Sunday 27 July 2014

No Justice, No Peace

Margaret, my supervisor at CPI Leicester, where I worked for nearly four years, shook her head and asked a rhetorical question,  "Maizie, why do you keep on fasting?"   I had just gone to the rest room to put on my duffle coat  to top up layers of a thermal undershirt, a flannel shirt, a woolen jumper, and a gilet because fasting in winter makes you feel very, very cold, a biting cold which gets right into the marrow of your bones. It stops as soon as you break your fast and down a  mug of hot tea.   And people like Margaret will never know how it feels to taste the sustenance that-God gives and which we all take for granted.

In that year,  (2004, I think), an earthquake  struck a remote mountainous part of Afghanistan and I can just imagine what those poor souls were going through in that winter.  The rest of the country was in the thick of the Judaeo-Christian War on Terror fought in a Muslim country, maiming and killing civilians.  Aid was short in coming.  Islamic Relief (UK) had dropped in a flyer in our letter box and I read of this Muslim engineer from UK who had gone over with the IR Team to open up communication with the stricken area. From that day on Islamic Relief has been the main recipient of our Zakat and a beneficiary in our Will.

'Man was telling us about his experience at the CIMB Bank (not the Setiawangsa branch) just a few weeks before Ramadan.
'Man and Aisha taking a break at our porch
He had gone to the bank from his place of work - as a street cleaner - to pay his mortgage.  He was given a form to fill in.  He asked for help from a (hijabed) bank officer as he could not decipher the instructions.

She (snapping) :  Tak tahu baca?  Tak pegi sekolah kah?
'Man :  Bukan.  Saya lupa bawa cermin mata.

A male bank officer  then came along to help him.  I asked 'Man  why  didn't he report her rudeness to the manager.  'Man said, "Ala Kak, siapa 'nak pandang dan layan saya.  Ini perkara biasa untuk 'Man.  Kena di DBKL, di klinik, di mana mana saja orang tak pandang saya."

That little episode brings me to the end of Ramadan.   Tomorrow will be 1 Syawal - our Hari Raya.  I wish to convey my warmest greetings to family and friends and to AsH's followers and readers, far and near.



If only, oh if only, Muslims in Malaysia would endeavour  to continue the discipline, the devotion, the sincerity and commitment of Ramadan into their workplace and to our fellow beings for the other 11 months of the year.  Think what Muslims could achieve if these values are practised not just in the month of Ramadan.

Every Christmas, our local Animal Rescue Charity shop would remind people that  "A puppy is not only for Christmas".  People, out of the goodness (?) of their hearts, imbibe the spirit of   "goodwill to all men"  by giving away presents of puppies, kittens, and bunny rabbits etc.  By the twelfth day of Christmas or a little later, these prezzies would be abandoned and discarded like Christmas paper wrappers.

In the same vein our ibadah to God and our fellow human beings and all living creatures are not only for Ramadan.

This Hari Raya, most especially, will not be a Selamat Hari Raya  for as long as the genocide in Gaza does not stop.

As for Malaysians, be they UMNO, PKR, DAP or PAS Malays,  the 'can't-be-bothered' Malays,  the mayonnaise and belacan Malays, the 'I-am-holier-than-thou' Malays,  the 'I'm-alright-Jack- and-sod-everybody-else' Malays, the smug and full-bellied modernized Malays,  the 'in-the-kingdom-of-the-blind-the one-eyed-man-is-king' Malays, and septuagenarian Malays like me - we should go down on our knees and remember that "there, but for the grace of God, go I".  For we, at least, can greet our brethren with a Selamat Hari Raya. 

We are endowed with Peace.  Now we have to work for Justice.




13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Selamat Hari Raya Madam to you and your family.

I am a long time silent reader of your blog. I love the articles as they make us think.

Regards

Ju

anak si-hamid said...

Thank you Ju,

Selamat Hari Raya to you and yours.

I know I have a number of silent, thinking readers out there and I hope they are learning something from this Cikgu.

baitibadarudin said...

Selamat Hari Raya to you and your Significant Other,
May Allah bestow good health and more.
Maaf zahir batin.

anak si-hamid said...

Thank you Baiti,

May Iain and I reciprocate the same greetings and kindness to you and the family?

Take care.

Awang Goneng said...

I am a messed up Malay. Sometimes they call me Meh-Lay, as in, "Wah, not bad ah, for a Meh-Lay." Makes me want to go home and listen to Dylan's Lay, Lady Lay. But on the whole (when I'm in the whole I stop digging) I'm hokay, kinda, sort of. I fast in Ramadhan and it makes me wonder why we stuff ourselves with food all day, why we never think of people who are not eating. Ever since I thought that I always ask people who sleep in the streets if they'd eaten that day. Sometimes they shoo me off but it goes to prove that I'm not the only nutter in this planet. As for that hijabed lady in the bank, I can't help but think that her hijab's too tight. The best way to test that is by doing what Somali ladies do all day: stuff a mobile phone in that gap between your earhole and your hijab. If it fits, that's snug. But trouble with Somali ladies is that then they start talking all day long with that mobile thingy stuck in the slot. Now Sis, you're right about us Muslims not taking over what restraint we exercise in Ramadhan to the months beyond. Maybe we should. I shall never again talk to a chap lying in the subway under his blanket with a dog. I shall just talk to that thingy snugly fit under my bonnet. Not bad what, for a Meh-Lay chap. Selamat Hari Raya, I nearly forgot.

Awang Goneng said...

Er, what's a gilet?

semenyih said...

Selamat Hari Raya to you ASH and Mr Buchanan.May there be many more Eid Mubaraks for you both.This yr my first born celebrated celebrated Eid in her kampung in Hounslow.During Ramadhan, her bf, John, was assisting her distribute her zakat to the homeless in Central London n he took her to a halal steakhouse for Raya lunch.To me, thats a good way to potray the beauty of Islam to non Muslims.Lets pray to The Almighty that next year will be a peaceful Eid for those in Gaza n all the other wartorn countries

cannonkapit said...

A belated "Selamat Hari Raya,Maaf Zahir Batin" to Puan.

May all of us see another "Ramadhan" next year.Amin.

IdrisMdIsa said...

I mean, we cannot stop the prophecy from happening....

anak si-hamid said...

Selamat Hari Raya AG and it's good to see you here.

Please restrain yourself from messing about with thingies under the bonnet - bees, yes - not mobiles and tight heads.

Talking about ****lay, I've thought about another one - Malaise- meaning a Malay who has a problem that is difficult to describe, hee hee!!!! It's unfortunate that my people's name begins with a 'mal' meaning 'bad'
or 'badly'. Alamak, I so teruk one.

And by the way, gilet (zhee-lay) is a padded vest. I'd better lay off now and settle down to being a Me - layu.

anak si-hamid said...

Thank you cannonkapit for the kind thoughts and wishes.

I wish the same for you. InsyaAllah we'll be here again next Ramadan, hopefully kinder and wiser.

anak si-hamid said...

Dear Semenyih,

While waiting for the spouse to see his specialist at the hospital today, I suddenly realised I had not replied to your thoughtful comment.

Thank you and my apologies for the oversight. May the future for the oppressed and suffering victims of Zionism be brighter next Eid.

anak si-hamid said...

Thank you IdrisMdIsa for your interesting comment.

I've heard of this hadith. The danger is this: that we cannot prevent or help to end the massacre of innocent Gazan children because their fate is pre-destined and hence inevitable!

As for the growth of garghad trees in Israel, I think these Judaeo-Zionists are more 'sensible' about ensuring their power and domination. They have stronger investments in their weapons, rockets, tanks, helicopters, bombs, drones, phosphorus poison gas etc. They can also bank on financial support from the Judaeo-Christian West, tune the ears of the world's media to their frequency and what about the lovely blessings from Hollywood and the Christian Zionists.

And maybe you have heard of the Muslim Zionists who quote the Holy Quran to justify Israel and Israel's murderous assaults.