The lady in black abayyah (Part 3)

Synopsis from part 2: Something happened and that was why she came to Colombo. My curiosity grew stronger each day, so I decided to spend some time with her -  in her room. My mission was to know exactly what happened to her back home and why did she come here? And also, why was she always wearing abayyah even at bedtime (or did she change to other clothes right before going to bed?).

Everytime I peeked into Aunty Anne's room, I saw her doing the same thing in the same position - sitting on the prayer mat with her back against the bed. After breakfast the following day, my parents went out for grocery shopping and the younger siblings were watching 'Land Before Time' cartoon from  Universal Pictures production. I walked up the stairs to Aunty Anne's room. The door was slightly openned. I knocked..silent..knocked again..still not answered. So I slowly pushed the door and peeked inside. I saw Aunty Anne sitting on the prayer mat with her back leaning against the bed and tasbih beads in her hand.. She looked surprise when I sat beside her. I told her that I knocked but she did not answer, she apologised for not  hearing me knock. Then she stood up to sit on the bed, I joined her. 

Aunty Anne looked naturally beautiful even though her jilbab was not neatly worned. She was wearing a different abayyah that day -  plain black with small black sequines. I wonder how many more abayyahs in her Samsonite suitcase. I asked Aunty Anne everything I wanted to know about her - my questions were plain and straight forward. I hope she was not annoyed...wished I gave more attention to mama's etiquette lectures. Aunty Anne answered in the most simple words. According to Aunty Anne, she had had a wonderful and colourful life. As far as I could remember, this was what I understood that day - She is a divorcee. She was the wife to 'somebody' well-known and well to-do (I better not reveal his name). According to Aunty Anne, her previous life  looked perfect to the common eyes - loving husband, luxury life style within the aristocrat circle..something like 'if you want it, just name it and you'll get it'. That explained the branded shoes and handbag, I must be correct about the facial treatment too. Later on she met someone who took her love entirely away from 'dunya'. 'Dunya' is a word in Arabic  which means, in Islamic terminology, the temporal world—and its earthly concerns and possessions—as opposed to the eternal spiritual realm, or the hereafter[1].  Her ex-husband did not see what she saw, when they no longer share the same passion nor speak at the same frequency, they seperated. She did not mentioned anything about having a child (or children) and I did not ask. Since she met this person, her life dramatically changed - abayyah was just one of those changes which everyone could see. She said not many welcomed her anymore, unlike when she was in mini skirts and flashing red lipsticks. That explained why she accepted my invitation on the flight, it has been a while since she made new friends. Oh by the way, she did changed to pyjamas right before going to bed.

A few if not many members of our society relate abayyah with orthodox Islamic followers. I remembered sometime in the 80's before I entered primary school, women in abayyah were teased 'ghost' or specifically 'hantu kom-kom' - even children made fun of them and their parents never utter a word about such behaviour. "O Prophet, tell your wives and daughters, and the believing women, to cover themselves with a loose garment. They will thus be recognised and no harm will come to them" 33:59 . Abayya is an example of the loose garmet - it is a long cloak that covers the whole body. Nowadays, we have modern abayya made from various fabrics and in many colours. But those days - just loose black. Anyone wearing old fashioned black abayya reminded me of my aunty (the wife to abah's eldest brother). My uncle has been a tabligh preacher since I can remember, so I grew up seeing  half of my female relatives wearing abayyah as their daily attire. Maybe that was why I invited Aunty Anne without thinking twice. I admired her will power and self confidence to face dirty looks and bear dirty words - to her it was a sweet path to get closer to Allah. Her purpose of life also changed from 'living life to the fullest' to 'serving the Creator and nothing else matter'. Her time was allocated only to worship HIM as if Izrail [2]  is sitting by her side unpatiently waiting to perform his duty - thus money, glamour, Noritake, Royal Albert, jewelleries, Mercedes you name it all (because the list never ends) were meaningless and worth less than a penny. That explained why she behaved and acted the way I previuosly described in the last chapter. She saw life in a totally different perspective; to many of us..its like no life! I was 4 decades younger than Aunty Anne..the information was too much for me to digest that it made me so scared. Suddenly for the second time in my 14 years of life I felt sorry to be born. The first time was when I learned all living soul will definitely die - this was when I was 7 years old. I was so crossed and scolded mama for bringing me to earth (I was too young to understand that abah should be blamed too in this case). It took me awhile to accept that fact - I got over it when my brother was born three years later. The second time at 14 years old, I became scared of growing up...'Peter Pan was right!' shouted my mind - so many uncertainties and frustrations. From Aunty Anne's experience, my imaginative mind got wild that it started printing a list of all possible worse case scenario of my life-to-be. Faces of the unfortunate people living on the streets whom I saw on the way home from the airport came back like flash cards. 'What if I die young and not see what Aunty Anne saw?' That was the starting point I see life beyond the ordinary.

Aunty Anne also told me that she came all the way to Colombo with an empty heart but a strong will to look for a 'Syeikh'. A pupil of this 'Syeikh' shared an insight of  iman that made her change - and she wanted more. The problem was she had no clue where to find this 'Syeikh'; even though Ceylon is a small island, it required more than just luck to search for a specific man. She told me that she has been praying asking Allah to guide and help her find this 'Syeikh'.

I do not know whether Allah sent me and my family to her or the other way round because it just so happened that abah knew this 'Syeikh'! This 'Syeikh' came to the Malaysian Embassy a few months ago, and that was how abah met him. We managed to take Aunty Anne visit the 'Syeikh' at his house and later on she joined a group of sufis at a mosque where this 'Syiekh' held regular lecture. The day Aunty Anne left,  mama and I agreed that we missed her presence at home. That evening abah took us to Galle Beach - a beautiful seaside near the southern end of the Sri Lanka. As I watched the sunset, I praised Allah for what HE has given me. At that moment once again I secretly said a prayer - Allah has not answered that prayer so I'll keep it secret  for now. Finally, this is where the story ends. Thank you for reading.

Author's note:
This event happened in 1993 when the world is much tamer than the one we are currently in. If you have children - advise them 'Do not talk to strangers'. 

Ref:

[1] : Wikipedia definition

[2]: Izrail - the angel of death. He is responsible for parting the soul from the body. He is only referred as malak al-maut, meaning angel of death, in the Qur'an