On Sunday 18 December 2011, I was invited by a cousin of mine, whom I called Zai for short to a maulid at his new house in Jenderam Hilir near Dengkil, Selangor. He told me on a few occasions about his dakwah centre in Jenderam Hilir and said that I should know his Chairman of the Al-Jenderami Foundation because he is also a retired senior civil servant.
As Allah S.W.T. wills it, I finally made my way to Jenderam Hilir using my GPS and thus on that Sunday I found the location of his kampong without difficulty.
As the route to Putrajaya and Cyberjaya is familiar to me, the drive only took me just slightly less than an hour as the sunday traffic is fairly clear along the way. Now many taxis going to KLIA are plying through that route as it avoids the toll to the airport.
When I arrived at the Kampong, it does not look like the traditional village but saw many of the houses are fairly new and built around a mosque which is shown in the picture above. The dakwah centre is situated adjacent to the mosque and the terrain is generally undulating.The road within the Kampong is typically narrow, just fit for a car to pass by.
As I approached Zai's house which is near a steep enbankment, I was directed to turn into the left sharp turn descending into his house lot and saw him at the entrance guiding me to the temporary parking next to his house lot which is empty.
The maulid has started at about half-an hour earlier and I met my cousin Cikgu Nordin, the elder sibling of Zai seated at the porch entrance on a mat. So I joined him and followed the group who are mostly dressed in the jubah and serban in reciting the maulid-rasul. It was accompanied by the arab drum and sounded much louder than the ordinary one which we see used by the kompang group.It was an experience because the normal maulid that I used to follow in Rasah more than 40 years ago was without the accompaniment of the arabic drum even though the leader then was the late Habib Omar Al-Attas who originated from Hadramaut.
After the maulid was over, the congregation was invited for lunch and after that I met the Chairman of the Al-Jenderami Foundation who was in PM's Department together with me, but he was the Secretary to the Cabinet Division and I was in the Legal Affairs Division. He seemed to be well connected with the place and told me that he is learning from a Tuan Guru at the centre the rudiments of Tauhid,Feqah and Tassawuf all over again. He has sold his house in Petaling Jaya and shifted to Kajang so that he is nearer to Jenderam.
It is good to see him being involved in going back to be learning the basics from the 'kitab kuning' direct from a Tuan Guru which is a rare thing nowadays.
4 comments:
Dear Hal,
It's a fulfillment that many try to but a very few managed to meet with success. It's no mean feat to learn again after so long. With best wishes for the ensuing year!
Hank
Dear Hank,
You are absolutely right. It is a Blessing from ALLAH S.W.T. actually to be given that opportunity and the drive to relearn the basic rudiments of Tauhid,Feqah and Tassawuf especially in your twilight years. I learned to read the Quran from two Gurus, the last one at Pondok Rasah.Even then it was just learning to recite without knowing the details of hukum tajwid. We have to keep on learning, whenever the opportunity arises.
I wonder how mmany of such foundations are around in this country. How nice it would be if such foundations and other dakwah centres are listed for the whole country. I know it is difficult, if not impossible, because there are elements of politics present. The centres may not be political but perceptions are different.
Dear PakCik,
I agree with you, but some may think that such a move has political motive. Nevertheless Al-Jenderami Foundation has a website which you can easily locate by keying in Yayasan Al-Jenderami on Google and it has a few links in a few States.
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