The Long Haul

With the boarding pass in hand, I headed straight to the departure level after enjoying my last breakfast in Malaysia- the unbeatable roti canai and teh o’ panas. I quickly proceeded to the announced gate and waited in the departure hall. I let myself be seated facing the aircraft that was going to fly me off to London, appreciating every inch of it through the clear glass wall. Alhamdulillah, the procedures all went fluently and when the time came I waved goodbye to my home country for another challenging year that awaited me in a part of the globe called Galway. Oh Galway here I come… again!

“Welcome!” greeted the flight attendant as I stepped my feet into the aircraft. “Thank you”, I replied while showing them a portion of my boarding pass that had been torn earlier during the final check-in. I carefully minced between the chairs to find my seat. “Oh there’s 57… and C… is right next to the aisle”, I blabbered to myself. Not a seat of my choice actually. I reckoned most passengers would prefer a seat next to the window but I supposed for a long journey like this a seat next to the aisle was the most strategic seat to be in as it allowed me to become more mobile as I wished; especially as I’ll need to go to the lavatory to perform my ablution as a preparation for my prayers.

I glanced at the persons who were sitting in the same row as me, just to get a preliminary idea of whom am I going to spend the upcoming 13 hour with. It was a white middle-aged man in a seat just next to me and a middle-aged lady next to the window. I gave them a friendly smile and they smiled back in return. Then I lifted my hand-luggage case to store it in the over-the-head storage, where I somehow couldn’t get it all in. The man in his chair rose and gave me a hand, utilizing the tallness of the Caucasians.

I rested myself in the seat, put on the seat belt and tried to relax. You might never be able to imagine how weary I was for that I didn’t even sleep the last night since my flight from Kuantan to KL was scheduled at 6.40 am. The journey from my house to the Kuantan Airport takes approximately an hour and a half, so we got to leave as early as around 4 in the morning in order to get there in time. To be safe, don’t sleep!

The man next to me and I had an introductory chat where he explained that he’s an English settling in Australia. We didn’t make much conversation though; as I was quite worn out that it washed my ideas away.

I felt like the clock was ticking very slowly. As slow as a dead snail. Just if dead snails could move. Or perhaps as slow as a sloth. My own comparative nouns. That happens when I don’t use the time wisely, I know. I just wanted to perform my prayer before I doze off unconsciously. Attempting to watch movies on the plane to keep me awake was a torture. My upper and lower eyelids could be hardly separated, as if a person had flung a sticky chewing gum into it. I thought I dropped off for a minute or two while watching The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian but later managed to finish it off till the end. Phew.

After lunch [the transiting time region wondered me if the meal was really called lunch, though] I knew that it’s time for me to perform my prayers. With the ablution performed, I was now ready to do it, giving extra attention to my right hand to ensure that I did’t make contact with the man next to me. I have to concede that ablution did and almost always gives me this special refreshing and peaceful feeling whenever I performed it. I believe other people felt the same too. No wonder the benefit of ablution had been mentioned by Prophet [pbuh] in a hadith;

Narrated Atiyyah as-Sa'di Abu Wail al-Qass said: We entered upon Urwah ibn Muhammad ibn as-Sa'di. A man spoke to him and made him angry. So he stood and performed ablution; he then returned and performed ablution, and said: My father told me on the authority of my grandfather Atiyyah who reported the Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him) as saying: Anger comes from the devil, the devil was created of fire, and fire is extinguished only with water; so when one of you becomes angry, he should perform ablution. [Hadith - Dawud]

The man's wife was asleep and he was almost there too. I waited while pretending like I was doing something with the remote. I peeked and saw him about to close his eyes but as if he noticed, he swiftly stood up. I hurriedly turned my head to the screen, this time acting like I was watching something on the screen. A couple of minutes had passed; I tried to peep again from the corner of my eyes. Ok now he’s asleep but when I just moved a bit he quickly woke up. Oh my, that was close.

For the last attempt, this time I professionally looked at him through the reflection on the screen- so I didn’t need to turn my head or do strange gestures that could be considered inquisitive. I might should have been more creative and thought of the technique since the very beginning. Anyhow in the end it crossed my mind, thank God. And now still, he’s awake with only a small angle of his eyelids were opened.

I surrendered. I had to do this. How long am I going to wait just for this man to fall asleep? I had to be proud with my religion. I had to tell the world what my religion was like, what were its beneficial teachings that some people might had misunderstood. There’s nothing to worry about anyway, it’s my right to do whatever I wanted as long as I didn’t interrupt others. In contrast I could convey that I’m purely Moslem and would like to be one forever and ever and ever.

I’m now determined. I’m telling him now. I’m going to tell him now. And in the name of Allah I uttered “Sorry, I am about to perform my prayers. Just if you wonder what am I doing”. Then he promptly responded, “…

[To be cont’d]

Read More 5 Throw A Word | Conceived by sarahyusof

5 Throw A Word

As on 10:30 am

hu..cepat sambung.please :D
Anonymous on 9:33 pm

Dear Sarah,

I'm a Muslim boy from Kenya who lives (studies) in Malaysia. I don't know how I ended up logging onto your blog but I happened to be, I guess after I followed it from another friend's links or something of the sort. I'm begging you to finish the 2nd part, I really liked the 1st part and I wish you all the best in your endeavours. Ramadhan karim and may Allah S.W bless you and bless all.

Abdullah.
Anonymous on 7:25 pm

When will you finish? End the suspense pliz.
Anonymous on 9:29 pm

Syabas Sarah...

Agreed with you. Be proud of our religion. We must proud to show that in whatever things we do or whatever situation we're going thru, solat is not sumtin that we should forget. it's our obligation.

Nway, was it MAS that u flew with? Usually they'll prepare some space for us to pray if we ask them.

So tak sempat puasa kat M'sia la nih? Sabar ajo-lah.. hehe...
sarahyusof on 10:02 pm

Sorry everyone that i've been on the go for the past couple of days, so had to wait till the works abate a lil bit. Also when writing I need the mood to kick in in a hope that my entries will turn out well. InsyaAllah the second part is en route ;)

sanah: yup2 insyaAllah soon.. ;);)

abdullah: yes the technology nowadays has let us to reach things that we might have never known or heard of i.e my blog which appeared to u out of the blue. thanks for the wish and may Allah lead us to the right path, always.

tired: i'm extracting my words out of my brain to be poured onto this blog. insyaAllah soon ok

thani: huhu tenkiu2. yes solat, the 2nd most important component of the 5 pillars of Islam. naik MAS aritu, xtau plok blh request space utk solat drp steward, ye ke? NUIG baru start lectures minggu ni, awal kan. Nmpknye begitula, puasa di kejauhan.. salam perantau!