Saturday, February 18, 2006

A Riddle.

Someone I know died 3 days ago. Abd Rahim Abd Raof Mann died after 2 years of cancer. I do not know him very well, except saw him at the mosque and at majlis more than a few times. Originally from Singapore, he has been living here in Christchurch for a number of years. A few weeks ago I met his father at the masjid. I was sitting at the corner and he came and say his tahiyatul masjid prayer, after which he asked me, "Dari Malaysia?"
"Iya" I said.
"Kat mana?"
"Tanjong Karang" I said.
"Oh ya, Selangor, saya dari Singapura."
Then he continued saying another 2 rakaat prayer.
After a second set of prayer, he asked me,
"Masuk waktu pukul berapa?"
"Satu empat puluh, sepuluh minit lagi." I said.
I saw Faisal (Abd Rahim's brother), Abd Rahim and another man of Malay stock walking from behind the masjid towards the side door. Abd Raof, (Abd Rahim's father) look up, only then that I realise who he was.
Today, after Jumaat prayer, Imam Hamzah mention Abd Rahim's demise and asked the congregation to say prayer for him and said that his family members asked the Muslim community to forgive him.

Talking on the subject of death, it remind me of a story told by my ustadz in high school many years ago. I already forgot my ustadz name, but he told me this story when I was studying at SMTKL or TIKL. The ustadz was a small built man, wear glasses and like to comb his hair sideways. He got his Theology degree from Trinity College in England.
In a kampung, there was a Pak Lebai who has a son. Pak Lebai placed great hope in his son to follow his footsteps, so he sent his son to sekolah agama, and when finished, he sent his son to study in Cairo.
Pak Lebai's son was not really interested in studying Islam, he only play around in Cairo, but he managed to put wool over his father's eyes by sending good reports to his father, and every now and again, he asked his father to send some money to buy kitab. So after a few years, there would be a collection of kitabs that he owns.
So after a few years, Pak Lebai's son comes home to the village. Pak Lebai was so proud of his son.
"Anak Pak Lebai lulusan Mesir." People would say.
One day, a villager died.
After the ritual of bathing the jenazah finished, it was time to say prayer for the jenazah. Being the only Cairo graduate in the village, the orang kampung look up to him to lead the prayer. So anak Pak Lebai was elected to be the imam to lead the prayer.
Jenazah prayer is four rakaat right? So he lead the jenazah prayer just like zuhur prayer.
Allahu Akbar, then Fatihah, recite one Surah.
Then rukuk, sujud etc.
One rakaat, two rakaat..tahiyyat till end. And salam.

So what is wrong in this story?

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