Where My Heart Is

Of all the places in this world, the one that the Almighty loves is the mosque, and the one that He loathes is the market. 

The reason simply, in the mosque there are acts of His remembrance. In the market (shopping centre, the mall etc.) people are absorbed in worldly transactions. I’m not so sure what would be the category of a surau in the shopping centre. Anyways ....

In my younger years, whenever there’s a school holiday I frequented my kampung’s mosque, especially during the Maghrib and Isya prayers. The last Thursday night (malam Jumaat) before the announcements of the SRP (right, I’m ancient), SPM and A-Levels results, I made a point to ask the Tuan Imam to mention my ‘hajat’ before the commencement of the Surah Yassin recitation. My hajat was that I hoped to get good results. 

If you have more than 40 people reading the Surah Yassin concurrently, the doa will surely be granted, without doubt. All worthy praise to the Almighty. I wonder why, not many students nowadays (or even during my time) resort to this. Sure work one (but of course, you have to study and work hard, on your dissertation, your viva etc. if you are in the universities).

Once in the UK, the mosques were the only place to mend the broken heart. One summer, I practically rented a room on top of the Carrington Street Mosque (al-Furqan), courtesy of Imam Shah-Sahib. It felt like heaven. Able to call out the azan, and opened the mosque doors during Fajr at 3.30 am. There are other notable mosques in Glasgow like the University Mosque (Dakwatul Islam) as well as the Central Mosque, which is bigger than the Regent’s Park Mosque in London.

Back in the country, my heart was very much full of glee (dah tak broken2 dah). 

Remember those lovely girls I introduced to my mum in JB? 

Whenever I had a rendezvous with them, as soon as it’s the time for prayer, I brought them to the mosque (I love the huge, white washed and airy Masjid Abu Bakar). Initially, it was kinda gawky as some of them were wearing tight skirts and all. But after few times, they voluntarily brought their own telekung. Hoping that all of them, stay steadfast in their daily prayers.

My first ever date with my wife was near a mosque in her college. The catchy ice-breaking para-phrase “I’m the great grandson of Tok Guru, your dad’s god-father”, was inspired in that very mosque.

At present, the nearest mosque from my house is the grand Masjid Al-Husna, opposite the cute lion statuette of Sunway Pyramid. In the month of Ramadhan, I bring the whole family for the Tarawikh prayer there.

The house and the mosque, that’s where my heart is.