..readers of my blog would know that I did my haj in 2011 when I was 66 years old..all through my career as a midlevel government servant, the haj never really crossed my mind..I have other worldly distractions and its accompanying problems to attend to..whilst most are of my own making, I would say that my lack of direction, due, in part, to my upbringing or lack of it, saw me going here and hither without really sprouting roots..I married chikani when I was forty..and a few years later I was made a bankrupt... for standing surety to a failed loan..an insolvent wage earner is not entitled to promotions and such...along with a denial to an international passport..a denial to travel outside the country...but that was not to stop me from marrying again when I was fifty..then youth was eternal and I thought the likes of me would never grow old...until I retired in June, 2000 and realised a few years later that age had, indeed, caught up with me...too late, I stopped smoking, slept early, rose early and maintained a resemblance of a healthy life style...I could not hold it in check..no matter the various shades of hair dye that I used..time waits for no man or coot..
..my third marriage taught me many things..but my second taught me that there is life other than chasing sarongs...her mother taught me how to read the Quran...I tried to catch up the balance my life as a Muslim..I completed the recitations when I was 45..married another at 50..and yearned for the haj at 60..but by then I had spent all of my gratuity on trying to alleviate the cost of old age by settling some of my debts and partial settlement of my housing loan, the loan was for my home in Bachok which I built rather late in my life...
...my Tabung Haji account was frozen....but there was a time-lock to my bankruptcy...on the 12th June, 2010 I received letters of release..it was a Saturday..I remember scooping up Ayam from my feet, kissing her..and the tears that welled in my eyes..for I then could almost see the Kaabah..
....thereon I prayed to the Lord, Allah...for His Mercy..for His Bounty...Praise be unto You, Allah...for in Your Hand the universe and beyond...
...I managed to pay my fare, and much more...He showered His Rezeki upon me from sources I could hardly imagine..O Allah, You have truly taught me the meaning of sedekah..
..and now, almost 3 years later, I am about to embark on a umrah.......
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