My world moves on.

2 Syawal 1442 H

Fri May 14, 2021.

 My world moves on.

For the second year in succession, I had to lead my own Aid ilfitri prayers at home, with a congregation of three - the wife and only daughter. How could I not be emotional from the start of the "al Fatihah ?"  The global, relentless pandemic that forces governments to act, apparently in good interest, but obviously in a bad way, has everyone suffering. The three empty bedrooms I went into after subuh prayers; the occupants still sound asleep in  two others;  and the quiet of the whole house on this dawn of Syawal 1- they remind me of times different. The start of the "al Fatihah" brought all together in my mind.

Hanif spoke of the surau registering everyone who wanted to attend Aid ilfitri prayers, limited to a meaningless 20. Muhyiddin's backdoor government said mosques may allow only committee members. The syaria'ah's rule of 40 for a "jema'ah" can't even be met.  Hanif asked what's the meaning of allowing prayers yesterday and denying it today. Well, Hanif, today the order starts.

Fortunately, my pc and smart phone keep me connected to friends and to world news. Friends keep the cheer. You cherish them even more. How fortunate to have friends and family who take the trouble to stay connected. This very posting is because of them. For the rest of the world, it is not always with cheer.

This little country of mine offers no alternatives for me. I'm born here, I live here, and will die here. I wish the authorities holding power could be wiser. Right from the Agong at the top of the vested powers, to the enforcement officers at the bottom,  law and order could be better meted out. Legitimacy aside, the wantonness of rules that put livelyhoods at peril astound. The details are inexhaustible. Opening and shutting up of markets is totally indifferent to timing and the income of the poor petty traders.  Rich and poor are hit, but the comparative punishment show either it is deliberate, cruel and partisan, or worse, unintended, thoughtless or stupid. "Whims and fancies" sound familiar.

Nearly 100 years ago we are told of the cruelty of the anti-Jew Third Reich in Europe. After WWII the Allied Forces allowed a British Lord to declare the formation of Israel, ignoring the rights of the Palestanians who own the land.  For the last 75 years this illegal and cruel action is today sustained and even enhanced by the Israeli regime who right in the middle of the pandemic and Ramadhan have bombarded "selective military targets" in densely populated Palestine, officially killing "scores" of people. How is this possible without the condonement of the likes of USA and Western countries?   How is it possible that less than 4 million Jews who claimed to have been persecuted in Europe can continue to kill Arab Muslims in a sea of 100 million  Arabs ? Would we see retribution in our own lifetime ?

What's USA's and the West's  interest in seeking Israel's survival since 1946 at all costs ? Is it the remorse of Hitler's holocaust ? The 6 million Jews who perished have been more than made up by the number of Arabs murdered since, not Americans or Europeans, but Arabs. 

Maybe it's time the shift of world economic power move from USA to China. The Chinese are no less guilty in their evil plans for the Muslim Uighurs in the largely agnostic country. But Chinese economic world power could make the difference in the Middle-Eastern geopolitical turmoil.

The 3 empty rooms stare at me. The intended occupants have since responded accordingly.  I keep busy, touching brush paint here, polishing brass there, cementing cracked walls and floors everywhere.  My room remains cluttered, but I know where things are. My 2021 Ramadhan has passed.  I'd tried to fill it with remorseful  supplication and hopeful prayers for the children and their children. My world moves on.

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