Aidulfitri Mubarak, congratulation for those who managed to control their desire in the school of Ramadan! Let us pray may our worship bein' accepted by the God and may our practices of charity and devotion to Him remain constant in the coming year, insyaallah...
Just coming home to the hostel from our beloved state, Kedah. Mum and dad could not stand celebrating raya in the city as all of the people return home to be with their family. Our grandparents had all passed away. I sometimes think that such a custom of balik raya or returning home to our hometown is not so important for me. However, it is important for mum and dad. This raya is a bit different. All of our family members return home, including sister who works in Saudi. Not just mum and dad.
I have to help third sister with her thesis proposal. She would be busy after returning to Saudi. So, she sent me earlier to my hostel as it is difficult to get internet connection while we are off towns. I can see many changes in our state after 2-3 years. New buildings, new roads, and others. Raya is a generic term for celebration in Malay. We just call any celebration as raya. It means great day. It is a custom for Malaysian to return home during Aidulfitri or Aiduladha spending their quality holiday time getting along with family.
1st of Syawwal
We prayed in Sultan Muzaffar Syah mosque in Sungai Petani. I managed to follow mum and dad to visit sister Faridah. She is one of dad's nieces from our first grandma. She had already moved from Malacca with her husband and children since few years ago to our elders' station in Pantai Johor. It's quite complicated since those elders practiced polygamy marriage and most of them married their maternal cousins for the sake of family bond and religious purpose. They only marry people of the same caste or race according to Shafi'ie madzhab of Yemen. But that was in the past. Now, that is not effective anymore since many had moved out of their elders' stations.
We exchanged information about our family tree line with her and she speaks in the speed of a bullet. How funny she is, loll. I get to know her son and daughters but not all since some of them are away. I hope to get to know them all but that is just a dream. We live far away and we don't always get along out of the celebration. I wanted to know more about dad's family. Most of them aren't really religious since elders passed away earlier. So, they have no proper religious nor moral education. I believe they are nice people. All of the people around the world are nice. It's just environment and destiny that molded us to be what we are today. We went to grandma (dad's mum) grave at the nearby mosque and I saw the banner indicating they are going to enlarge the mosque and moving the graves there.
2nd Syawwal
We went to mum's cousin brother. His son who is about the same age with me is going to get married in November. I can't believe that he's going to get married while he has no proper job yet. Maybe that is his destiny and I pray that he could get suitable job soon. He's a nice guy, but I am not close to him too though when we were kids we used to play around together. He was also a schoolmate when I was in Soltan Ahmad Tajuddin Primary School spending about a year there as a primary school pupil in Jitra. We are adults now, of course things would be different and I don't really spend my time with our relatives. Most of us are nomads. We moved here and there for study purpose, making a living, and others.
We spend a night at their house before going to Thailand in the day after. Second sister never enter Thailand in her whole life so she insisted to go there and trying Thai authentic cuisines. I had already been there with third sister for her hidden marriage, hehehe. We have to pretend that we don't know about the place though we had already been there since her proper ceremony is not done yet. It's just a little cowboy town, called Baan Daannok Samnak Khan after the passport control with halal restaurants but the most popular halal restaurant there was closed since the lady owner went home until the end of the 6th Syawwal fasting. So we just randomly going to a Tabligh owner restaurant called Yahya. The most scary part for us is that we crossed the border without any passport or grant for the car. If anyone wanted to enter Thailand from Malaysia, make sure to bring the grant of the car. I would next time always bring my passport if I enter places near Thai border. Those in Thai border control of Kwan Mai Dam or Bukit Kayu Hitam are quite negotiable and polite compared to those counterparts at Singapore.
Then, they went to an alley buying cheap stuffs. We can easily get cheap stuffs which looks the same like original ones there. I didn't buy anything since I am a student. Spending must be discreetly controlled. We returned home to our side at night before 20:00 since the border will be closed at 24:00. Many cars at the border. People as far as Singapore went there to have fun. It includes fun in the 'other way.'
3rd Syawwal
I just followed third sister to Sungai Petani to our old house there after we reached Jitra. Mum and dad still maintain that house for everyone who have the need to return north to be stationed there or loading stuffs. That's why they do not want to sell it. I stayed there a night with third sister and helping her with her thesis proposal. She only has two weeks to finish everything and her supervisor is so irresponsible. I didn't know that she was doing her thesis proposal, so I just treat her assignment as a mere report. I plan that I wanted to help her out today. She has to return to Kuala Lumpur getting her second supervisor opinion and she also has to prepare returning to Saudi. Her leave is almost done. Please help me, brethren passing by with your prayers may I finish helping out my sister with her thesis proposal and finishing my own thesis by time. Thank you.
I wish everyone well-being and spirit of devotion to Him. It does not matter what faith people are, I don't care. May we learn everything which could lead us to Him and may He helps us purifying our soul. I wish everyone especially my beloved compatriot سْلامَت مِثَمْبوت هارِي رايَ عيدُالفطرِي مَعَفْ ظاهِر باطِن!
Sealed with salawat an-nabi and prayers for peace, mercy, and love, amin!
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