Muslims celebrate only 2 days in a year.
Islam is all about time management. We are not encouraged to spend our time on frivolous matters throughout the year. We take a day off to celebrate Eidul Fitr and Eidul Adha. The two most important days of the Islamic calendar. Many people however stretch one day into one whole week. There are times we stretch one day into one whole month! Endless socialising and over eating. We all do enjoy eating but the never ending part is really upsetting our health...
Do not overeat!
We are supposed to fill our stomach with only one third food, one third water and the other one third to be left empty for air. Muslim lifestyle is really quite simple, not too many rituals except those prescribed by Allah SWT. Muslims are required to do their best to fulfil their once in a lifetime obligation , the 5th pillar of Islam, - the haj pilgrimage to Mekkah.
For those of us who are unable to join them, for various reasons, perform qurban, sacrificing animals and distributing their meat to the needy. It is not a burden but is yet a sacrifice as we need to part with our saving to fulfil this requirement.
Allah does not wish to burden us
Allah does not wish to burden us. Only those who can manage to pay for their one seventh share of a cow are allowed to do so. Those who cannot afford to make this sacrifice in turn are given the meat as it is the right of the needy to receive help.
After all, Prophet Abraham was commanded by Allah to sacrifice his beloved son Ismail. Both father and son were loyal to Allah and they humbly accepted the command, submitting to the will of God. At the last moment, Allah substituted Ismail with a ram and they therefore passed a very great test of sacrifice.
Act of Submission
To commemorate this act of submission and to remind ourselves of Allah's Mercy all Muslims try their best to also make a sacrifice during this holy month of haj. The big difference is we are allowed to sacrifice a lamb or one seventh portion of a cow or more, instead of having to sacrifice our children.
How Merciful is Allah. He does not need anything from us and we need everything from Him. How small we are and yet we sometimes walk haughtily upon this earth, forgetting who is the real Master of the Universe.
This Eidul Adha we decided to do something very different.
We decided to go to Seremban, Negri Sembilan to perform solat Eidul Adha with the revert brothers and sisters at the Masjid frequented by many reverts. Seremban is less than an hour away via the highway but since everyone would be using the main roads, we decided to take a drive along the old roads to avoid the usual massive holiday traffic jams.
It took us about half an hour to reach USJ 6 from Ampang. It took a long time because we were stuck in the jam and took a detour, via Duke highway, then to Bandar Utama before hitting NKVE to USJ in Subang. After that we took the KLIA Nilai road. All the effort was worth it as we managed to escape a very tortuous long crawl to Seremban.
Our main intention was to attend solat Eidul Adha (Eid prayers) in the Chinese Masjid (mosque) in Seremban. I met the imam and some of the Macma members there once. Had promised to visit them again. The kuthbah (sermon) was in Mandarin and some Arabic.
Mandarin
Very unique - if only I could understand Mandarin. It would be useful to distribute copies of the translation of the kuthbah. No point in sending the congregation(jemaah) nodding off to dreamland while the iman is speaking in Mandarin. What is the point of a kuthbah when it does not reach the ears and hearts of the jemaah? No doubt there will reward for listening but its better to share the knowledge. Don't you think so?
Chinese Style Masjid
Its really beautiful, with Chinese features and traditional Chinese style interior. The pagoda was a very nice touch. The best feature I loved are the gently swaying willow trees in the garden surrounding the building.
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