When You Are Down

Perchance you may have experienced  a strong feeling that whatever happened to you at some point of time was unique and has never been experienced by humankind. Experiences will tell you that whatever that seems so important/ significant today (loss, tragedy etc.) will be of small importance/ significance few months/years from now.

A teacher (ustaz) told his audience (jemaah) that there is basically no new  good deed or crime that has yet to be committed by human being.  The method and the execution might differ but general deed or misdeed remains the same. 

These statements, somehow, fascinate me. I searched my databank (or rather I racked my brain) to find out related incidences that can lead me to arrive at similar conclusion.

I can remember a few stories on misdeed committed in the past,  there is one story  that was rather cruel and remained stuck in my mind for quite sometimes. 

It  was about a man that worked with the Sultan, probably during the time before the British managed to install their advisor to the Sultan. Normally the man worked for 5 -6 days a week and came home on Thursday evening.  He was not feeling well that particular day and the palace was kind enough to let him off.

He went home and caught his wife  and her "friend" in the middle of an amorous activity in his bedroom. Being a man from silat circle he managed to quickly overpower his wife "friend" and rid him of his "tool". He then chased his wife around the village but by some chance the wife  has managed to elude him. He put the man's tool in the water bucket and brought it back to the palace to admit his crime.  

Water bucket

When I was a bit younger,  during the school holidays, I frequented a small wakaf (gazebo), a common meeting place for Pulau Duyong folks back in the 60's and 70's.

                 A Gazebo

There I normally met a few old folks talking about the weather and village's activities other than playing checkers (read Dam Aji). I recalled in one of those naughty conversations about couples conducting their amorous activities in the boats around the nipah palms in a few small rivers found on the island.

      A small river with Nipah palm

Adultery or infidelity has been in existence from time immemorial?

By the same token, loss (of property, life etc.) and tragedies are not new and unique. For Muslims there are few verses of AlQuran concerning this issue. The most familiar perhaps is the last verse of AlBaqarah (Heifer : 286)

Hopefully the above Quranic verse  will put you in better state of mind when you are down . 

Have a nice day.