The night before we had listened to some Qur'anic readings from the corner mosque. In Singapore there was no amplification from the mosques allowed higher than sixty decibels—judged to be the strength of the normal human voice. In Malaysia—and previously Batam, Indonesia—the mufti and also the muezzin had been heard a number of times through the speakers. The night before the reading had failed to claim Zainuddin's attention and we soon forgot about it. At first, with the dusk descending, the assumption had been that it was the muezzin's call to prayer. Din explained otherwise.
Over his hot milk, ordered to counter the effects of some strong food that had been foisted upon him by a dining companion, Din told of his dispute a number of years ago with a hafiz back in Singapore.
A hafiz earned his honoured title having memorized the whole of the Qur'an, numbering altogether some six thousand verses. In this case this particular man was a few years older than Din and at one point had been some kind of teacher of his. Nevertheless, the moment arrived when the teacher was challenged by the student. In this case the teacher was unhappy about the matter. The discussion had arrived at the contentious question of stoning of adulterer or adulteress. Din asserted there was nothing in the Qur'an to justify such a measure. The hafiz wouldn't have it. Din wouldn't back down. The hafiz asked whether Din meant to challenge a man who had memorized the Holy Book. With all due respect, Din drew attention to the specific Arabic: caning was mentioned, in the presence of three just men. Nothing whatever to suggest stoning.
Some time later the hafiz's wife conceded to Din that he was in the right. Evidently the hafiz himself was not able to concede the same.
Zainuddin quoted the repeated admonishments in the Qur'an: Do you recite the words but not understand? Do you recite but not understand…. One would not want a lesser scholar or lesser man than Zainuddin Ismail Mohammed sitting in judgment on anything of importance. This afternoon it must have been the imam reading from the Qur'an prior to the Friday homily. Making one's way down after the jaunt to the shopping arcade within the Petronas Towers, the voice blared a little unusually. (Kinokuniya Bookshop sat within the small four storey building that spanned the two towers at the base of the structures. Nothing to report from the shelves: Murakami floor to ceiling in the double "Highlight" shelves, paper and hardback. A graphic novel apparently banned in Singapore—Harry Lee Kwan Yew, by an irreverent Australian author—was passed up; as well as another new Zizek volume. A small branch of Kinokuniya in KL; some of the local history volumes a little enticing.)
The voice from the loudspeakers seemed to strain more than a little. It would have been good to have had Din's opinion. The chap's voice broke at a couple of points, a kind of wailing effect. The Friday homily or prayer usually lasted about fifteen minutes. The more even voice in that delivery was soon forgotten at the Eatery that was in the same street as the mosque, a short distance from the corner. The time passed; a half hour slipped.
It was never an especially busy street, Jalan Raya Muda Abdul Aziz.
The little stream had not been noticed at first. As it kept up, slowly it became apparent.
The Friday homily and prayer was over; the men out and away. A number had taken cigarettes and began to light up as they passed the Garuda eatery. One might think the difference in people after prayers at mosques, churches and temples should be apparent. That afternoon in Chow Kit, by repute a dangerous drug area, where trannies worked nearby back allies, it was not the case. The foot-traffic had not been noticed immediately. As it kept up eventually the penny dropped. Some of the men came in pairs and small knots; in the main it seemed to be individuals, less than half with head cover. Dark faces, but with a deal of variation in shading.
As the stream slowly paced up the incline the realisation arrived. A kind of simple sauntering it seemed, without semblance of altered habit or thought.
The neat attire was not noticeable at first; the loose clothing, the shirts hanging out and the sandals gave a deceptive impression. This was not the Sunday best; at least not of the sort one was used to in an affluent country. There was a general sprucing. But contemplation and reflection was not apparent.
In one of the Paki places to which he had been taken a few days before, Zainuddin mentioned a certain remoteness in the North Asians he observed there. A man with roots in the Tamil South of India sensed little of Islam among the Pakistani foreign workers. They were preoccupied with something else, Din said. The men returning from the mosque may have been something similar. Many were foreign workers; some Arabs in long robes. One old man added a magnificent red and white checkered shawl. Malays seemed very much in the minority.
Chow Kit, Kuala Lumpur
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