The Original Old Town

PROLOGUE

I had the title and even the content in mind when I was away for the two weeks in February. I was sure I was going to write it the way I saw it - nothing more, nothing less.

But I had second thought of writing my mind upon my return. I was told by Ustaz Andi, that it is better to write about the good things so as to encourage others to make the journey of a lifetime rather than discourage them.

Furthermore I thought what I had done, seen or experienced was way too personal for me to blog here in detail.

Sure, this is a personal blog. Everything that has been written is mainly for my internal consumption and record of my thoughts and my own journey in this world, but it is open to the world to read though 'open to the world' is a bit of an overstatement.

I realize that.

There are things better left unsaid or unwritten, I guess. So, many - it is relative anyway, will remain etched in my memory, untold.

There are many books or essay or blog - good and bad, written about this topic. I would welcome you to read them. Mine will always remain with me.

Unless I am invited over for some teh tarik sessions with some friends, like in the aftermath of the funeral of Atuk's wife on the 1st of March. ;-)

And may be over time I will be persuaded to change my mind.

Oh and please listen to Ron Goodwin while you continue reading this.

Al Ula Old Town

I guess it has nothing to do with white coffee and roti bakar kaya, so don't start looking for them. We were given a (small) cup of coffee upon our arrival as an Arabic greeting, but to be honest, I could not finish it off. The coffee and whatever in it was just too strong and the taste too peculiar for me.

But at least I can vouch for its halalness, compared to the local Old Town, right?

This is the real (and original) old town. Whatever else that we may have over in our malls are fake! ;-)

This old town is a unique example of an Islamic city from the classical period. its houses were built during the 13th century AD (7th centure AH) with extensive use of stone retrieved from the ruins of al-Khuraibah. Many of these stones bore inscription and decoration. These houses had no opening on the ground floor other than a fortified entrance. The ceilings were made of palm trunks and then covered with palm fronds and mud.

I am glad the Saudi government has decided against tearing this town down as they have always done with many other historic sites especially those related to Islam.

Bid'ah would be their reason to keep everybody quiet.

And this is one of the reasons I should be keeping my thought to myself.

As it is indicated, a castle, from which many of the pics below were taken could be linked to a Islamic commander Musa bin Naseer.

If you read carefully the inscription above, you would be amazed with the planning taken in building this town.

Al Ula, to the uninitiated like me before the journey, was an important mercantile centre located in the principal trade route in the ancient time linking southern Arabia like Yemen with the likes of Egypt and Syria. It lies 370 km North of Madinah al-Munawarrah.

It is related to the Kingdom of Dadan dated fifth or sixth century BC.

Our prophet Muhammad, SAW, passed by Al Ula on his way to Tabuk in the year 9H (630 AD).

The Al Ula valley is blessed with fertile soil so it is a very important valley in producing fruits, grains and vegetable in Arabia.

We had the opportunity to visit this old town in February. Let's give you an aerial view of the old town first. This can be done by climbing up the castle next door to the town.

Halfway climbing the castle, one can now see the old village.

The old village is in the foreground, with part of the castle on the left. This old town has been left aside for conservation. The new town of Al Ula, where the current residents reside, is in the background.

A close up of the heritage village. It may look ugly and unkempt, but to my eyes, this town is so beautiful.

And now that we have an idea of how the village looks like, let's go inside.

We started going inside the village. It was quite late - very late actually, in the afternoon actually, but wanting to now more how people lived in the old days, we cast aside any doubt or apprehension.

Charles Doughty who visited Al Ula in 1876, gave the following account of his visit, "The narrow town streets are very clean but very much darkened because of overbuilding, necessitates by the restricted ground area. At every door step, there is a typical Arabian style clay bench."

"There is no litter in the streets and dogs are not allowed to walk by. There is no market either and daily provisions are sold after sunrise at street corners; mutton and goat meat are sold in mid afternoon outside the city walls and every inhabitant comes out to sell the fruits grown in his own house garden."

A street in the old town. Narrow street is the feature of the town. The shape of the facade was probably inspired by incense burners or altars brought from al-Khuraiba.

C Doughty carries on with his account of Al Ula: "I sat down on a bench with a group of people, in the street; they were very friendly with me and none of them made any improper comment to me. Sheikh Dharir's son then came to invite me to have breakfast at his father's house before we went to the quest room. Every Sheikh has such a room in the ground floor of his house, where coffee is served at special times of the day."

Akmal posing along the lane we were not allowed to venture into, for safety reasons.

Inside one of the house.

More of the lanes inside the village. It surely feels like a maze of corridors inside the old town.

If you decide to be the last person, the atmosphere can be quite intimidating and the surrounding eerie.

At a glance, it does look like a cowboy's town. A deserted one that is.

This is the view at the back of the village. There is a sundial used to show the beginning of each season. May be here was the market in the old days.

Can you imagine people living here in the old days?

As pointed out, there is a castle on the side of the village on top of a hill/rock. To me it looks like a tower watching over the village.

This is the castle I mentioned above.

Part of the original staircase carved out from the hill 2600 years ago.

The view on the opposite side of the village.

The very first pix is the view of the hotel we were staying in from the castle.

Cycling Down Memory Lane

Kembara Blogger Hariri @ Lenggong on Saturday 13 March 2010.

I had never thought that at this age and time I would be doing this.

It is a nostalgic expedition - going through places that used to be our playgrounds, this time on bicycle and that house in the background and its compound were the ultimate playgrounds for the Hariris.

Our starting point was at our old house at Pokok Jerai near Simpang Labit.

Except for yours truly, the others are reasonably fit. They have been cycling for months already. I, on the other hand, have not touched the bicycle for more than a year now and that bicycle had sat in my house with two flat tyres until 3 days before the expedition.

To make matter worse, I have also not jogged for more than a month now.

To be honest, I am not much of a cyclist. Yes, I did my tour of Ipoh circa 1983/84 and when they were young, cycling was something I would do in the afternoon with the kids, but any day I would prefer jogging (on a treadmill) as I would not have to leave my home and not worry having to get someone to rescue me should I tire myself out.

So when I was asked to join, I said yes, but deep within me I was not too keen. The only reason I said yes was because of the location.

To me, it would be like cycling down memory lane and it was not something I would want to miss out.

We left Pokok Jerai at 8 am and reached Labit by 8.30 am, passing through Bukit Raja, which I had mentioned in my fotopages (it has an 'rumah tinggal' or 'rumah berhantu' right in the middle of the jungle in the hill), the beautiful paddy fields of Kg Teluk Batu (which I used to cycled across going to the other side of Lenggong main road) and off to Labit.

It took us less than 30 mins of leisure cycling to reach the river bank of Sg Perak at Labit.

And then I saw this beautiful scene. To me, it was as close as one can get to a picture-postcard scenery. I was so overtaken by the scene to be honest and thought that it was so tranquil and peaceful that I can sit here for hours and enjoy this scene. I am so glad to have lived in some of the most beautiful places in Malaysia.

Mind you the pic was unedited, so you can imagine the real thing from the picture above.

Sometimes I do wonder why do I bother going through these places as they bring back memories - sweet memories, of the good old days as it makes me yearn for the years gone by. Now if only someone had unlock the secrets of time travel...

And no, this was not the location we had our swim like in the previous posting. I am sure we had a more strategic location for our swim then, somewhere between Labit and Temelong.

Arif, Akmal and I were last here in 1999 when we dropped by on our way home from KB. At that time, there was still a boat service connecting Labit and Chepor. Now with two bridges on either side, there was no need for such service anymore.

From Labit, we had to cross the river using a boat. Of course it took 3 trips to transport us all including 3 bikes across the river. It was an uneventful crossing, just the way I like them.

As they are no longer serviced by boat, it was lucky for us that Latif knew who to contact for the boat ride.

YOu can see Chepor on the other side of the river in the above picture.

We were told that during those days, the Cheporians would have to cross over using boat if they want to have their teh tarik and the only location they could have teh tarik was in Lenggong town.

Nowadays, you would find so many gerais and warungs throughout the kampungs and they have no need to battle their way for their favourite drink.

The view right from the midpoint of the Perak River. The mighty river was tamed by Lokman and I in 1972.

As we approach Chepor...

From here on onwards, we had to find our way through the villages along the Perak River. We had though that we would be cycling through lanes along the River but it was not that straight forward. We had to find our way to Chepor, Pulau Cheri, Luat and Kampung Beng.

A kilometer inside the off road, we stopped to catch our breath due to the steep hill and to pressurize the tyre a bit more for the tandem bike.

However, one thing led to another, and we ended up having to replace two tubes for the tandem. Well, I didn't do anything at all. Just let the pro do the job here and luckily for me, well, my bike behaved like an old pro itself.

A cheap bike I must admit, but one that did not give me any trouble during the expedition, except that the owner is an old man who has difficulty moving his muscles (for long period) to power the bike.

That's the only problem, but that's not the bike's problem though. ;-)

After 4 km riding off road, we found our way to Pulau Cheri with its tarred road. It was a bit of a relief as eventhough this blogger had bought a spare tube, he left it inside the car he left behind at Pokok Jerai. So the spare tube would be useless in the event it was needed.

Some much for planning or in my case, non planning actually.

And then we went to Surau Pulau Cheri.

The compound of the Surau Pulai Cheri is immaculate. It also offers a very good view of Bukit Bunuh and the Sg Perak. The surau however was a non-descript wooden building.

But it was a very clean one.

The road leading to the Surau with a view. The hill on the right is Bukit Bunuh.

How did the hill get its name? Legend has it that there used to live a poor couple. One day the husband dreamt that in order to be rich, he would have to kill his wife. He related it to his wife and his wife agreed to be killed so that his husband would be rich and respected by the kampung folks.

Would you believe that? It is unthinkable nowadays, right? Then again, may be not. People do worst things than this, including murdering one's wife or children.

Herein lies disagreement on the finality of the story.

One school of thought said that while the wife was bathing in sintuk limau before being killed, there was this huge tempayan floating in the rives that contained riches that would last several general generation and they lived happily ever after.

Another school of thought said that after his wife was killed, he did not find any hidden treasure anywhere and were a broken man even worst than his fate before.

OK, it was just a legend recorded in the Archaeological Museum of Lenggong!

Pulau Cheri is central to our memory because of this house. Bapak used to 'mengaji' and 'berguru' with Lebai Johan on the weekends, and he would take me and my bro along and spent the night at this house.

There are many amazing stories about Lebai Johan and I guess Lokman can probably tell many of it. You can also read a bit on my entry on the 1969 riot to know about the background.

However during those days, the journey from Kota Tampan from the other side of the river can be quite tiring and taxing to kids like us. I think the walking distance could be more than 3-4 km, I am not sure. It seems short enough for us on bikes in 2010. It is this journey that we were trying to replicate with this expedition albeit being in reverse direction.

More stories can be found at latif's blog here.

However, I do wonder about Pulau Cheri. Isn't it a misnomer and how did it get its name in the first place? I had never questioned that name to be honest when I was a kid, and the area seems too big to be an island, and it certainly is not an island.

We then visited Pak Cik Hassan but I guess you can read more of that in Latif's blog.

Then we hit the Kota Tampan bridge which was not there during the 70s and we had to call for our sampan to take us across the river.

This is view from the Kota Tampan bridge in the direction of Kuala Kangsar. Right at the end of the river in the pic (on the right), we would have to call for the sampan to take us to the other side and then we would begin the 4-5 km walk. May be less, but the walk during those days is more difficult than currently as it was only a lane fit for a bicycle.

But may be then it was shadier than today.

Latif, Izzuddin and Rasi on the bridge. By this time, it is already noon and the sun is shining hard upon us that day.

Still the view from the Bridge (anyone remember Kim Wilde's song View from A Bridge? It is such a nice song.) This time towards the direction of Lenggong.

As were were cycling toward our (sampan) landing place in the 70s, we saw this nice (small) lake, and with Latif's tandem bike giving him problem that would require them to go to a mechanic, I took the opportunity to sit and enjoy this precious lull moment in my life.

Absorbing all that are before me.

Aah, relaxing under the shade and cooled by this small lake.

However, that was the end of the shady road for us. No more kampung road after this. Back to the main road and with the gradient and sun conspiring against us, we had to walk our way up this hill, with yours truly always the last person.

This was Latif and Izzudin walking their bike up the hill with yours truly way behind them. Rasi was nowhere to be seen as he was too fast for us.

No trees this time around to protect us against the harsh mid-day sun.

At times, along the way, one would think that it was snowing in Lenggong. One would find quite a bit of Pokok Kekabu along the way and I guess the whites of 'kekabu' on the roads and road shoulder as if it had been snowing. Of course the weather would not have allowed such freak of nature to occur.

I was wishing for it though.

We did go to Lubuk Kawah where we thought the rumah rakit that we used to frequent was. But by then, I was too tired and decided against going anywhere that would take me further away from Lenggong town.

After resting, we headed back to Lenggong.

As we cycled from Kota Tampan heading to Lenggong, we passed by Masjid Kampung Banggol Belimbing. It was quite a mosque and a landmark for us during those day. I thought it is a nice small mosque, well kept and maintained. The fact that Cikgu Ainon lives nearby would make it even more significant to us. When we saw the mosque on our way back from Taiping or Kuala Kangsar, one would immediately know that Lenggong is only a short-distance away.

From Banggol Belimbing, and Cha'in, I knew Lenggong is within touching distance. But we still have to conquer the inclined road leading to the town as shown in the pix taken by Latif/Izzuddin of yours truly pedaling hard.

It was nearly 2 pm, and at that point I was only thinking of the finishing line. "Just a little bit more," I was saying to myself, "once you reach the top, it would be downhill from there and you are home free."

All I can do then was lower my gaze, concentrate on telling my muscles to move my legs in a circular movement to pedal the bicycle forward.

Despite the aches.

Yes, once we reached the top, what a view it was, and it was all downhill from here. No need to cycle and just let gravity pulls you through pekan Lenggong and of course to Din's restaurant.

To me, it was a big relief especially since we didn't stop since Cha'in and the inclination of the road across SMDA, while it was nothing on a normal day, especially if one were driving, it was quite taxing for us as we were on our last leg of the expedition.

At last, meals and chat time at Din's Restaurant - Din was a classmate from my primary schooldays in Lenggong. We were able to sit and enjoy this moment, as we are practically done with the Kembara even if we are not at the starting point. And the remnant of the dishes were good actually.

All in all, we covered about 30 km that day and for practical purpose we completed the expedition by 2 pm, so it took us 6 hours or so to do so. It was not meant as a race against time. It was purposely a leisure cycle; we took the time to smell the roses, so to speak.

And the roses are sweet, I must say.

We managed to roll back the years in six hours.

EPILOGUE

Obviously I am not going to cover all angles. So you can read more at Latiff's I Spread My Wing blog. The entry is here.

More pictures can be found at my fotopages.

This is the map of Bukit Bunuh (right in the middle of the map). We were traversing along the Perak river on Eastern bank. It give some perspective of the location we were at during the expedition.

Le Tour de Labit

Long before cycling becomes a fashion that it is today with expensive bikes with multiple gears and suspensions, cycling was a way of life for everybody, young and old.

During those days, it was the Raleigh. It was the Merc of the bicycle world. You would want to be seen in one. Then came the chopper with the U shape handle. Every kids would want to be seen in one.

I guess most of the bikes we owned were practically hands me down. I remember during those days in Lenggong, we must have gotten our bikes from Kuala Kangsar - may be hands-me-down from our uncle.

No, no chopper, but for us kids in the early 70s, it was like having a car of our own. With it, our legs became longer, so to speak. We can cover more distance in shorter time and effort, and the whole town and the surrounding kampungs became our play ground.

We were no longer confined to Lenggong town itself.

I don't exactly remember how it began, but I do remember Lokman and I scheming it at school. We tried to get buy in from Eddy (Ridzwan), but he was not interested for some reasons - he was a good kid then unlike us. ;-)

So I guess it was left to the two of us.

I must have gone to Lokman's house first in an attempt to camouflage our our plan and we made our moves from there on, in a convoluted way back to the Jalan Teluk Batu heading to Labit, and further even though it added up more miles to our journey.

Our destination?

Sungai Perak!

Of course we could not tell our parents as the answer would be an empathic no, and hence I had to scheme my way towards Lokman's house eventhough it made the distance further away.

Kids on bicycles! What else you would expect them to do? We would race each other of course along the way. No wheelie and the likes during those days as the term rempit was unknown then. In sport, there was no way I could get the better of Lokman - he was the school runner and yours truly was practically the last kid out of the block during Std 1's Merebut Gula-gula.

As Lokman had stated when he related this story, "Aku dgn Rahman banyak nostalgia... . Antaranya jatuh basikal kat jalan Teluk Batu hala ke Labit.... Kalau lawan lari, Rahman memang ketinggalan coz dia masa tu montel...."

So to cut the story short, I decided to race Lokman thinking that we are equal on the bike, unlike on the track. As we were going downhill - and I am sure it was Lokman ahead, either I hit a stone on the road or a pothole and lost control of the bicycle and I had a close and personal introduction to the bitumen and the wonders of the hard modern road as designed by McAdams but as built by Malaysian contractors.

Kata Lokman, "Kau jatuh basikal masa tu kita tengah training utk racing tour d labit....Masa tu kau kan montel, kononnya nak overtake aku, tapi ada batu tengah jalan, apa lagi terguling le..."

(It reminded me of a Sudir's song Ding A Ding Gale - Nasib saya kurang baik, sudah langgar sama batu. In Sudir's case, polis mari tangkap baju; for me well...terguling)

Bleeding profusely on my knees and elbow, I picked up the bicycle which was still in one piece. I guess I was too, though the cut on the elbow looks really bad.

But then I guess I was 9 years old and I was a superman (even if Lokman may not agree since I was unable to overtake him). We did not abandon our mission and we went to Sg Perak and had our day swimming in it. The hurt and pain had gone and the joy of swimming in the real river of Sg Perak must have acted like a painkiller.

Mind you this was not some small river at the back of someone's house. This was the mighty Perak River, which two dams were built to generate electricity.

When this story was retold in the school forum, Saaya reminded us that we dropped by at his house that day and Lokman being the Mat Menyemat that he was, would still maintain his 'remos' by using the mirror at his house after we had our fun in the river.

Kata Saaya to Lokman, "Aku ingat lagi Lokman, hang dgn Rahman jatuh basikal tu, kalu tak silap aku mika gi Labit lepas tu kelik kot Temelong. Mika singgah kat rumah aku. Masa tu darjah 3. Hang nak tumpang sikat rambut. Hang ni masa darjah 3 dah pandai menyemat."

I guess to complete the story, we cycled back to Lenggong and eventhough we passed by my house first, I did not go back and instead went to Lokman's house. We managed to find some cottons and iodine to clean up the cuts and if I remember it correctly use a blue masking tape to cover the cuts on the elbow.

Upon reaching home, Mak saw the elbow with a big plaster and interrogated me.

Mak: Tangan tu kena apa?

Me: Jatuh pokok rambutan kat rumah Lokman. (yes, rumah Lokman, behind the clinic, has a rambutan tree).

Mak: Habih, mana rambutannya?

Me: Dah habih makan.

She did not ask further. But later that night, bapak saw the cut and thought it was quite bad. The clinic has already closed, and I guess the 'dressar' was already asleep, but Bapak woke him up and asked him to do dress up the wound on my elbow properly.

Until his death, he did not know the real story but I guess I must have told Mak recently.

Back at school the next day, of course Eddy had a field day mocking us for doing what we did. "Ha, tulah, orang dah cakap jangan pegi, nak pegi jugak. Tuh baru jatuh basikal," he said, matter-of-factly.

He was of course right. Had anything happened, I would not be floating as my degree of 'montel-ness' would have taken me deep into the river bed of Sg Perak. I am not sure Lokman would have been able to rescue his big-sized friend, even if he was a swimmer.

Luckily, nothing untoward happened and we lived to tell our tales.

But as Lokman had pointed out, he remembers our Labit tour very well and it became central to our memory of our childhood in Lenggong. Even friends like Saaya would remember it eventhough he didn't partake in our stupidity that day.

(Caption: Me when I was in Std 3 in front of our house in Pokok Jerai next to Simpang Labit. Innocent then, but mischievous nonetheless. What do expect of kids in a small remote town called Lenggong in the early 70s? But look at those trousers. I am sure the trousers was starched before they were ironed! It is shiny and crisp.)

The scars remains, as it was quite a bad cut. It serves as a reminder too; not much of our sense of stupidity but more of our sense of adventure back then.

Seperti kata Lokman tadi, "Itulah kenangan yg tak dapat aku lupakan dgn kau Rah(Man). Tapi malangnya kita terpaksa berpisah coz kau pindah ke Kuala tak silap aku.."

"The feeling is mutual, I can assure you of that, Lokman." [sambil kesat airmata]

EPILOGUE

Kids from the 70s Lenggong. Now of course bapak budak or hmmm, may be tok budak pun possible dah kut?

The pix shows yours truly with his best friends from those days at his office in Kuala Lumpur scheming and planning the 2009 reunion. Lokman is next to him, second from left, followed by Aboy, Joe (the friend from the Little Red Corvette), Zamri and Jie.

Thirty seven years on.

Life is a marathon

After two weeks not having to write, I was beginning to think that writing is a chore.

Well may be not; and I hope not anyway.

The fact that Streamyx is down at my home certainly did not help. Trying to write in the office would be a futile exercise. There are just way too many things that I need to do, to even try.

But I am reminded this morning, on the way to the office that today the SPM results would be out. I don't have anyone on my side taking - Arif last year and Akmal will be next year, and neither nieces nor nephews I guess.

I don't remember much getting my SPM results other than that it was posted to us by Bapak. So I didn't have my fun at school with friends getting my results. In fact it was a non affair to be honest. It was work as usual at Leederville Technical College where we were doing our matriculation and no one bothered much about SPM results.

It was all forgotten - it was the past and by then the matric represent the future.

SPM in hindsight did not represent the future to be honest. It should not be the highlight of our lives as students. Hopefully, there will be many more years at the uni which is where you would want to excel more a student that during your SPM.

And of course 30 years or more of working life.

Life is a marathon and not a 100-m sprint. It is a personal journey in itself and is only a competition within ourselves.

EPILOGUE

Uh oh, am I beginning to sound like a preacher? An old one at that. ;-)

What on earth I am talking about? I have no idea myself!

This is not to say SPM is not important. It is important, if only in providing the foundation for our later years.

Kenangan Masjid Ihsaniah Iskandariah

Oleh MOHD.AZLI ADLANazli.adlan@kosmo.com.my

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SENJA itu Mohamad Anuar Abu Bakar, 60, seperti biasa ke Masjid Al-Wahidiah, Kampung Kuala Dal, Padang Rengas, Kuala Kangsar, Perak untuk mengimamkan solat Maghrib.

Tatkala hampir ke pintu pagar masjid, beliau merenung bangunan kayu unik berwarna kuning, putih dan hitam tersergam indah terletak bersebelahan masjid berkenaan.

Itulah Masjid Ihsaniah Iskandariah. Unik kerana ia satu-satunya rumah ibadah Islam di negara ini dan di dunia yang mempunyai dinding tepas iaitu diperbuat daripada kelarai atau anyaman buluh.

Kisah masjid itu cukup dramatik. Suatu ketika ia pernah menjadi nadi utama kerukunan dan simbol agama penduduk Kampung Kuala Dal.

Keadaan masjid tersebut agak uzur dalam tempoh lebih tiga dekad.

MASJID Ihsaniah Iskandariah semasa ia mula-mula ditinggalkan pada 1976 di Kampung Kuala Dal, Padang Rengas, Kuala Kangsar, Perak.

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"Namun ketika ia hampir menyembah bumi, Jabatan Warisan Negara melakukan kerja-kerja konservasi untuk membaiki kerosakan struktur bangunan tersebut dan 'menghidupkan' masjid yang berusia 74 tahun ini.

"Terasa macam mimpi, saya dan beberapa warga emas Kampung Kuala Dal cukup bertuah kerana dapat menyaksikan tiga frasa masjid ini iaitu dari 1930-an sehingga 1976, zaman kesuraman dari lewat 1970-an hingga 2009 dan kini zaman kebangkitan semula," katanya kepada Kosmo! ketika ditemui.

Mohamad Anuar yang juga Pengerusi Masjid Al-Wahidiah antara individu yang begitu dekat dengan Masjid Ihsaniah Iskandariah dan Masjid Al-Wahidiah.

Datuknya, Abdul Wahid Abdul Daud dan ayahnya, Abu Bakar Ismail juga pernah diamanahkan untuk menjadi imam di masjid kampung tersebut.

Abu Bakar lebih beruntung kerana berpeluang menjadi imam di kedua-dua buah masjid.

Masjid Ihsaniah Iskandariah dibina di atas sebidang tanah yang diwakafkan oleh seorang bangsawan, Juragan Abdul Shukur Mohammmad Ali dan pembiayaannya sebanyak 8,000 pound sterling (RM40,000) ditanggung oleh Sultan Perak ke-30, Sultan Iskandar Shah pada 1936.

Sebelum itu, Sultan Iskandar telah bernazar untuk membina sebuah masjid jika salah seorang daripada anakanda baginda yang gering sembuh.

WAJAH baru Masjid Ihsaniah Iskandariah yang menjadi kebanggaan penduduk Kampung Kuala Dal.

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Kampung Kuala Dal dipilih selepas baginda terlihat penduduk kampung berkenaan bersolat di sebuah madrasah yang usang ketika dalam perjalanan pulang berkelah di Lata Bubu tidak jauh dari situ.

Seni bina masjid tersebut diilhamkan sepenuhnya oleh Sultan Iskandar. Masjid tersbeut diinspirasikan daripada seni bina Istana Kenangan di Bukit Chandan, Kuala Kangsar.

Kenangan manis

Masjid yang diabadikan sempena nama baginda bercirikan seni bina tradisional Melayu Perak. Kesemua dindingnya diperbuat daripada panel kelarai bercorak intan yang dikenali sebagai dinding tepas atau tepus.

Antara keunikan lain masjid dua tingkat itu ialah reka bentuk binaannya yang menyerupai sangkar burung dan tingkapnya dihiasi ukiran serta bumbungnya kelihatan rata.

Masjid yang juga dikenali sebagai Masjid Lama Kampung Kuala Dal itu berbentuk empat segi dan tidak mempunyai kubah seperti masjid-masjid lain di seluruh dunia.

Semua struktur bangunan termasuk ragam dan kelarai dibina dan diukir oleh tukang-tukang kayu tempatan terkenal seperti Panjang Noh, Ngah Gadoh, Wan Ibrahim dan Kulup Ngah.

Masjid tersebut dirasmikan oleh Sultan Iskandar pada 11 Februari 1938 iaitu beberapa bulan sebelum kemangkatan baginda pada Oktober tahun sama.

Mohamad Anuar berkata, tingkat atas masjid tersebut dijadikan dewan solat yang boleh memuatkan 200 jemaah pada satu-satu masa manakala tingkat bawah dijadikan dewan perjumpaan, aktiviti kemasyarakatan serta persidangan pembesar negeri Perak.

Apakah kenangan manis Mohamad Anuar? Sebagai anak dan cucu bekas imam, sebahagian besar zaman kanak-kanaknya dihabiskan di sekitar masjid tersebut.

"Selain menjadi tempat beribadat hampir setiap masa, masjid tersebut memang sentiasa sibuk dengan aktiviti seperti kelas agama, kelas mengenal huruf dan membaca untuk golongan dewasa.

Kelas memasak, menjahit dan kraftangan anjuran Jabatan Kemajuan Masyarakat (Kemas) juga diadakan di situ.

KERJA-KERJA konservasi Masjid Ihsaniah Iskandariah siap sepenuhnya pada Julai 2009.

Sebuah pondok pengawal pernah dibina di perkarangan masjid tersebut pada zaman Darurat bagi memastikan keselamatan penduduk kampung daripada ancaman Komunis.

"Masjid semakin diimarah apabila tiba Ramadan. Kami berbuka puasa, bertilawah al-Quran dan solat tarawih bersama-sama.

"Selepas solat tarawih, sebahagian penduduk kampung akan meneruskan ibadat sunat seperti qiyammulail dan berzikir sehingga Subuh dengan cahaya pelita.

"Menjelang Syawal, arwah datuk dan beberapa penduduk kampung akan memasang panjut yang diperbuat daripada buluh dan tin susu di sekeliling perkarangan masjid bagi memeriahkan suasana," katanya.

Sepanjang ingatannya, Mohamad Anuar pernah berhadapan dengan satu pengalaman misteri semasa menemani ayahnya dan beberapa penduduk kampung lain berzikir dan beratib pada awal pagi Ramadan.

Katanya, ketika mereka asyik berzikir di tingkat atas Masjid Ihsaniah Iskandariah tiba-tiba lantai yang diduduki beralun-alun dan mengeluarkan bunyi seolah-olah turut berzikir.

"Saya terkejut dan ketakutan terus berlari mendapatkan ayah. Namun beliau dan beberapa penduduk kampung cuma bersenyum dan meneruskan aktiviti beratib. Peristiwa itu kekal misteri hingga sekarang," katanya.

Namun kegemilangan Masjid Lama Kampung Kuala Dal pudar apabila sebahagian strukturnya rosak teruk akibat dihempap dahan pokok durian sekitar 1976.

PEMANDANGAN tingkap Masjid Ihsaniah Iskandariah selepas kerja-kerja konservasi.

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Kejadian itu menyebabkan sebuah masjid baru yang lebih besar dibina bersebelahannya di atas sebidang tanah yang diwakafkan oleh datuk Mohamad Anuar, Abdul Wahid.

Sebagai mengenang jasa dan pengorbanan Abdul Wahid yang juga pernah menjawat Ketua Kampung Kampung Kuala Dal, masjid baru itu dinamakan Masjid Al-Wahidiah.

Mohamad Anuar memberitahu, biarpun sudah mempunyai masjid baru, kenangan penduduk kampung terhadap Masjid Ihsaniah Iskandariah tidak pernah pudar.

Pelbagai ikhtiar dilakukan bagi menyelamatkan warisan kebanggaan penduduk kampung itu.

Sementara itu, Pesuruhjaya Pesuruhjaya Jabatan Warisan Negara, Profesor Emeritus Datuk Siti Zuraina Abdul Majid berkata, masjid berkenaan telah digazetkan sebagai bangunan warisan negara. Kerja-kerja konservasi dimulakan pada Disember 2008.

Belasungkawa: Sapurah Yaacob (Jan 1963 - 27 Feb 2010)

Life is short, very short - it goes without saying.

While we all knew that, we acted as if that we would live through eternity and when death comes a calling, it would jolt you to your senses (albeit for a period and then life goes on, I guess). I was away on vacation when I was informed of her condition. Three days in coma, she breathed her last on Saturday evening and was buried in Bangi on Sunday morning, and as I was away, I had to miss her funeral.

Sapurah was a colleague from my MRSM days, and while we seldom got acquainted during those days due to us being in different classrooms and homerooms, I do remember verywell our - perhaps - first conversation as I had written about the 2003 Raya gathering "The Best Time to Plant a Tree".

As for Sapurah, it was an interesting conversation on career, study and family life. It never occurred to this writer that was our first conversation after all these years and it was like old friends, right Sapurah? Good luck with the study. If you need info on Islamic banking at UIA, let this writer know.

As I have said, may be that was our first (decent) conversation, but we chatted about anything that day, just like old friends. There was no inhibition and reservation on our parts, and I must say it strike me enough for me to write about it two weeks later of the 1st Jan 2003 gathering.

When we decided to do a reunion magazine, she was one of the first to volunteer her pix album, and together we were able to scavenge it for suitable pix to be used in the magazine. She was always a willing contributor to the cause. You will see that better in the write up I wrote on the 1st Jan 2003 gathering below.

That was about to change that day, thanks to the organizers. He was told that the Sapurah, the two Aya’s, and Ku were instrumental in getting the gathering going. A thousand thanks to them. Atuk according to the website came as early as 7 am to book the place and Sapurah was like a superwoman carrying all the drinks while this writer behaved like on big shot, and watched. Shame on him!

A mother of 7, the youngest being nine years old. A mother of seven would need to be a superwoman. That's a reflection of her life I guess - dotting mothers to her children I am sure.

But beyond that I knew very little of her life, other than that she was a good person and mother. Perhaps what I had written about her would give you an example of the kindhearted person that she was. The above pix was her with her son during the 2003 Raya gathering.

I am sure many tears were shed by her friends that day to mourn her passing.

Moga Allah mencucuri rahmat keatas ruhnya and dimasukkan kedalam orang yang diredhaiNya.

Amin.

Alfatihah.

EPILOGUE

I could have researched (ie talked more to her close friends) and wrote a lengthier obituary, but I thought a timely one would be better that a late, lengthier one.

On the other hand, yet another death occurred on Monday morning (1 March 10). The wife of Orang Kuat MRSMKB76 Saudara Ku Hamid aka Atuk died suddenly and was buried in Kota Damansara by asar. She left behind 3 children.

My condolence to Atuk and hope he and his family will be 'patient' with His test. Alfatihah.

I am relieved to have been able to pay the last respect and visit a friend in his hours of sorrow, this time around.