Sunday, April 11, 2010

The Debt, Paid At Last

I gave Mak Maznah a year to sort out her dream of her father, with her brother.

Her father appeared in her sleep asking for 300 (S$, RM, SR? I've no answer) from her.

'Mana ada duit',
she turned down his request and woke up.

She spent the whole night and dawn thinking of him before she came over my house that early morning.
Her father wanted the money to go to Mecca, to fulfill the last pillar but, he was dead and buried underground more than 60 years ago.

Her late father, she said, was a rather rich man in his days, having acres of land in Opera Estate. 
But his favourite activities of marrying and leaving his families to start another family, took up a lot of his time.
Although he knew of his obligation to fulfill the 5 pillars, the knowledge was shelved away.

Before he died, he made his wish to Mecca known to his children. 
But nobody took heed of it. 
They were more interested in the acres of land.

Mak Maznah was 12 and her only flesh-and-blood brother, 7, when their father passed away. 
The pair, due to their tender age, were oblivion in the in-fighting among siblings of their father's estate. 
The pair's mother, being the last of many wives, were excluded of her share.

******

Fast forward, the brother married the busy hawker centre stall-owner whom he had worked with.

Their food business was elevated to a new height.
The couple became canteen operators, preparing food for staff and employees to one of the world's busiest port, manning a 24-hour canteen, preparing food with thousand eaters daily in mind.
It's big business.

The S$ churning business makes the brother's 6 in the family's several trips to Mecca possible beside the husband and wife's couple of times Haj pilgrimage.

******

Did Mak Maznah discuss her dream with her brother?
I doubted as he's known to resent his father as a father, a husband and a person as a whole.

Mak Maznah's feeling of her father?
She's fighting hard learning to discard any negative feelings of him.

******

A month before the December 2005 Haj season started, Mak Maznah brought up to me, the father's '300' issue which she was unable to raise, being herself in the social welfare and Baitul Mal list.

Her brother?
She dared not pester further when he refused to produce the '300'.
His resentment towards the father is more than skin deep, right to his heart.

******

My idea of paying volunteer student to perform 'badal haji' for the late Mak Maznah's father was subsequently put off.

Ok, My Husband will perform their father's long overdue Haj, I said.
The breaking news was followed by Mak Maznah's rainy eyes.
I held the news of my going there again for a year from her until that very moment, not because of anything, but to see how her brother will react towards his sister's dream and their father's last wish.

******

Thank GOD, the Haj went well and we were back home in mid January 2006.

Mak Maznah came over to my house one early morning, few days after we reached home.
Her father appeared in her dream again, thanking her of the '300' and his last pillar of Islam finally built.

***Some changes made.
***The brother's licence to operate the 24-hour canteen expired end December 2005 and, not renewed ever since.                    

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Glad you could help her. I just hope her brother can think the way she does.
Have a good day Ummie..:)

Ummie said...

There's more than inner satisfaction whenever we fulfill another person's wish - our life's journey made easy by HIM.
Sadly, the brother's wife recently passed away.