Today is the 6th. and last day of my "Puasa 6", the 6-day fast in the month of Syawal, encouraged for the faithful, but not compulsory, of course. I've done this since young, so it's no great effort here. The wife has also followed suit this time, and tomorrow we'll celebrate our "Raya" together. But tomorrow I'm also supposed to play my first round of golf since 17.3.2020, courtesy of Toksleman who insisted I come. It's been two-and-a-half months. I don't know if I can hit the ball !
This year we had our Raya prayers to ourselves at home, a first for everybody in the country. Except for some selected mosques, we're informed, but those, too, only to very limited numbers. Some people went to the National Mosque in KL, but were refused entry, and had to pray outside the mosque gates, on the road kerb. Pious, perhaps, but pitiful. Today, 3 months on, the CMO is still in force.
I looked at the figures this morning. Globally, there are more than 6.2 million cases, with 374,000 deaths (5.9%), and 44.5% recovery. The top country is USA, with more than 1.8 million cases, 106,000 deaths (5.8%), and 29.4% recovery. Malaysia records 7,819 cases, 115 death (1.5%), and 81.3% recovery.
As I said before, all these statitics depend on so many factors: the coverage of reporting, the accuracy of the tests etc. What is certain is they're under-reported.
The Raya prayers in the house were no big deal. There were several tutorials in the internet, and friends flooded my whatsapp with instructions. Naturally I passed them on to others, including Hank. I don't know if it was helpful. There's some doubt, because his last comment was "why no. 11 ?" I had listed the actions to be taken by numbers, and the last one was no. 12 that said "Doa". No 11 said "Repeat 5 - 8". I thought that was plain, so I didn't reply !
Throughout the fasting month I led the terawih prayers, with my s.i.l. and my daughter in tow. The wife complained of pain in her legs and opted out. We did 8 rakaats and 3 wittir, the short-formed version. The tasbihs were also the short ones I picked from my old notes.
The Raya prayer sermon was also my shortened version, also from my old notes. But the 5-rukun khutbahs were by the book. For those reading this blog, rest assured I'm right. I went to religious classes up to Std. 3. We used books from Johore and Perak religious schools, a few of which I still keep with me somewhere in the house, but I have my own notes scribbled over the years, trying to find concentration in my daily prayers, something that still eludes me (sigh !).
Up to now I've missed 11 Friday prayers - 2 in March, 4 in April and 5 in May. I don't how many would be in June. But I see everybody is taking it calmly, although this has never happened before. Except maybe during WWII, but I'm not sure.
On the political front, I think we'll see the end of the BERSATU saga by July. Very little is heard from the grassroots - only the central committee members have been making opposing views, which is not a good sign. Muhyiddin has the power in his hands, being the PM. But the Old Man can still cause problems for him. The only way that a complete break-up of the party can be avoided is for the two to make up and sacrifice their egos for the sake of the confused members. Otherwise it might mean the shortest life of the party, or the shortest life of the premiership. We should know shortly.
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