Eidil Adha 2008.

Today, Monday 8th. December, 2008, is Eidil Adha.

Ustaz Abd. Rahman a.k.a. Ustaz Ayob, the First Imam of our surau took pains to ask the congregation to pronounce "Eid" properly, not "Ayid". Actually all of us pronounce Arabic horribly, unless one attends Arabic class.

It was very wet the whole day. Fortunately there was no lightening, and no blackout. But it didn't dampen our Raya cheer. The prayers went on as well as could be hoped for. The collection was less than Raya Puasa but not by much. 

Even the korban (6 cattle this year, compared to 8 last year) was unhampered by the rain, except this time it took an hour longer in spite of the lesser number. We improved the distribution control by imposing the coupon system. Some residents came clamouring for their coupons which we distributed house-to-house yesterday. Some people  simply  refused to come to the door when our boys came, probably thinking they were salesmen or beggars.  The boys were under strict instructions to hand the coupons personally to each house occupant and not leave anything in the post-boxes. That should teach them not to ignore callers, who knew they were in, because the tv sets were blaring !

This year the price of cattle, like many things, have gone up. Each share used to be RM 150 five-six years ago. To-day it's 310. That's more than double.

I came back and saw several missed calls in my mobile 'phone that I left home because of the rain. One caller apparently called several times, but I didn't recognise the number, so I returned the call, anyway. It was Aik Kheouw from Taiping, wanting to wish me Hari Raya. When I told him about the sacrificial slaughter, he couldn't understand why I was doing it to-day, but I was too tired to explain it to him. But this is the thing, even long  non-Malay friends still don't know too much about our Islamic practices. You wonder why there's so much  avoidable problems in our society in other more serious matters.

All my kids with the 3 lively grandchildren came back last night. The last to come back as usual was No. 3 Son. We arranged for a belated birthday party for the only girl, who turned 3 on the 4th. of this month. We also made it my own belated birthday party, as mine is one day later than the granddaughter. So instead of just lemang and ketupat,  we had a barbeque, complete with charcoal fire and lamb chops and chicken wings and shrimps and cockles and ikan kembong and corn-on-cobs. The only other people who came by invitation was my brother-in-law and his entire Seremban-based family, and Imar the seamstress ( actually she owns and runs her own ladies tailoring shop ).

Watching the tv later brought us back to the landslide at Bukit Antarabangsa, and our sympathies went to the sufferring residents. In this day of celebration, especially with the completion of the ritual of the Haj in Mecca, we can only try to imagine what's going through the lives of the poor fellows. As the Malay saying goes "heavy is the sight that behold, more  heavy is the load on  shoulders that bear ". Looking at the aerial picture, the land slide doesn't look that terrible, but the loss of lives and properties say otherwise.

Perhaps on this day of the Sacrifice, symbolising the Prophet Ibrahim's submission to the test of Allah for the sacrifice of his only son the Prophet Ismail, we, too, must stay resolved and steadfast with  patience and moral strength.

I have an invitation for a wedding reception from Zalfan who gave me his address at Jalan Mulia, Bukit Antarabangsa next week. I wonder if he's affected. I should inquire, but haven't.

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