Two nights ago I was at the Muslim cemetery at Dato' Keramat where most of my ancestors were laid to rest and if i am lucky i might just join them there squeezed one on top of another for lack of space. I was there at about 9;30pam till about eleven waiting for the deceased to be laid to rest and it rained after a while. I was there to pay my last respect to a 98 years old lady who happened to be the mother of the first childhood love of my life. Till this day I still am not sure if I am fortunate or otherwise that things did not work out between us. The only sad thing out of this is that till this day she has not married and had lived a life of servitude to the family who had adopted her but i am glad that she had live a good life as far as the material is concern. I have rarely if not ever written this most beautiful and often amorous side of my childhood life and would rather leave it at that, something only the two of us share an unforgettable memory of what an innocent and pure love was like.
I stood on the rain holding and umbrella over the young Imam who was reciting the 'Talkin' or the final instructions to the dead and reminder to the living present at the grave site. I absorbed every word that the Imam was saying out loud in my ears and reflected my circumstances, like what would happen when I die. Where would they squeeze my dead body into, would I be laid to rest on top of a total stranger among people who I had never known before? Does it matter? I am dead anyway! I looked around me in the dark and noticed that most of the graves in the vicinity were well cared for with concrete walls and proper if not expensive gravestones. While waiting for the deceased to arrive at the grave site I had sat and listened to the grave diggers' stories about the state of the burial site and the whole religious thing about the difference between and the Shia and the rest of the Muslim sect when it comes to the burial of the dead. It was most fascinating if not thought provoking to hear it from the horse's mouth. The Shia sect has their own separate grave site from the rest of the other Muslim sects and no one that is not a Shia follower is allowed to perform the final burial rite. The Caretaker can only prepare the ground and later add to the finishing touches; This is Islam! My naive question has always been how could Allah {awj} has allowed this to happen and how come the Prophet of Allah {Peace be upon Him} failed to foresee this before His death. The essence of the Religion of Islam is in Unity and yet the irony prevails that the Shia and the rest of the Muslims are still killing each other at the slightest friction. From the days of the Prophet of Allah till today no significant attempt has been made to reconcile the differences between the 'Mazhabs' or sects in the religion. Do we who professes ourselves to be Muslims have to answer before Allah {awj} on Judgement Day? Like do we have to answer why we allowed the children of Gaza to perish by the thousands right before our eyes? Our excuse is that we are afraid of the nuclear bombs that would eventually be used against us if push comes to shove; we are not afraid of the wrath of Allah in the afterlife?
WallahuAllam, only God knows and the Devil is in the details.
" Some said, one person can't change the world, A person with a message is capable of changing the world" - Willie Nelson, on 'Letting Go'.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that one of my favorites, Willie Nelson is not only a great musician but also pretty out there when it comes to a more spiritual take on life. Like most of the ideas and thoughts that i relate to in my writing, I stumbled upon this fact when I was browsing the You Tube and came upon the podcast where Willie was interviewed about his philosophy on life. In essence 'Be here Now' is the core of Willie's take on his life, letting go of the past and not entertaining the future. Willie nelson has always been one of my favorite musician with a character of his own.
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