The voluntary is more difficult than the compulsory

I am of course, talking about the voluntary fasting for six days in the month of Syawal, or more popularly known in Malay as Puasa Enam.

The act of carrying out six days of fasting within the month of Syawal (also known as bulan raya for Malays) is highly encouraged. Prophet Muhammad's (s.a.w.) hadeeth, as recorded in Sahih Muslim, says : He who observed the fast of Ramadan and then followed it with six (fasts) of Shawwal, it would be as if he fasted perpetually.

On the face of it, it really shouldn't be that difficult to fast for six days, since we just completed doing the same thing for 30 straight days just the month before. Furthermore, we are allowed to choose any six days within the month (except for the first day of Aidilfitri), and these six days need not be consecutive. We can spread them out if we so wish.

So why is it then, many Muslims (yours truly included) find it difficult to carry out this task?

I would humbly venture to give the following reasons :

1. Nobody else is doing it. That's why it is difficult to do alone.

Well perhaps, rather than saying `nobody', it is more correct to say `not many'. Muslims who fast in Syawal don't normally declare to others that they are doing so. Since everyone else around you is eating and drinking as they please, it becomes a real challenge for you to fast in such a situation. Fasting the first day out of six is always the most difficult. You go to work and see someone on the roadside lighting up a cigarette.... and you wonder why isn't that guy fasting? It takes a while for it to hit you back... that you're the one who is fasting and not the rest of the world. It becomes doubly difficult when you reach your workplace because you would always have friends and colleagues inviting you out for lunch or teh-tarik.

2. Many friends invite you for a raya makan-makan

The Malaysian culture of holding `open houses' to celebrate the festivities make it difficult for you to find a suitable day to fast. Sometimes when you have already decided to start fasting for the day, a last minute invitation to a makan-makan would tempt you to break your fast. It is somehow not proper for you to accept a friend's invitation but yet, not partake in the spread of delicacies. Nowadays, many companies hold their `open houses' during working hours, hence it can also be tough to fast during the weekdays too.

3. The willpower and motivation becomes weak

Perhaps, this is the main reason why most of us can't do the Puasa Enam. Fasting in Ramadan trains us to be patient and reserved. We are reminded to be watchful of what we hear, say and look at. The moment Syawal arrives, many of us can't wait to free ourselves of such inhibitions and behave in our normal self. Puasa Enam is not obligatory anyway, so why bother? I have to constantly remind myself that the incentive to do voluntary deeds is only evident to those who seek.


Over the years, I have tried a few strategies in maintaining the willpower to carry out Puasa Enam. Initially I thought that doing two days in every week (say each Monday and Thursday) would be a good method. Unfortunately, the uncertain schedule of my work (outstation travel, site meetings etc.) meant that I missed some days. Now, I am trying a different way... I am fasting for six straight days from Monday to Saturday. I'm sticking to my plan, no matter what. Sorry friends, if I can't join you for breakfast or for afternoon tea.

Random pics of nature

Photos taken at Lembah Warisan Bernam located on the upper reaches of Sungai Bernam near Tanjung Malim. The river is the border between the states of Selangor and Perak.

Entrance to common dining area

View of hostel on the upper slopes

Enjoy a dip in the cool waters of the river

Stones and boulders create gentle rapids

Small boulders and pebbles line the river banks

Jantung pisang

Yellow lizard

Caption corrected to : Rajah Brooke butterfly (Tq Pak Zawi)

Individual chalets located on the hillslope with a view of the river

A full week of Aidilfitri traveling

This post is just an expansion of the one I put up previously. I cannot recall having traveled this much in the first week of Hari Raya Aidilfitri. My eldest son was home for his 3-week term break which coincided nicely with the hari raya holidays. Since his flight back was on Friday last week, our trip to KL and beyond was actually more of a necessity than by design. No doubt, the opportunity was taken to visit relatives along the way.

By rotation, this year's first day of Aidilfitri should have been spent at my wife's kampung in Mersing because last year we were in Singapore. We were however in Singapore again this year because the 1st of Syawal fell on a Sunday, meaning the next day would still be a public holiday. This meant that we could take advantage of another day of free parking (parking on non-free days in Singapore can burn a hole in your pocket) plus a full day to visit relatives.

Oldstock's family in Bukit Batok, Singapore

The third and fourth days were spent at my wife's kampung in Mersing, where I get to see my ailing father-in-law for a short while. My wife's side of the family is large. She has twelve brothers and sisters, and understandably, not all can make it back to the kampung. We got to meet eight of them this time, not a bad count.

On the way back from Mersing to Johor Bahru, we stopped at a sister-in-law's house in Kota Tinggi. On Thursday afternoon, we drove out of JB to head out to Kuala Lumpur but we made two stops along the way. The first was to meet a brother-in-law at Tangkak in Muar. The next stop was at Semenyih in Selangor where I visited my uncle (my mom's youngest brother).

The next morning, we sent Along to the airport at KLIA for his flight back to Jordan. At KLIA, I met an old friend who was my senior while studying at Sheffield in the UK. He was also sending his son off back to Jordan. It turns out that my friend's son is studying at the same university as Along and is one year his senior. How's that for coincidence.

At KLIA sending the eldest son back to school

After seeing Along off, we then sent Angah back to his hostel at UiTM Shah Alam. Although he was due to check back in by Sunday, Angah wanted to return early so that he can have some quiet time to catch up on his studies. He has exams to face the following week.

From Shah Alam, we drove on the Guthrie Expressway to head north to Tanjung Malim where another brother-in-law is holding an open house reception. Before actually heading to the reception, we stopped by his kebun on the upstream stretch of Sungai Bernam. My youngest son couldn't resist having a quick dip in clear running water of the river. As Adik is having fun splashing in the river, I strolled around the area to experiment taking macro photoshots of nature. Oh how I wish to have a dSLR in my hands right now.

A dip in the cool waters of Sungai Bernam

A trip to Tanjung Malim is not considered complete if we do not make a stop to eat something at the Garden Seafood Restaurant, notwithstanding the fact that we are going for an open-house reception later. Our dish of choice is the Sweet and Spicy Prawns that is eaten together with the home-made dumpling bread.

Restoran Garden Seafood (Halal) at Tanjung Malim

Sweet and spicy prawns with dumpling

After the light dinner at Garden Restaurant, we made our way to my brother-in-law's kampung house on his wife's side of the family. There we met the latest addition to our family, our 4-month old grandnephew named Kamarull Suhail. The pic below is Suhail in the arms of his mother.

The following day, we made visits to another three houses in the Klang Valley before heading back to Johor Bahru. A full and packed programme of visiting relatives and friends over seven days. Exhausting but fulfilling too. Unlikely to be repeated in the coming years.

Then and now...

It has been quite a hectic week of Aidilfitri celebrations for us this year. The past seven days were filled with near non-stop traveling... and also eating. The cycle of movement can be summarised in a single line as follows : JB -> Singapore -> JB -> Mersing -> Kota Tinggi -> JB -> Tangkak -> Semenyih -> KL -> KLIA -> Shah Alam -> Tanjung Malim -> KL -> JB.

We just returned home late last night, so today shall be strictly spent for rest and recuperation. I'll post the story and photos of our Hari Raya a bit later (if it is not too stale by then). Today's entry is just a brief look at how my three aces have grown. The two pics shown below are of my three sons taken at Aidilfitri at the same location (in front of my parents' home) but after a span of 12 years.

Photo 1 : Three Aces, Aidilfitri 1997

The first pic is a blurry scan of a photograph taken in 1997. Along (left) was 8 years-old, Angah (right) was 6, and Adik (middle) was 2.

Photo 2 : Three Aces, Aidilfitri 2009

The second pic was taken last week. The boys are standing in the same order as they did before. Angah is now taller than his elder brother.

Along has flown back to Jordan on Friday and we sent Angah back to his UiTM hostel the same afternoon. How time flies...

Salam Aidilfitri 1430 Hijrah

Ayam kampung dalam raga,
Jadi korban hidangan raya,
Buat semua sahabat blogger,
Mohon ampun maaf dari saya.

Salam Aidilfitri dari Oldstock dan famili

To all friends and readers who have dropped by with the warm wishes, I wish the same to all of you too. Enjoy the holidays, watch what you eat and have fun.

It may be a while before I get back online, so I thought this would be an appropriate time to present the third part of my (still-in-progress) short story.

To read the opening part, click here -> Part1
To read the second part, click here -> Part 2

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A Bingo Straight To The Heart (Part 3)

Although I had often seen Joe together with Aida around campus, that was the first time I was introduced to him. Joe looks like most other overseas Malaysian male students; dressed in faded jeans, army surplus jacket and sporting long hair that reached the shoulders. In fact, his hair is longer than Aida’s. Except for the jeans, Aida’s look is a direct contrast to her friend. She is a petite girl who likes to keep her hair neat and short, almost tomboyish. Her cheerful personality is the opposite to his soft-spoken demeanour but they seem to get along pretty well. We see them together so often that we consider Joe to be Aida’s boyfriend. I like Aida a lot, so a friend of hers is also a friend of mine.

Our weekly Scrabble session is quite well known amongst the female Malaysian students in Sheffield. Usually there would be six or seven of us who want to play. Since a maximum of four can play in any one round, we would draw lots for the first round with the loser of that first round giving way to a new player. The loser will also end up making tea or preparing refreshments for the rest of us, thus the added incentive of trying not to finish last. Anita and I would normally finish tops with Lin or Nooraini most often coming in third. Aida and the other juniors are the regular tea makers. Although she speaks fluent English, Aida seems to have a problem with vocabulary. But that did not stop her from continuing to play and enjoy the game, such was her positive spirit. Our sessions would often last till late at night and sometimes even to the wee hours of morning. About the only time that we do not play is when most of us have something else to do like catching a movie or the like, and about four weeks before term exams.

That day, Noor offers to sit out the first round while Joe declined to play. He says that he’ll be happy just watching.

Lin started the round with a five-letter word (PLATE) for a reasonable opening score of 20 points. Next was Aida and then Anita. I had drawn a lousy rack, five vowels and two consonants, and could only start with meagre score of 9. Lin, the joker in our group, poked fun at me. Feeling slightly embarrassed with a male guest present, I stole a glance at Joe, who is sitting just behind his classmate.

For her next move, Aida was excited as she has spotted a possible `hook’ to the first word `PLATE’. She was in the process of putting down her tiles to make `MARCH’, with the `R’ hooking onto the end of `PLATE’, hence making two words in a single move. Just before she finish arranging her tiles, Joe suddenly quipped, “Hang on! You can make a better word than that.” He then looked around at us and asked, “I hope you guys don’t mind me helping Aida a bit.”

“It’s okay with me,” I said. Having seen her finish last so often, I’m not against Aida getting some help once in a while. Anita and Lin did not seem to mind either.

Joe softly discussed his option with his girlfriend, whose face suddenly lit up and cried, “Yes!”. She then rearranged the tiles she had put down plus the remainder on her rack to come up with the word `CHARMED’. She had just played what we call a Bingo in the game of Scrabble, which is a play of seven letters or more in a single move for a bonus of 50 points. The `D’ is now hooked to the first word that Lin made, to come up with `PLATED’, hence earning her more points. She ended up scoring a whopping 79 points on that single move alone.

It was the first time Aida has played a bingo, and her overwhelming delight was obvious for all to see. She was punching clenched fists in the air with glee and crying out, “Yes! Yes! Yes!”. It took a while for her to calm down. It felt good for me too, to see she has achieved something, even though with a little help. She thanked Joe profusely and with both hands, suddenly pinched Joe on both his cheeks as if he was a baby. “I could marry you for this!” she said. Joe’s reaction to all this was a simple kindly smile. I couldn’t help but smile a little myself.

As it turned out, luck was not with me in that opening round. I continued to draw terrible combinations of letters and, for the first time, finished the game in last position. For the first time too, Aida finished tops. The once unthinkable situation of me making tea for the group became a reality.

... to be continued.