Simple

It was, by far, one of the best Maulidur Rasul events I’d experienced.

Each year, for the last five years, Masjid Al Amin’s Indian Muslim Madrasah has been organising Maulidur Rasul events (“maulids”) for the Indian-Muslim folk at Telok Blangah. The staple items would be the...

(a) standard singing of maulid poetry/songs by middle-to-old age men (set uncomfortably to the tunes of olden Hindi and Tamil songs)
(b) recitation of the Holy Qur’an
(c) nasheed or two
(d) bayaan by a respected Ustaz
(e) distribution of tabaruk (or “seerni” or “nerchair”, which will be briyani) at the end

I think the mode of delivery of (a) is extremely obsolete and has become almost irrelevant and meaningless these days. These are verses of powerful poetry praising the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.), but due to the difference in language (Arabic) and the horrible singing, no one pays attention, let alone understand the beautiful verses. Either someone should sing them nicely or explain what the verses mean.

(e) is the reason, in my perspective, most Indian Muslim women come for the maulid with their screaming children. I say so because I’ve actually HEARD conversations between housewives such as the following:

- “Hey [name]. What are you waiting here for? You’ve got the briyani, the job’s done. Why don’t you go back home?” or
- “Yo [name], I’ve sent my triplet 5-year-old sons to collect three more briyani packets. Why don’t you re-send your daughter to collect, since they won’t give an adult more than one packet?”

But we console ourselves saying that at least people are made to come to listen to uplifting bayaans through an incentive.

This year’s maulid was the first where I did not do anything (I used to be the host for four consecutive years and also sing in the nasheeds). As an audience member, I was mesmerized by the professionalism of the new host, a brother whom I placed my full trust and who delivered very brilliantly. I was awed by the creative nasheed performances, which departed from the last few years’ style by lowering the intensity the hadra and increasing the spirit of the song. I was excited by the guest speaker’s (the Bencoolen Mosque Imam) analytical bayaan on how the Prophet s.a.w.’s miracles are actually all reflections and the total sum of all the earlier prophets’ miracles, even though they are underplayed in the Holy Book.

Overall, I was uplifted by the entire programme of the afternoon, which was short and simple, but very substantial and impressive in terms of the talents that dwell in the madrasah. I’m very proud of all the brothers and sisters who made it a big success, alhamdulillah.

I’ve always been proud to be in the madrasah since the first days I joined the class in 2002. Jalsa was my mentor then, being a pioneering member for 8-plus years, and wearing a sarong on the first day I came for clas. There were several folks of my age group back then. But due to National Service and other commitments, that age group became smaller and the pool of children aged 9 to 11 increased manifold.

In spite of that, the madrasah’s high standard in terms of “doing the job” during an event has been constant, in no small contribution by the charismatic and unforgettable Ustaz of the madrasah. In fact, he is the focal point of reference for tens of youths in Telok Blangah, who form a low-lying but closely-knit network of brothers and sisters. Of course, many of them may be now married with children or taking other courses in life, but the Al Amin madrasah will always be a part of their (hopefully) cherished memories. I guess the maulid also hopes to reunite them to catch up on old times.

I shall now end of this very Primary 6 essay-sounding post with the all-famous last line:
The maulid event was indeed a fun and memorable one.

PS. The 10 km Mizuno run in the morning was a run to reckon with. The slopes at Mt Faber were too much for my spartan legs to withstand, so I walked and took photos. Two of them are in this post.