Kenduri Coming Up

We spent the evening doing some shopping for the kenduri tomorrow. Through to form, my Mum roped in Anita to organise the kenduri and doa for Irfan's circumcision. It would take place tomorrow afternoon at my Mum's place in Bukit Antarabangsa.

Anita brought Irfan to see our usual Paediatrician at Pantai Bangsar - right next to the apartment - concerned with his persistent cough. Nothing major. He just needed some inhalers. He was much better today. During the visit, the Paediatrician told Irfan why he needed the circumcision, and since then, Irfan was looking forward to it. That would be on Wednesday.

After groceries we're done, we brought the boys to my Mum's for dinner and Anita cooked the spaghetti for the children for tomorrow's kenduri. The rest would be catered for. My Aunt from Sungai Petani had also just arrived. It should be a nice kenduri tomorrow. And I hope that the weather would hold up ...

We were looking forward to bed now. It had been a long and tiring day especially for Anita.

Qurban

Salleh with his QurbanSelamat Hari Raya Qurban. This year, Salleh, my brother-in-law bought a couple of portions of Qurban and was involved in the slaughter yesterday. It was held at my Mum's local surau at Bukit Antarabangsa. There were a total of 5 cows put down. The event started just after 9.30 in the morning after the Raya prayers. Salleh's cow was the first to be slaughter.

The crowd looking on

Qurban described the event when Allah decreed for Abraham (Ibrahim a.s.) to slaughter his favourite son Ishmael (Ismail a.s.) to test his and his wife, Hagar's (Siti Hajar) faith. During the slaughter (Qurban), Ishmael was replaced with a qibas (desert goat) and to commemorate the event, Qurban was performed yearly during the end of pilgrimage (Eidul Adha).

Volunteers being roped in.... and helping each other outThe morning was blessed with beautiful weather. Around 120 people turned up and the Qurban went on without a hitch. Everyone chipped in, the younger once watching in awe of the whole process, maybe for the first time. After the Qurban was done, everyone started cutting up the slaughters and preparing them into small portions for cooking. Some of the meat were given away as sedekah, while others were cooked in a broth to be distributed.

Each sacrifice are divided into 7 portions. As you can see, some of them were for Aqiqah.The young and the old joining forcesSpare ribs anyone?

My local masjid in Taman Melati will only be performing the Qurban today - it does not have to be done on the first day of Eidul Adha. They are offering courses for the younger generations to learn about the process and hopefully lead it in the future. I learned about it late. Maybe I will enroll in it next year.

I spent the rest of the Hari Raya at home with the kids. Not many of our relatives came this time around. Anita went shopping in the afternoon to prepare for our upcoming trip to Fraser's Hill. We then went back to Bukit Antarabangsa in the evening with the kids to have dinner with my Mum. The rest of the slideshow can be found here.

Happy Hari Raya

Lemang, originally uploaded by Haris Abdul Rahman.

Wishing all a Happy Hari Raya. Maaf Zahir Batin.

Sorry that this entry is a couple of days late. You will have to excuse me as I was busy with the festivities, and the planned holidays and all. We celebrated this year as usual in Gombak. I attended the prayers at the mosque near our house. It was packed as expected and most of the dwellers were planning to hit off to their kampong right after the prayers.

Idlan - balik kampongAfter prayers, we had some ketupat and rendang - the must-haves for the Eid here locally - and had our family photos. We then head off to my parents' at Bukit Antarabangsa. We stayed there for a couple of hours, mainly having food. My sisters had left for Melaka - to her in-laws - the day before.

Irfan showing his silat skills in Baju MelayuBack in Gombak in the afternoon, we received visits from friends and cousins. One of Anita's close cousin, Ros came over with her family. Chit chat, more food. Unfortunately, I was then reminded that I have to nip out to the supermarket to get some stuffs for tomorrow's journey. Fun's over.

I was so surprised how many people were there at our local Jaya Jusco at Alpha Angle. The Jusco staffs were all in their Raya wares, which is a change from their usual uniforms. The queue was rather excruciating though checking out. I then had to rush back to watch the Manchester Derby. Time to put City in their place this time.

Stopping over at McDonald's to get chips for the boys on the home from Bukit AntarabangsaThe game started where we expected with Rooney netting within the first couple of minutes. Unfortunately City came back. In fact, United went ahead again twice, both times being pegged back with equalisers. City got their third equaliser thanks to Ferdinand's mistake on the 91st minute. I thought the game was over. Then Owen stepped up and got the winner late on, on the 96th. I can understand why the City manager is furious, but then again, that's what make ManYoo strong. The game is only over at the final whistle.

I went to bed just before midnight as I will be doing some driving the next day. Everything was packed up by then. Looking forward to the trip.