Walk of Faith

In July 2009, I began a journey in a jamaat to Sandakan, Sabah. Our jamaat is called "paidal jamaat" or walking jamaat since we practically walked along a given route stopping for two days in every masjid/surau along the route. This is a story of our walk of faith from Masjid Al-Jihad, Bukit Garam, Kinabatangan to Masjid BDC, Sandakan, stretching along an approximately 120km route.

We left Masjid Jame' Sri Petaling for the LCCT Airport after zohor. Two weeks prior, we had been pooled together in one jamaat to make effort on dakwah & tabligh beginning with a short tasykil at Sg. Buloh & Merbau Sempah areas. My good friend Hj Ramli was made the amir of the jamaat that include me, Pak Him, Pak Teh, Dr Firdaus, Nuruddin, Faisal and Hj Roslan. Together we then embarked onto the enlightening walk of faith to Sandakan, Sabah in the Borneo Island.

We arrived in Sandakan on 28th July 2009. Upon mutual consultation with the local responsible brothers, it had been decided that we would walk along the main route from Kinabatangan towards Sandakan Town. At 10am, we travelled by two chartered cars and reached our first "route", Masjid al-Jihad, Pekan Bukit Garam, Kinabatangan, about 100km from Sandakan . Pekan Bukit Garam is the furthest populated area accesible by road, situated right at the bank of Kinabatangan River. It is also called Pengkalan Bukit Garam.

About 100 families live in the area of Bukit Garam. 95% of them are Muslims, mostly from the tribe of Sungai. The Sungai people reminded me of the poor villagers of Bagerhat, Southern Bangladesh, where I had been to in 2000. They live a very simple life. They were very polite and ever ready to listen to words of dakwah. Their youths were exceptionally receptive. They flocked the masjid in large number.

I vividly remember geography lesson ages ago at school about  the importance of Kinabatangan River to the Sabahans. It used to be the only mean of transporting out quality logs. Now, although it serves as an important source of water to the inhabitants of Sandakan, ironically the muddy river could not provide the people living along its bank with drinking water. The people have to resort to rainwater, and so did we.

The scarcity of drinking water had caused some children to come to the masjid with water containers to bring water back home as there were plenty of rainwater in the tanks there. As it is a sunnah to bathe on Fridays, we jumped into Kinabatangan River though we were advised to be watchful of crocs.

Our first walk in Sabah began late at 11am when the sun was stinging hot. As I and Pak Ibrahim were earlier assigned with cooking task, our amir sent us ahead by pick-up together with our luggages and beddings whilst they travelled on foot. Pak Him and I reached Masjid Baitul Mukmin, Kg Kasih Sayang, Kinabatangan, at 11.30am and we wasted no time in preparing food for other members of our jamaat 3.5km behind us walking. By the time they reached the masjid 45 mins later, the food was almost ready. Kg. Kasih Sayang has about 30 families, all of them are muslims. By nightfall, the chairman of the masjid, the contractor who was doing some renovation of the masjid, and a villager, all gave intention to go out in the path of Allah for 3 days. The chairman's son intended to spent 40 days in the path of Allah after SPM higher secondary school examination.

The single stove cooker and the kettle were among the basic necessities for us. Cooking was really a challenge in this remote and exotic area of Sabah. We had plenty of cash but not much food to buy. We had to be contented with whatever stuff that we could manage to find. Most of the time meals consisted of plain rice, salted fishes, and veggies. Here Almighty Allah had really taught us how useless and worthless money could be.

We walked for 25 minutes for a distant of 1.6km to the next route, Masjid at-Taqwa, Kg Usaha Jaya, Kinabatangan. There were about 50 families who lived here, 10 families were christians. We were joined by 3 youths from Kg Bukit Garam - Nur Eddie, Azrin & Muhamit. Muhamit, age 20, was assigned to me. We visited the local imam together. Earlier, Muhamit was given a task to deliver a short announcement after maghrib solah. He was in panic at first fearing that he would not be able to carry out the task. But, after delivering the announcement, he was so glad and happy that he could carry out the task. Alhamdulillah, may it be the beginning of him standing up for the sake of deen.

Our next route, Surau Wahdatul Fiqri, Kg Berjaya 1, Kinabatangan, is 3.4km away. Halfway walking, we were told by Nur Eddie and a local man who had earlier volunteered to transport our luggages ahead of us, that a person refuse to let them and the luggages in the masjid. Immediately I and Nuruddin were sent ahead to sort out the matter while the others continue walking. At the gate of the masjid, I was confronted by the person who tried to stop us from entering the masjid before obtaining permission from its chairman and religious office. Failing to reason with him, we just carried our luggages in. We then performed 2 rakaat solah seeking help from Almighty Allah. By the time the rest of our jamaat arrived, the man suddenly turned soft, joining us for drink and been telling the ehwal of the village in our mesywarah or consultation. Subhanallah! By maghrib time, the locals flocked the masjid as we got to know them better and we even had meal together prepared by the locals.

It was here that we met John, a young man from Sulu tribe, who had been working for Hj Abdullah, an elderly man of Kg Berjaya 1. When he was born, his father was in a jungle working, and a christian nurse managed to coax his mother to name him John, after the christians' John the Baptist. Hj Abdullah who is also his guardian asked us to give him a Muslim name. And so we named him Yahya after the prophet of Allah. He was very happy when everyone in the masjid embraced him for his new name. After isya', Nuruddin read a short hadith from Fadha'il Amal and delivered a moving talk about the importance of fadha'il taklim at masjid and at home. Immediately after, Hj Abdullah and the man who had first refused us entry to the masjid, asked us to get a copy each of Fadha'il Amal for them.

We then moved on to Masjid al-Hilal, Kg Berjaya 2, Bt. 6, about 1.6km away. This time, Pak Teh ismail travelled ahead with our luggages in a car driven by Imam Mazlin of Kg Bt 5. When we arrived Pak Teh was still outside the masjid, sitting alone, reading Muntakhab Ahadith at the stairs of the masjid. The door of the masjid was tight locked. We were perturbed as it was Friday. Again, I and Nuruddin were sent to meet any responsible persons of the masjid. A 15 year old young man known as Giant (as a character in Doraemon) led us to Hj Asmara's house about 100m away. An announcement was made by Hj Asmara welcoming our presence shortly before Friday khutbah.

We reached Masjid al-Ghaffar, Kg Perpaduan, after walking about 3.2km. Abd Rahman and Nur Yusry assisted us a lot, taking us visiting many local folks. A number of ustadzs from the peninsular lived in the vicinity of the masjid. Most of them rented houses here far away from schools where they teach as there is a steady supply of pipeline water in this area. The ustadzs were treated with bubur kacang after isya' while we explained our mission to them.

Nur Yusry, 17, the local young man, had made a superb effort on the local youngsters. A month before, about 20 of his schoolmates went out in the path of Allah for 3 days for the first time. They visited us in school uniforms with miswaak in their pockets. A number of his Form 5 mates intended to spend 40 days after the exam. May Allah make it easy for them.

Masjid al-Falah is 3.2km away. I and Hj Roslan arrived there early to do our khidmat. We were concerned about the little rainwater left in the masjid's water container. But, alhamdulillah, by maghrib time, the chairman of the masjid had arranged for a pick-up with a water tank to refill the containers. The chairman who is a retired school principal and also a local politician curiously asked us all sort of questions regarding the effort of dakwah & tabligh. We could not help but noticed his face brightened up each time he got the answer. By lunchtime on the second day he awkwardly eat together with us in the masjid. By asar he brought a friend joining in the discussion. By maghrib both of them gave intention to go out in the path of Allah for 3 days. By isya' 3 other local folks intended to join him.

Two ustadzs from Kelantan whom we met at our previous route, Kg Perpaduan, Bt 8, each came with their cars to drive us to Kg Ulu Dusun, 23km away. Though we were in paidal jamaat (walking jamaat), we are allowed to travel by vehicle if the distance is more than 15km. We arrived at Masjid Ulu Dusun, Bt 30, by the two cars and a pick-up driven by a Sandakan karkun. We were warmly welcomed by Imam Bustamin, 80 yrs of age, of Banjar tribe. There were about 150 families living in the vicinity, half of them christians. The were 4 churches in the four corners of the village. In the evening, we made ghast with the assistance of Mamat, a 12 yr old orphan, who guided us to muslims' houses. Mamat and his two brothers were deprived of schooling but they could read well enough from a free private tuition they had received from Imam Bustamin. From this ghast, we met a group of Banjar muslim youngsters. Glen, a Kadazan christian lad, was also amongst them. When all of his muslim friends were ready to go to the masjid, Glen agreed to join his mates. We gave him a sarong to wear in the masjid and he sat listening attentively to the sitting talk right to the end. Alhamdulilah, by then Allah gave him hidayat in accepting Islam. He chosed Ghazali as his muslim name.

From Kg lu Dusun, we walked to Kg Pertanian and stayed at the masjid there for a couple of days. Just about 800m from Kg Pertanian, behind a steep hill, is Kg Garinono. This route was the shortest in between so far. The two villages are famous for salak fruits. We had eaten 15kg of salak fruits between us in the period of our stay at both villages. Sadly, we found out the hard truth that the local folks here only came to the masjid on Fidays. During ghast, one local man even asked us when aproached, "Is it Friday today?" Ah! I should not be telling you the remorseful side of the Ummah...

Well, it is essential for every jamaat to travel well-prepared, even if we have to carry our own "ta'am set" (cooking stuff) that would help us to be absolutely independent of others for food. Dependency is only onto Allah. Alas, one must not let one's self and wealth becomes a source of burden to others, no matter how small it might be. This is the minimum requirement that every muslim has to strive to acquire. On the other hand, the noblest of characteristic that a Muslim could possess is to use his self and wealth for the benefit of other people, eventhough he himself is in the state of dire need. This noblest characteristic is prevalent in all Sahabah radiyalaahu anhum. The ta'am set is collectively acquired by everyone in our jamaat and used routinely by the khidmat pairs. As there were 8 of us, everyone took turns to have the taste of khidmat every 2 or 3 days. I had since stopped complaining about my wife's cooking after my first khidmat in a jamaat years ago...(grin).

Masjid at-Tauhid, Sakilan Desa Estate, is about 4km away from our last route. Again I was sent ahead of others with the luggages and ta'am set as it was my turn for khidmat. As we reached the road entrance to the masjid, we found out that the road entrance was ordered to be blocked by a locked steel bar by the estate's non-Muslim manager. After reasoning with the estate manager, the road entrance was eventually cleared.

On the third day of Ramadhan, August 2009, we began the 'mother of the walks' for a distance of 15km  from Masjid Pekan Gum Gum to Masjid Pangiran at the outskirt of Sandakan. I will treasure the ecstasy and blessedness that I felt walking with my fellow believers, diligently humming dzikr in the remembrance of Almighty Allah. When we felt the toil we would stop briefly and one of us would remind us of the sacrifice and hardships that Rasulullah sallalaahu alayhi wasalam and the Sahabah radiyalaahu anhum had to endure for the sake of deen.

Sandakan, the town faces Sulu Sea, not far from Amanilah (peace bestowed by Allah) in the old Muslim-dominated Sulu Sultanate era - now is known as Manila City. I could not help but noticed Sandakan's resemblance to the port of Algeciras in modern day Spain. It was the place where the great dai'e of Allah, Tariq ibn Ziyad rahmatullah alayhi landed with the other muslim faithfuls to spread the deen of Allah and brightened the European continent from utter darkness and total ignorance.