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My Bagan Datoh Vacation, Final Installment
My five children weren’t the only ones sick over the vacation. The wife was busy vomiting all over the place too. The problem: Penyakit buatan orang. That literally means a man-made illness but refers to a hex or voodoo curse placed on someone. Black magic is alive and well in Malaysia, at least in people’s minds. It is not uncommon to hear people complain of illness, change of a spouse’s affections or other problems as being caused by witchcraft and to seek remedy from bomohs, often in the form of Quranic verses and the like. In this case, though, the hex was placed by me: she’s pregnant. Thank you, thank you. Bin Gregory Production #6 is due sometime in early July. Blame it on Malaysian birth control.
I never imagined I would become the father of such a large family, but now that it is happening it feels very right, masha’Allah. When I reflect back, maybe I should have known it would be so. The family I had been closest to over the years prior to getting married was an American convert couple who have six kids. My wife’s wali and the mediator between me and my wife’s family back in Malaysia during our marriage process also had six kids. In fact I had completely forgotten, until my wife recently reminded me, that he had made dua for us on our wedding day that we should have more kids than him. Uh Oh.
Anyway, 
with all five kids down with the measels, and the wife incapacitated by a single-celled organism of a different nature, our vacation post-Pangkor consisted of me slipping out of the house on excursions for medicine, diapers, hot chocolate, and so on. Thus, my final offering to you from our school vacation is a windshield survey of the musallahs and masjids of Rungkup Road, Bagan Datoh. Not quite the Bridges of Madison County but I do what I can. You can also see all my photos of Islamic places of worship in Malaysia as a slideshow on Flickr.
In the heart of our kampung in Bagan Datoh lies the Masjid Jamek Jawiyyah, 
still intact and unchanged. Since it was built before running water, the 
The whole structure reflects a tremendous amount of care, skill and art on the part of the builders. The cross beam 
are all 
Every Friday there is a 
The ustaz sits crosslegged on the floor with a small wooden table on which is the Holy Quran in Arabic. He recites a verse, translates it on the fly and then proceeds to give classical tafsir and commentary from memory. The ustaz is an elderly man of the village, who, as is so common, has moved away to KL. He comes back every Friday just for this.
The mosque was built by the settlers of this area who were migrants from Java, hence the name. Although the kampung population has dwindled considerably due to urban migration, the main prayer hall is still full for juma’ah. The residents have a lot of affection for the building. Even in its heyday 
this region was never wealthy, yet the mosque was entirely built by hand by the community without government patronage. Many residents can still name which ancestor of theirs helped to build the mosque. May it be an unceasing source of blessings for those many souls who set their hands to establish this house of God.
As I’m sure is universal among muslim communities, Ramadan represents the high water mark of religious devotion, the time when the greatest number of people turn up for daily prayers. That’s followed by a Eid crash, when numbers plummet back down to, or even below, average levels, as everyone becomes distracted with the holidays. In a bid to remind the neighborhood that the 
If you’ve ever been involved in neighborhood politics, then you’ll know that it is extremely hard to motivate people to break from their routine to actively support neighborhood initiatives. Even ensuring a decent turnout is no easy feat. The sure-fire way to get the neighborhood to turn out is to pander to their children, and that’s exactly what we did. Two elderly ladies from the sisters committee rounded up a group of young kids and spent a week’s worth of afternoons teaching them a selection of nasheeds. 
Sure enough, turnout was high that night, with mothers with kids in the show forming a solid block in the ladies’ section. That evening, after the opening speeches from the e-board dignitaries, the kids took the stage for their performance. It was karaoke’d, but at least it wasn’t lip synched; you could still hear the kids singing. My two eldest were in the show, so of course I was entertained. They sang the lovely Sepohon Kayu, as well as some other songs I didn’t recognize.
We pray to God the daily prayers
Anyway, that was followed by a much more talented presentation by Kumpulan Muhibbah, an aspiring teenage nasheed group from Kuching. They came in matching outfits and with a complement of quality instruments, including a set of congos. I missed taking pictures of most of the performance since I had to take a little one back to the house for bedtime. Still, they were more than happy to pose for a photo after the show. 
The last event of the evening was the giving of small gifts to recognize those involved in the Ramadan meals and in the reciting of Quran during the holy month. Alhamdulillah, our musallah was able to khatam Quran during Ramadan, with an average of 10 men and boys and 5 women separately reciting a juz each night. My son was lucky enough to score a new pencil box despite only coming with me a couple times. It was a pleasant enough evening, and I met some people from the neighborhood who I hadn’t seen before. In that sense the evening was successful. But sad to say, since the event it has gone back to just the regulars for the daily five again.
