of mengaji classes, tarawikh and noisy brats

Seeing that it’s Ramadhan and Arief is done with his exams, hubby and I decided to get him back on track as far as his mengaji is concerned. Our eldest, Shaf had also said he would like to go back to his former ustazah for some refresher of some sort. So after a quick call to the ever reliable Uztazah, I hollered to the boys last Saturday morning, ok kids, mengaji at 9:30 today! That of course did not go down too well with Arief because he was supposed to have a futsal match with some friends at 11 but no big deal, mengaji would be done before then so off you go..come on, no more excuses..! And at the last minute, hubby said, why don’t we send off our precious as well.

So there, Saturday officially became Haqim’s first day of mengaji..! yeay… off he went with his little jubah and skull cap, armed with a mini jawi book. He came back all excited, recited a portion of the alif, ba, ta and had written jawi very neatly in a new exercise book. Soo proud of him..! One funny thing though, Uzatazah had apparently told Haqim’s brothers to please talk to him in Bahasa more because Haqim speaks mostly English whereas Uztazah most certainly doesn’t. Then by Tuesday, which was his 3rd lesson, Arief told us, uztazah had begun speaking to Haqim in English…! Way to go Uztazah..!

Ok, now about tarawikh prayers. For many years we have been regulars at our neighborhood mosque, although once in awhile we do visit others, just for a change of environment. This year, we started off with the big mosque at Jalan Duta – Masjid Wilayah, and for hubby, there was no turning back. He likes the place so much he is willing to drive all the way there every single nite. I, on the other hand still prefer the familiarity of our mosque and all that it has to offer. We prefer to do 8, and they do just 8 at this small mosque of ours. Besides, it has adequate a/c, bacaan imam that is not bad and as soon as we’re done with witir, it’s immediately followed by ‘ratib’ that is so soo mendayu…

Despite the grandeur of Masjid Wilayah, I find it rather uninviting. And you would think a mosque of that size must have super cool air conditioning correct? Naaah..The rest cannot understand me when I tell them, the place is warm..! Very warm, unless you pick a spot right under the a/c louvers, in which case, you’d end up praying solo, when the rest of the female jemaah will most likely be way up front. And of course there they do 20 each nite, and so witir would be on our own and when you leave, there is no ‘feel’ , you know. But, hubby likes it there and although it’s not what I prefer, it’s not something worth arguing over. Besides, I know he doesn’t stop me from going to our mosque if I so wish. I’m the one who much prefer to go togeder-geder..

There are however, several nights where he agrees to go back to that familiar mosque near home. And last night was a case in point. But only for him to confirm that he much prefers Masjid Wilayah. So we have kinda reached a nice compromise. How nicely that plan will work- we will see-lah.

Ok, sothere I was last nite, that small mosque-lah. We got there just before Isyak prayers so I got a spot close to the back. However, it was a nice spot because it was also under the fans and so I had nothing to complain about. Oops, I spoke too soon. Halfway through my tarawikh, some familiar shrill came from the back. That familiar sound of little kids playing with toy cars, would you believe it - having loads of fun of course. I could only afford to curse them in my heart – ye lah, I was supposed to be praying remember..! When we stopped for breather between the ‘sets’ I turned in their direction and tried to give them a glare, din’t work..they were too far to my right. Good Lord, where in the world are your mothers??! These were not toddlers ok, they must be at least 5, 6 years old. Certainly old enough to understand that you’re not supposed to make a racket dalam masjid. Bapaknya pulak entah lah ke mana, don’t see why they could not just follow their dad and pray along.

Ok, so one young mom came behind, reprimanded her kid and for the rest of the time, that particular boy was quiet. For the other 2, it was still party time. One was even dressed in one of those super heroes PJs complete with flowing cape, no wonder he was so hyper! Ok, Pak Imam, err, do you think I can interrupt and make an announcement at this juncture, do you allow that..? Noo.? Oh well, just wondering..

Ok, ok, so maybe these moms don’t have maids so they have no choice but to bring their kids to the mosque..well, then make sure they behave- lah for heavens sake! Or sembahyang je lah kat rumah – kalau dah anak tu tak reti bahasa, sampai terlalu menganggu jemaah lain…(ok, if I just use the word ‘mengong’ or something, would that constitute me being rude and therefore disallowing me from collecting brownie points for todays’ puasa..? ok, so I won’t use the word then..) See, the thing is, I don’t know how these moms can just continue as if all was well. The kids were loud ok, very loud! When we were all done, I turned to see what the mom looked like. I saw an elderly lady who looked like their maid, (ok, so dia pun sembahyang juga ke....) and then the young mom came, and merrily collected all the toy cars which by then were scattered all over the back. Oh, did I mention they had lego blocks too? The place is not carpeted all the way to the back so imagine the din they were making with legos and toy cars on the marble flooring! The super heroes had vanished by then, probably they had a rescue mission.

I just sighed as I left. Ok lah sayang, tomorrow nite we’ll go masjid wilayah ok..?