My Eid ul-Adha 2011.

THE DAY BEFORE.

The day before Eid ul-Adha is considered as the Day of “ukuf”. Ukuf is the day when all potential Hajj Pilgrims must assemble and be presence at the Plain of Arafah. No Arafah, no Hajj. For Muslims who are not at the Plain of Arafah for Hajj, it is sunah (not compulsory) to perform the ritual of fasting as per Hadith narrated by Imam Muslim. “Those who fast on the Day of Arafah, Allah would forgo all the sins of the previous year as well as the coming”. I took the opportunity to perform the ritual and it was the first time in my life I ever did so.

After Maghreb there should be “takbir” all through the night at the Mosque. However, the takbir was shortened and one Ustaz appeared to deliver his ceramah instead. Something abnormal at the Mosque set up by the Mosque Nazir.

EID UL-ADHA.

A day before well after the subuh prayer, over the loudspeaker, the Mosque Secretary, announced that the sunat prayer would start at 0800 hours and the takbir Eid ul-Adha would begin at 0730 hours. To me it would be too early. What puzzled me why the Mosque Nazir did not announced it during the Friday prayer which was just two days ago?

I decided to perform my sunat Eid ul-Adha prayer at Masjid Sultan in Klang where the prayer commenced at 0830 hrs. I had thirty (30) minutes joining the Jemaah reciting the takbir. I could pray in peace and mentally concentrated on the prayer. The beautiful architecture of the Sultan Mosque at Jalan Kampong Jawa Klang reminds me of praying at Masjidil Haram in Mecca.

When I was home from Klang after the sunat prayer, I was told a lot of the kampong residents missed the sunat Eid ul Adha prayer as majority did not know it started early at 0800 hrs. The sacrifices of twelve (12) cows commenced immediately after the prayer and I did not participate because I sacrificed none.

I called my folks back home in Ipoh and convey my Eid ul Adha greetings to my Mother.

YM Raja Sahar, Malek Ahmad and my brother in law dropped by in the afternoon and we had simple lunch of “nasi minyak”. I was laughing when Raja Sahar complained that he missed the sunat prayer and blamed me for not telling him about the prayer time. He was grumbling that the Mosque is being operated by only two guys, the Nazir and the Secretary. No consensus from the Mosque Committee. He told me my good buddy; Tuan Haji Salim also missed the prayer. My comment – this is the reflection of a new administration of Pakatan Rakyat and PAS is the Boss in the Kampong. They will do as they please and purposely want to change what was per normal. They just care less about others.

Late in the evening my niece came and took off with my Classic Mercedes 190E. My brother in law had made arrangement and I had planned to refurbish the seat cushions and re carpeting the whole car. Later at night, I invited the Tom Yam stall operator in front of my house for dinner. The far distant Musafir decided not to go back to Pattani Thailand and closed shop. Suddenly, I received a call from my niece that the Classic had stalled on her way home. Immediately I was confronted with a problem as I had just changed a new battery and a recondition alternator for the Classic. Problem was solved temporarily as her father came to her aid and jumped start the car. Whatever I fetched Malik Ahmad and we drove all the way to Telok Panglima Garang to ensure that the car was safely home at my brother in law’s house.

When it was all done, it was nearly midnight and we stopped for supper before returning home.

That was my 2011 Eid ul- Adha.