Thousands of Faces With One Faith

Being a part of the delegation to send my cousin to his bride’s house in Pasir Mas, we were stranded in a guesthouse in Wakaf Che Yeh, waiting for the groom to be ready, together with her family and relatives from her mother’s side, from Perlis. As the Zuhur athan was being called, my father suggested to perform our prayer first, which was well agreed by several relatives from Kuala Terengganu.

Heading to the mosque which was a stone throw away from the guesthouse, we perform our ablution first, before waiting for the local peoples, to pray in their jamaah, as we are going to perform our prayer in jama’(combination/plural). As soon as the local peoples began their Zuhur prayer, the Kuala Terengganu delegation also started to pray, in another jamaah led by my father.

While praying with our full hearted devotion to God Almighty, I heard one of a man passing by our jamaah and said;

“Hoh! Wano maye duo ime?” (How come there are two imams?)

Ignoring the voice, I precede my prayer, again, with full hearted devotion. The prayer went smoothly without any Islamaphobia harassment. Back to the guesthouse, again, waiting for the other delegation members, my father’s cousin, by the name of Ayah Long, began the conversation;

Hoh! Mu tahu Li, sakni mu maye duo ime takdi geger di atah sejik nu! Aku maye nge puok ime sini la mugo dok cukuk marhalah, doh aku mari dari Besu. Abih maye takdi geger skali sek-sek tu bunyi; bakpo maye duo ime. Aku pung toleh palo ke oghe beloh aku, aku pung tubek la kcek Klate;

[(addressing my father) Li, do you know there had been a bit chaos in the mosque just now because you form another jamaah! I pray with those local people as I came from Besut, which do not exceed the two marhalah distances. They were all talking about you being the second Imam at the same time. Looking to the next person besides me, I spoke to him in Kelantanese; ]

“Gapo?” (What is the problem?)

“Dok, puok tu, wano maye duo ime?” (Nothing, those people, they form another jamaah!)

“Demo tahu yo mari mano?” (Do you know where they all came from?)

“Bakpo ?” (Why?)

“Doh wak yo musafir, wak yo maye jamok gano?” (What if they are travellers? What if they perform prayers in jama’?)

Hoh! Tu die, kene skali nge aku. Tunduk lalu palo! Oloh! Panda sangak nok letok hukung teh,oghe biar jelah dulu! Geger skali atah sejik nu puok mu maye duo ime. Oghe Klate ni tahu mende pasa hukung! (there he go! Its a big punch on his face! huh! Acting smart to say about the law, he should look upon the case clearly first! They were havoc in the mosque, just because you form another jamaah! What does Kelantanese knows bout islmic law! )


He spoke furiously in his deep Besut accent, well greeted with roar of laughter from the rest who stood there. It is prohibited to form two jamaah at the same time in the same prayer place (mosque), only if it is a compulsory prayer (Fardhu prayers). However, the travellers were allowed two perform their Fardhu prayers, in jama’, with fulfilled conditions, and one of the conditions is they cannot be led by the Imam who pray in the regular way, allowing them to form another jamaah in the same mosque at the same time.

My Ayah Long to preach, cursing and firing the Kelantan and all the Kelantanese, for many reasons. Politic is one of them. Being a fanatic Orang Dacing (BN supporters), he cannot accept the fact that the Kelantanese rejected Awang Adek for Nik Aziz.

Geography is also another reason for him to curse the Kelantanese. It has been a long history of fighting, quarrelling, and prejudice between the Terengganumen and Kelantanese. Whose accent is better, whose batik is better, whose songket is better, whose gold is better and so on.

Ayah Long once said;

“Batik ko, mah ko, setere ko, songkek ko, hok ganu blako hok muroh lagi, hok molek lagi! Klate tadok gapo! Nasik kabu jah!” (Batik or gold or silk cloth or songket, ours are cheaper and better! The Kelantanese have nothing! They only have their Nasi Kerabu! )

The Terengganumen and the Kelantanese are always fighting among themselves over political view. Here in the east coast, families were separating, cold war within the neighbourhood, cold war within the families and relatives, even cold war within the two best of friends due to the difference in political view!

These Puak Dacing and Puak Bulan were fighting and quarrelling for decades! Day by day, month by month, year by year, election by election.

An Orang Dacing, will not visit the funeral of Orang Bulan although they were in the same village. The same goes for Orang Bulan. The prejudice is worse amongst the elders. A Kelantanese is not very keen to have a child-in-law from Terengganu. Same goes for Terengganumen.

Which side am I?

I am a Malaysian who was raised in Kuantan, currently living in Terengganu, well assimilated with the Kelantanese, and able to converse in those three accents properly.

Moreover,

I AM MUSLIM,

WE ARE MUSLIM,

THEY ARE MUSLIM

ALL OF US ARE MUSLIM!

The words of God in the 64th verse of the third chapter of Koran were lingering in my heart as I wrote this entry.


p/s ;

Say: O followers of the Book! come to an equitable proposition between us and you that we shall not serve any but Allah and (that) we shall not associate aught with Him, and (that) some of us shall not take others for lords besides Allah; but if they turn back, then say: Bear witness that we are Muslims.


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