It is a small village in the kecamatan of Tambusai, Kabupaten Rokan Hulu in the Province of Riau, Sumatra. During the Padri Wars of 1830's , Tuanku Tambusai (aka known as Fakeh Hj Muhammad Salleh ) fought the Dutch forces together with Imam Bonjol and Tuanku Rao in West Sumatra and in Northern Sumatra .The last defence was in Benteng 7 Lapis,Daludalu which fell in 1838. He escaped capture and came to Malaya. He was buried in Rasah in 1882.
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
The Arabian Summer
I had anticipated correctly that the day's temperature would be within the 40 degrees celcius during my trip for the lesser Hajj. As early as 7.00 am the sun was shining brightly and not a single cloud could be discerned both in Medina and Makkah.
What surprised me most was the flood of pilgrims who descended upon the two holiest places in the Muslim world.After being told that the unusual crowd was due to the summer holidays in Arab countries, then only I began to accept the rush to the mosque at every prayer time. But the hot Arabian summer brought with it the most unruly behaviour of the people there and threw to the winds simple courtesies and respect for the rights of others. After friday prayers in the Masjid Nabawi, I could not find my sandals, presumably taken intentionally or otherwise, and the person who did it perhaps was fond of depriving others of their important apparel when walking on the burning earth beneath their feet.
However I managed to get a pair of japanese thong given by the security guard who always sits on the wooden chair at the entrance of the mosque. Not only that, the most sacred of all in the mosque known as the Raudhah seemed to perpetually occupied by many pilgrims who selfishly refused to budge after getting a place and deprive others. I could not understand why the system adopted for the women's pilgrims could be extended to the male pilgrims. One just cannot lay blame for everything to the Arabian summer.
What shocked me most during my sojourn in the holy land was the presence of construction equipment at almost every nook and corner of the Al-Haram or the Grand Mosque where the Kaa'bah is situated. The maddening crowd plus the slew of construction works at the Al-Haram took away the serene and sublime atmosphere ot the Holy site.
If not for the much restrained effort on my part, probably I would have come to blows with the devilish behaviour of the pilgrims especially when Friday payer came. The last day before departing was a friday and I purposely entered the mosque about two hours before the call to prayer was transmitted via the most sophisticated PA system to my estimation. After the prayer I took a different exit and to my utmost disgust, the stampede at the entrance almost crush my ribs due to the crush of people trying to get out as if the Al-Haram was trying to get rid of the assembly out as fast as one would imagine.
In conclusion all the good that people expected from their supplication at the Kaa'bah was upturned by the hot Arabian summer. Wallahuwa'lam.
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4 comments:
It's all part of the test on your Iman. You don't know whether they are not human ( malaikat or jin maybe ).
When I performed my Hajj in '83, it was Haj al Akbar, so the pilgrims were also more than normal. I performed the al Hajj Ifrad and was 8 days in Ihram after arriving by the second last flight from KL.
Surprisingly, I didn't lose my leather slippers until the first Jumaat prayers in Damansara Utama when I returned !
Zam,
your observations is much appreciated. Perhaps the older we get the more we have to face the "Ujian".
But this time I think the syaitans are from Najd who are more interested in building skycrapers that overshadow the Al-Haram and will make the pilgrims stay in their air-conditioned suites overlooking the Haram even when the call to prayer is channeled by a speaker to every room.
Read somewhere:
Abu Hurairah, radiyallahu 'anhu, reported that a man said to the Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam:
"Advise me! "The Prophet said, "Do not become angry and furious." The man asked (the same) again and again, and the Prophet said in each case, "Do not become angry and furious."
yaaaaa. so relax abah.
Tuan Haji (I sure think you are one). I performed my Hajj during the last Hajj season. I have documented this experience in my own blog. During the Hajj courses I attended in the NS Masjid Negeri almost all the Ustaz instructors asked us to bring extra slipppers to the holy land because they can get lsot easily. So I brought three pairs of slippers.
Eventually I used only one pair of slippers and I continued using them at home until one of the rubber strings broke. The other two pairs are still in good shape.
The Nabawi Mosque has got numbered footwear racks inside the mosque itself. Everytime I put my slippers (in a pouch given by Telekom Malaysia (TM))inside the racks I noted the number. I sometimes wrote it on my small diary. This way I never loose my slippers.
I think the Al Haram Mosque in Makkah do not have numbered footwear racks but I always put my slippers near the entrances. For this purpose I noted the door(Bab)where I came in.
It is quite normal for the jemaah to move forward to fill the saffs when the Kamat is recited. In the case of all the mosques in the world you can enter and exit the mosque using the same door because the mosques are shaped either square or rectangular. Not the Al Haram which is shaped like a circle and with 95 Babs if I am not mistaken. Many pilgrims lost their way out simply because they forgot from where they came in.
Many pilgrims lost their slippers this way too.
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