The Masjid.

Thursday May 6, 2021.

Today is the 24th day of the fasting month. In 6 days it'll Eid il Fitri. But in many places here, it could be Eid with empty mosques for the second year in running because of the pandemic's movement control order. 

The "masjid" means the place where one prostrates (sujud) in prayers. To me it signifies a place of worship that should be treated sacrosanct. The faithful should find peace and tranquility in performing his prayers each time he steps into it. Since I started work at the Felda HQ, I'd go early to the Technical College mosque just across the road. (It's a grand new concrete building now, replacing that old  low-roofed wooden one.) This early bird practice,  I'd been able to mostly keep until today. I remember the late Hj. Nasir, my MD then, remarking "you're going to Heaven lah" when I excused myself, talking to him one day, to go for  Friday prayers. He beat me to it.

More recently, Dato' Sulaiman said " first to come, first to leave" when I posted him a video of the still empty mosque that I went to for Friday prayers. But it is  true that I often find myself to be the first to arrive. And I told Dato' Sulaiman I don't leave early.

This coming early had consequenses.

Some years back I went early to the Sg. Landak mosque for  fajr during a fasting month. The gate was still locked. I couldn't turn my car around  because of the steep road going into the compound on a hill. I had to wait for several minutes before the bilal arrived with the key. I sarcastically asked him "banyak harta Karun ke masjid ni ?" When it happened again a few days later, I decided to try alternative places.

This year I switched  to the State Mosque. I could have gone to the Paroi Jaya mosque, which I did the year before Covid 19.  But the Paroi Jaya mosque committee decided that renovations cannot wait, fasting or not. Why the interests of Ramadhan made way for the repair work evades me. This means the jemaah prays in disarray, with on-going work in the main hall, and the congregation split up and mostly cooled only by the fans.

The other reason I chose the State Mosque was because the uniformed security is strict with the s.o.p. Paroi Jaya is self-policed. You know what that means for the Malays. The State Mosque, early into the PKP ,was in fact so severe with the s.o.p. that the gates were only open one hour before the prayer time. So, a few times I had to twiddle thumbs on my bike until they were  opened up. 

Happily, soon after that the one hour rule has  been discarded. But still, this morning I found the second entrance into the prayer hall locked. I had to go down the stairs around the female entrance to reach the main  entrance.

Both mosque officials and some worshippers make the quiet peaceful place of pray sometimes wanting.

I go to the mosque to try and immerse myself into the spirit of Ramadhan. I would reach for the Quran and sit in a corner to read it. But then things happen. The testing of the microphones should be early in the morning, when no worshipper  is around, not 30 minutes before azan. And the discussions between officials could be in lower volume, respectful to the  worshippers. The "library rule" isn't impossible to enforce.

The mosque is closed up for air conditioning. With the a/c off it gets  hot and stuffy pretty quickly. But the presence of  early worshippers doesn't prompt officials to turn on the a/c. Nor to turn the lights on when people are obviously trying to read in the poor light. Worshippers suffer the stuffy air and the dim light until about half-an-hour before prayer time. And the opposite is true, too. After the main rituals, everything is turned off, even if many people still linger with the "sunnats" prayers or  the "wirid"

Many worshippers come clad in Arabic and other "Islamic" garb. I would have thought that piety makes them dress in that way. Piety is not shown when chatter and laughter is shared regardless of  other people aound them trying to pray or read the holy book. Pity.

The syariah teaches one to recite the prayers just loud enough to hear them yourself, but not so that someone beside you can also hear you. Clearly too many either don't know the rules, or choose to diregard them.  As I said, many dress like Islamic scholars. It's just fashion, it seems.

This mosque also distributes food and drinks to the jemaah, for iftar and sahur. It's announced many times that it would do that. Contributions are welcomed. Being the State Mosque, I'm sure the funds are there, anyway. But unlike some other mosques I'd been to, where the people and officials come together right there and cook the "bubur lambuk", here it's prepared elsewhere. That's ok.  But surely a State Mosque could provide a better place for dining than on the steps. Some even stand beside their cars to eat.

This is not a list of  bad things. It's noting small irritations that are avoidable, if only everyone is attentive. Often the sermons lecture of show of piety to not only be in Ramadhan, but other months, too. To me, at least one month a year I make an effort to be a good Muslim. But an atmosphere conducive to improving the sense of Godliness goes a long way in aiding a faltering practitioner like me. I can pray in my room. But the mosque gives the sense of holiness. 

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