This post is another one of those: "Let's blog while waiting for 5.00 p.m. and my work is already done." So nothing interesting reader: Just another unimportant story in my life.
Yesterday was a big triumph for me – caution reader, it’s nothing big, I’m over hyping things again – when I managed to coax my little brother to go to surau. You don’t know how this little fellow can be really, really stubborn when he doesn’t want something: He used to cry when we brought him to the barber shop, and the only thing that made him wanna cut his hair was because somebody ejek him that he looked like a girl with his long hair. But still he cried at the shop because he didn’t like the buzzing razor-cutter sound. Good thing is: He is actually obedient most of the time, his idiosyncrasies only prevail at rare moments.
So I’ve been ajak-ajak ayam him to come to surau while I’m at home this holiday, but with no success just yet. I don’t really want to force him, because apparently it doesn’t really work like that – with anyone – plus he is still small. So how did I get him to come to surau? I guess the short answer will be: With a little bit of trick up my sleeves.
Yesterday we wanted to depart from home to Stadium Shah Alam right after Asar for the Chelsea vs Malaysia match, so he was in an extremely jovial mode – perfect for the surau-coming proposal. So it was a straight “yes” when I asked him whether he wanted to come along with me for Asar then we can go to the stadium straight away. By the way, my usual ajak-ajak ayam for Maghrib will be responded with “nak sembahyang dengan mama lah dekat rumah” or “tak habis lagi Sin Chan.”
One more thing, I’m really kaki bangku – I’m not stealing your ironic nick name bangku – and I don’t usually watch football matches at stadium, it’s just that we got free tickets and this little fellow seems to have ‘potential’ – hopefully with “taqwa 00” printed at the back of his jersey in the future, not “materrazi 23.” Here is how it went:-
“Bila kita masuk surau kita kene solat tahuyatul masjid dulu tau.”
“Tetapi Adi tak tau macam mana”
“Solat tahiyatul masjid tu solat sunat 2 raka’at. Ala, macam solat subuh jugak la, tetapi tak payah baca doa Qunut. Ok?”
“Hmm, ok. Adi nak ikut abang je lah”
“Tak boleh. Solat ni kene solat sendiri. Ok?”
“Kenapa?”
“Dah memang sunnah nye macam tu, kite kene ikut la. Boleh?”
“Haa boleh.”
This little fellow does know how to solat properly. I mean he doesn’t move his body for no particular reason, he concentrates his eyes on the sujud place, even if you call his name, he will not respond and buat dek je as he knows he is in solat. Of course he knows all the recitations in the solat. After we were done with tahiyatul masjid, he saw this on the carpet: "Syaf kanak-kanak di sini"
He read the writing and he asked me:
“Apa maksud tulisan ni?”
“Nanti kita solat asar berjema’ah, Adi kene solat dekat belakang tulisan ni la.”
”Abang solat mana?”
”Dekat depan”
”Dekat depan tu ke?” (he pointed at the imam’s place)
“Takde lah. Belakang imam la. Barisan tu.” (I pointed at those safs behind the Imam’s)
“Adi nak solat sekali dengan abang dekat depan la”
”Hmm, tak boleh la”
”Kenapa?”
I paused for a few long seconds. What should I say? You’re not fit? You don’t know how to solat properly? I couldn’t bring myself to say those things, plus I don’t hold those views. So I had to improvise a bit. By the way, didn’t I mention that he is stubborn?
“Just tak boleh la”
“Ye la kenapa?”
“Hmm, orang yang jaga surau ni tak bagi.”
”Kenapa tak bagi pulak?”
“Sebab die kata budak kecik kene solat dekat belakang la”
”Kenapa pulak?”
”Hmm...” [pause] (Iqamah.... and people started lining up for the saf)
“Adi nak solat dengan abang”
”Ok la, jom” (I waited for everyone to get into the saf so we can be at the least ‘obstructive’ position possible)
Then some person beside me asked me:
“Ni dah sunat ke belum? Kalau belum sunat kene solat dekat belakang”
(Adoi.. at least the argument was sunat, not baligh).
(Senyum dekat pakcik. It's not time for me to get into any kind of debate)
”Adi solat dekat belakang eh?”
”Hmm ok” (with a sad face)
I think he wouldn’t have been too reluctant if there were other kids around too at the back line. But as I said, apart from flashes of stubbornness, he is actually an obedient kid, he wouldn’t complain in the end. The point of me bringing him there was to experience how it’s like to solat in a big – at least bigger than at home – jema’ah. It wasn't really achieved by solat on his own in 'kid's saf'. Anyway, at least it's a step forward in getting him used to come to surau. We should be more kid-friendly, shouldn’t we? At Masjid Toronto they even have a small nursery inside the Masjid. I personally think the Masjid’s authority has to be respected first, so I will respect their decision on top of my own opinion.
*****
Di dalam hadis yang diriwayatkan oleh Imam Muslim daripada Abu Qatadah al-Ansori r.h. beliau berkata (maksudnya): "Aku melihat Nabi s.a.w mengimami solat sedang mendukung Umamah binti Abi al-As yang juga anak perempuan Zainab binti Rasulillah s.a.w. Apabila baginda rukuk diletakkannya dan apabila bangun dari sujud baginda mengangkatnya semula."
Imam Khatib al-Syarbini di dalam kitabnya Mughni al-Muhtaj ila Makrifati Ma’ani alfaz al-Minhaj, jilid 1, hal. 492: "Adapun dibelakangkan kanak-kanak daripada orang dewasa seperti yang diperkatakan oleh al-Azraie apabila saf orang dewasa telah penuh, tetapi sekiranya terdapat kekosongan pada saf orang dewasa maka ianya diisi dengan kanak-kanak."
Go here for a comprehensive article on ‘kedudukan saf kanak-kanak’: http://soaljawab.wordpress.com/2007/04/29/saf-kanak-kanak/
p/s: I am tired of writing articles as nobody actually listens. So I’d rather write sembang kopi, it’s stress-free for me.
"Verily, Allah has enjoined excellence (ihsan) with regard to everything". [Muslim] 
