Story from My Mother VI

Masjid Batu 6 Jalan Kuala Selangor - Tanjong Karang was built in 1920's by my late grandfather Daud Marhakim among others.The four tiang seri is made of wood.My grandfather was buried in the cemetery behind the mosque. Now they are building a new mosque across the road. The others are pictures of my mother at our land in Sg Yu. Langsuyar is a plant sometimes seen on other trees, in this case, on palm oil tree.

Story from My Mother VI

This morning after breakfast I told my mother that I have been to my father’s grave three times the past week. I also told her that from the first day with my youngest sister, I have been noticing a few large foot prints, about 9-10 inches long, about 4 or 5 of them, on my father’s grave. Looks like someone who wear shoes. Last Friday, the last time I was there, it was still noticeable. I do not think it belongs to local people; because local people would have smaller foot print, and the foot prints are about one inch deep.

“Siapa ya, kalau budak budak tu kan tapak kaki nya kecik kecik” my mother said. I nodded, agreeable.
“Tak tahulah kalau dia di kunjungi Nabi. Mak dulu masa kat Madinah (or is it in Mecca) nampak bekas tapak kaki Nabi, besar panjang ni. Di kurungkan cermin macam gelas terlangkup” my mother showed me the length with her two hands, about 9-10 inches.
I told my mother that I didn’t tell my youngest sister about the foot prints that I saw on the grave.
These past six years, my father’s routine has always been, reading Quran in the morning, after breakfast. Then about 10am, he would ask for rice to eat.
“Kalau khatam Quran tu tak tahu dah berapa kali, bila dah khatam dia ulang lagi.”
“Kadang tu mak minta dia ajarkan Ayat Qursi, itupun dah banyak kali baru mak boleh ingat” she continued.
“Apalah susah sangat nak belajar, kan itu senang saja” my father’s words as related my my mother.
“Aku ni dulu belajar sekolah agama baru darjah dua, dah dipinang, ya tak sempat nak banyak belajar”

My mother told me that they got married in 1953. My father’s close friend was Arwah Pakcik Pangat who used to live at the edge of the village bordering the sawah padi. My father used to ride a big bicycle (Chinese Hero Brand?), with no mudguard and no carrier at the back.
“Basikal gondol” my mother said.
He used to wear black pants and black shirt as well as black songkok. Like a crow, my mother said. He would laugh when reminded. Pak Pangat offered my mother a ride on his bicycle, to sit on the bike carrier at the back. “Tak mahu lah” my mother said.


The other day my mother showed me the exact spot where my father died. At the front of the bathroom, between the washing machine and the fridge. The story was that he had difficulty breathing in the bathroom, my mother and my older sister managed to pulled him the front of the bathroom. Outside the bathroom door. From there, my mother and my sister couldn’t pull him anywhere else.
“Sudahlah disini saja” my father told my mother.
Tahiron and 3 others have arrived. The four of them couldn’t move him either. Tahiron knows that my father was going to die; he noticed my father’s ears were droopy. He taught my father to say the word Allah, and my father followed, but so faint, cant hardly be heard.
“Your father is heavy you know, 4 adult men tried to move him, and we couldn’t” he said.
I disagreed, “He is only 40-50kg max”
“There is such thing as time and place you know. When your time has come, and at he right place, you will die. It has been written from azali” I continued. Tahiron look confused.
“Have you read or heard the story from the time of Solomon?”
“No. You mean Nabi Sulaiman?” he asked.
“Yes the same person” I said

So I told him that during the time of Solomon, one time they were having a majlis in one palace. One of Solomon’s friends, maybe one of his vizier notice a man kept staring at him. Wherever he went, the man kept following and staring at him. So he told Solomon, and Solomon also noticed the man. Solomon offered his friend to send him to a far away place, far from the palace. So Solomons summons one of his subjects from the djinn to take his friend to another place. To cut the story short, the man who stared at Solomons vizier was Malaikat Maut, he was going to take the vizier’s life. But the place he was supposed to take the vizier’s life was not at the palace, but at the faraway place where Solomon send the vizier. That’s why the Malaikat Maut was staring at the vizier; he was supposed to take the vizier’s life, at that time, but not at that palace.
“So when you feel that my father was heavy and couldn’t me moved, that’s not because of his weight, but because Malaikat Maut was there holding my father down. He is much stronger than all of you, you know” I explained.