbulent journey, my life was fine & dandy... hoping it's 100% over & they let me go .. At least, i can have a peaceful life... Biarpun tak best di mata orang,who cares? I'm strong enough to take the road less travelled by... Transforming a fragile heart into a solid rock takes time , but when it's my own choice, i'm sure that i wont regret later on...

Touch of faith

a reminder for me & whoever interested... touch of  faith @tv9/6.30pm Thursday&Friday- an international 'kuliyyah agama' series that's worth to watch...the speaker said (translated according to my own depth of understanding) - mencintai Allah adalah segala-galanya.. hubungan antara kita dgn manusia lain bergantung pada hubungan kita dengan Allah samada  kita sedar atau tidak...yang mencampakkan rasa kasih & sayang itu adalah Allah... sekiranya kita mencintai Allah, insyaallah everything will be fine... if there's something wrong, kembalilah pada Allah, pemilik segalanya...

Marhaban ya Ramadan

today marked the beginning of 'ibadah' fiesta, so did the hunting for the special night - that one night  , which is better than 1000 month (or better known as 'lailatul qadar')... during the gap between maghrib & isyak,  i noticed the auntie @ my right brought along a book (tulisan Jawi) , reciting something  before showing me one of the page from the 'Fadilat Rejab, Syaaban & Ramadan' book..overall, that book encourage  us to be grateful for being able to 'embrace' Ramadan again... & also ,told us to  'bertasbih, bartahmid & bertakbir' @ berzikir, bersedekah, membaca al quran/khatam quran at least sekali dll... what i want to say is,  ibadat tak pernah out of date... sape sangka buku jawi yang agak lame tu still relevan dgn  zaman sekarang...&also, i noticed, an auntie bring along her tasbih... that gave me idea to bring along  tasbih to the mosque, use it on prn basis... bukanla berat sangat pun&at least, it remind me about the Raudah lesson/the memorable al-Haramain experience...after all, it wasnt weird to bring a tasbih o the mosque=)

Mecca & Medina : A Review

what i like most: 
- when it's time to pray, people from all walk of life hurried to pray... including the Saudi Binladin workers involved in the construction/renovation of Masjidil Haram... they dont disturb the public, instead, they form their own group outside the mosque or at the end of the saie area(level 1)

- i meet lots of nice & kind people - auntie (s) from Malaysia, India, Indonesia & Arab women ( they were generous but those people in my previous post, they were special because they did it exclusively for me... i mean, it's common for Arab women to distribute dates/sweets/ anything else, but if it's just for that one particular person, i feel appreciated...) maybe it's true that only nice people will have intention to go there...

 - the owners of the shops simply left their goods unguarded when it's time to pray... i witnessed that in Medina...


what i hate: 
-it's not safe for women to walk alone... tak berani wandering alone, so i wont go anywhere outside the Masjidil Haram boundary or my hotel boundary if i'm alone... let's say i was in Malaysia or Singapore, i will probably 'tawaf' nearest shopping complex without hesitation.. if it wasnt for withdrawing money, i wont go to Abraj al Bait (the grand Clock Tower)

- the syndicate to 'kucup Hajarul Aswad' were annoying! let's say, during umrah, somebody approached you & you turn to see them to answer, that round (pusingan)isnt valid (berpusing sehingga tidak mengkirikan kaabah)...

- Masjid Hudaibiah is dirty... if the Saudi Arabia government can allocate money to build a lavish city like Jeddah, why dont they allocate some to renovate Masjid Hudaibiah? it's one of the miqat too!

an auntie & hajarul aswad

i often read 'kisah-kisah' pelik yang terjadi kepada mereka yg berada di tanah suci... but i havent face it myself... the only miracle that i think happened to me : i was healthy..except minor nose bleed on day 2 & day 3, i'm free from any common illness ie cough/flu etc. i mean, i'm amazed how i climb Jabal Nur & how i survived my  journey without any health complications despite the dust & extremely hot temperature (once, i noticed the Temperature =45 degree celcius after Zohor prayers).

the lowest temperature at night

because if i was at Malaysia, even 'tiny' amount of dust or any other allergen  will affect me (again, you'll never understood the situation until  you face it yourself, perhaps, one fine day?)... but i'm not going to ramble about   the miracle...


my focus today is, i once met an auntie who came through THTS ( this umrah cost her RM9000 - Tabung Haji  kan pilih hotel dekat) at one of my favourite spot ( the only  place yg boleh nampak kaabah directly dari tempat solat muslimat)...

i saw Kaabah directly from here, but it's hidden in this picture

she started our conversation by telling me that the spot with green light are the spot 'yang mustajab doanya' (i dont clarify it with my mutawwif, so i dont really know...thus, i cant confirm this)...

the green light area

& told me, those yang datang dengan tabung haji, ustaz memang buat post mortem lepas umrah... mane la tau kot2 ada yg tak kena masa tawaf & umrah tak sah.. klu sempat tau & bayar dam takpe, tapi klu dah balik? dam kna bayar kat tanah haram itu sendiri... & paling kritikal, jika masih dalam ihram tapi dah buat macam-macam larangan dalam ihram tanpa diketahui  masih dalam ihram ( contohnye, tawaf tak cukup 7 pusingan yang sempurna / ape2 je lah)...

& then, she told me her experience few days before - dia berniat nak kucup hajarul aswad, jadi dia buat tawaf sunat..at first, dah give up sebab memang macam dah takde harapan... until her second round, dah dekat tapi still not within her reach...  a 'gentleman' said to her "dah sampai sini, kucuplah makcik.. rugi kalau tak kucup.. takpe, biar saya tolong"... so, she happily accept the help, memang that 'gentleman' betul2 tolong sampai dia siap kucup  hajarul aswad & siap sujud syukur.... habis je sujud syukur, that 'gentleman' said " saya dah tolong makcik, takkan takde hadiah untuk saya kot ?"... & the reality struck her like a lightning (err, bunga-bunga bahasa @>-----) : that 'gentleman'  is actually  the indonesian syndicate yang ambik kesempatan  umpan golongan-golongan naif untuk kucup hajarul aswad &mintak upah yang tinggi...  patutlah dia dapat kucup hajarul aswad dengan selamat, rupanya ada lagi 3 indonesian yang tolong hadang & cover her masa tengah kucup...she told me, dia tau ade sindiket tapi melibatkan wanita Indonesia ...memang dia berhati-hati, tapi the way this guy approach her, memang penuh berhemah  & nampak tulus ikhlas... tapi ketulusan bersyarat dengan upah & sanggup ikut ke hotel untuk dapat upah.... how did she escape?
"Makcik takde ape-ape klu anak ikut sampai hotel pun.. makcik dah tua & makcik sakit.. Hanya Allah yang boleh tolong anak.."
coincidentally, she was trembling at that moment.. so, she can escape.. she told me, it's not that she doesnt want to give something,  but opening her bag in front of million people is risky... & allowing that man to follow her to the hotel double the risk.. although she's grateful, better to escape since she didnt ask for help.. that guy offer his help at first place!

moral of the story:
1)sindiket tolong kucup hajarul aswad/ batu dari syurga bukan hanya dengan ajak secara terang-terangan.. cara halus pun ade...
2)hipokrit, memang nampak tulus ikhlas suci murni pada awalnya / nampak baik di mata yang lain  tetapi hanya yang menjadi mangsa mengerti...

Masjidilharam & R.I.N.D.U

i went to Masjid Muhammadi  - Nisfu Syaaban / yaasin recital ( oh,3 kali bacaan yaasin utk panjangkan umur dalam iman, murahkan rezeki & mati dalam iman - i wrote down because i tend to forget this yearly ritual...

 & i got a spot behind 'rak al quran'...  tiba-tiba je R.I.N.D.U.   M.A.S.J.I.D.I.L.H.A.R.A.M...
 approaching one month since the beginning of my voyage, how time flies!
 the architecture,  air zam zam, design rak quran & quran kat sana itself, certainly jauh sangat beza dengan Masjid Muhammadi ( i know it wasnt fair to compare an old mosque with the most happening mosque in the world, tapi bila rindu bertandang,  susah la pulak  nak elakkan comparison)...

menambahkan derita bila  pergi makan char kuey teow stadium, the car  sebelah my car guna hiasan sebijik macam yang i jumpa  dekat kedai depan hotel... menyesal la pulak dont shop much @Mecca... souvenir boleh tahan lawa la jugak..

all in all, i already miss Masjidilharam!   bila agaknye boleh realisasikan mimpi Istanbul+ umrah & umrah masa bulan Ramadan? kalaulah duit boleh turun dari langit & 'jemputan' menjadi  tetamu Allah menjelma lagi....