Sunday, April 9, 2017

Happy Sunday from George Town

Bismillah.

Hi folks, wish you all a happy Sunday.

Just a quick hello as I wait for my ride back to KL.

This morning I had the privilege of chatting with my mother's old friend, and my sister's senior in school who is a politician and chairman of the mosque committee at Masjid Melayu Lebuh Acheh (a.k.a the Acheen Street Mosque was built in 1808.) According to the chairman Datuk Mujahid, they are raising funds to change the mosque carpet as preparation for Ramadan. A sum of RM20K is required for it and what's more exciting is the fundraising to refurbish the Maqam of Tengku Syed Hussein Al-Aidid. There will be a garden with a lovely canopy at the maqam area. It will cost about RM300K. 

I am pretty sure the funds will come rolling in quick because Allah is fair and generous. The late Tengku Syed Hussein Al-Adid was one pious and wealthy merchant from Aceh, Indonesia who migrated to Penang in the 18th century (in 1792 to be exact) and opened a thriving Muslim community both in material and spiritual terms. He was so rich that he could afford to loan the British with some 80,000 Spanish Dollars!

I heard this from Cikgu Mohamed the unofficial go-to historian for anyone who needs to know more about the rich past of the Muslim community at Acheen (Acheh) Street in George Town Penang.
Cikgu Mohamed and his father Yahya
studied at Penang Free School (Malaysia's oldest school established in 1816. It's the first English-medium school in Southeast Asia)

If you are a local Malay or Jawi Peranakan or a tourist, a good place to have scrumptious meals after paying a visit at the Acheh Street Malay Mosque [or wandering about the World Heritage site in George Town] is, of course, the Jawi House Cafe at No.85 Armenian Street which is a mere 5 minutes walk from the mosque.

Alhamdulillah for another beautiful day 😄

One of the lovely things to buy on Armenian Street is that cute plastic straw tote 😍


p/s
After having read the definition of Jawi Peranakan as given by the owner of the Jawi House Cafe - Datuk Dr Wazir Khan who is an anthropologist/researcher/author, I am inclined to believe that I am a Jawi Peranakan - a modernist Muslim 😂





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