Jaelani, a Muslim Preacher
Jaelani was a Muslim preacher in the Banjarnegara Regency of Central Java. An old Muslim, who loved to preach in his neighborhood with full devotion and sincerity for the sake of his religion. He was not sure when exactly he was born; the only thing he could remember is that he was born in Banjarnegara around 75 years ago. He was a widower, his wife died in 2001 when he was in his late 60s.
H
is religious journey was begun soon after his father died, at that time he was in elementary school. He stopped from Sekolah Rakyat (Elementary School) and helped his mother to make some money to live. In the morning he would work until noon, and then he would go to some sermons to get religious knowledge. He was very diligent in attending the sermon because it was free and flexible; his teachers were impressed by his strong will. Jaelani was not able to write or to read in Latin. He only could write and read in Arabic with very little ability of understanding the text. The only thing he did was memorizing all the lessons given to him and it was such a miracle for him; although he could not understand the text, he possessed high ability to memorize. Later until his late 70s he was able to preach the words of God without looking into his note. In the age of seventeen, he and his friends went to Yogyakarta to get better education by the help of host-family.
They left for Yogyakarta and stay in certain families which need help to do business or farming. These kids were not expecting for the payment of their work, they only wanted the host-family to pay for their education. Some kids were lucky enough get wealthy host-families so they could afford the kids to school. The different condition happened to Jaelani, his host-family was not wealthy enough so he could not go to school.
The next year he finally went back home in Banjarnegara. When he was back to Banjarnegara he decided to get married to a local girl and continued his activities. He was a peasant who worked for the land owners in his village in the morning until the break of the day; in the night he would go to masjid to listen to the sermon and memorize some portion of the Qur’an. In his twenties he started to preach to the people in the masajid in the region. He also taught the children in his neighborhood to read the Qur’an, because he could not read anything except Arabic.
He was given several children after two years of marriage and finally he was given five children. His children were quite fortunate because the father did not want his children to have the same experience as he had. The children were able to get better education than the father; many of them were also quite rich by running some businesses. For him, those children were the blessing because he did not have to work as hard when he grew old and he finally could dedicate most of his life to preach Islam to the people without worrying to the financial problems. In his preaching journey, he found a lot of odds and challenges.
Many people were against his preaching and tended to follow the tradition without considering religious regulations. Many people who committed bida’ rejected Jaelani’s preaching because he was against that such a tradition. Those people would show the strongest resistance towards the dakwah of Islam, they would not hesitate to mock Jaelani and his mission or even hurt him. Despite of the bad way of treatment from some part of the society Jaelani have never been giving up his commitment and he was strong in upholding dakwah of Islam in his society.
After long time striving of dakwah, his efforts finally bear successfulness; many people in the society were slowly leaving the old traditions which were against Islamic regulations, such as; reading sura Yasin only in the certain day and time, reciting remembrance to God in congregation after prayer, celebrating the fortieth, hundredth or thousandth day of some one death, specializing Qunut only in Subh prayer and so forth. Another wonderful thing of him was his will to learn religious knowledge even in his old time. He would not be shy to ask some matters from people who are a lot younger than him; because he believed that his knowledge was not that much.
Sometimes he would go to some young men who were just graduated from Islamic boarding school to ask about certain matters or ask to be taught how to read and write in Arabic. Jaelani has become very old and weak but it did not ruin his will to be active in preaching the word of God from one masjid to another masjid and from door to another door for his belief and the glory of his religion. People in the society were getting more aware of his noble deeds and started to follow his path. Thirty years earlier people only knew one Jaelani and by the time there were many more people who worked as hard as Jaelani in preaching as well as making living for their family. The old man Jaelani now has become a model of hardworking man and righteous in the same time without neglecting one of them.
is religious journey was begun soon after his father died, at that time he was in elementary school. He stopped from Sekolah Rakyat (Elementary School) and helped his mother to make some money to live. In the morning he would work until noon, and then he would go to some sermons to get religious knowledge. He was very diligent in attending the sermon because it was free and flexible; his teachers were impressed by his strong will. Jaelani was not able to write or to read in Latin. He only could write and read in Arabic with very little ability of understanding the text. The only thing he did was memorizing all the lessons given to him and it was such a miracle for him; although he could not understand the text, he possessed high ability to memorize. Later until his late 70s he was able to preach the words of God without looking into his note. In the age of seventeen, he and his friends went to Yogyakarta to get better education by the help of host-family.
They left for Yogyakarta and stay in certain families which need help to do business or farming. These kids were not expecting for the payment of their work, they only wanted the host-family to pay for their education. Some kids were lucky enough get wealthy host-families so they could afford the kids to school. The different condition happened to Jaelani, his host-family was not wealthy enough so he could not go to school.
The next year he finally went back home in Banjarnegara. When he was back to Banjarnegara he decided to get married to a local girl and continued his activities. He was a peasant who worked for the land owners in his village in the morning until the break of the day; in the night he would go to masjid to listen to the sermon and memorize some portion of the Qur’an. In his twenties he started to preach to the people in the masajid in the region. He also taught the children in his neighborhood to read the Qur’an, because he could not read anything except Arabic.
He was given several children after two years of marriage and finally he was given five children. His children were quite fortunate because the father did not want his children to have the same experience as he had. The children were able to get better education than the father; many of them were also quite rich by running some businesses. For him, those children were the blessing because he did not have to work as hard when he grew old and he finally could dedicate most of his life to preach Islam to the people without worrying to the financial problems. In his preaching journey, he found a lot of odds and challenges.
Many people were against his preaching and tended to follow the tradition without considering religious regulations. Many people who committed bida’ rejected Jaelani’s preaching because he was against that such a tradition. Those people would show the strongest resistance towards the dakwah of Islam, they would not hesitate to mock Jaelani and his mission or even hurt him. Despite of the bad way of treatment from some part of the society Jaelani have never been giving up his commitment and he was strong in upholding dakwah of Islam in his society.
After long time striving of dakwah, his efforts finally bear successfulness; many people in the society were slowly leaving the old traditions which were against Islamic regulations, such as; reading sura Yasin only in the certain day and time, reciting remembrance to God in congregation after prayer, celebrating the fortieth, hundredth or thousandth day of some one death, specializing Qunut only in Subh prayer and so forth. Another wonderful thing of him was his will to learn religious knowledge even in his old time. He would not be shy to ask some matters from people who are a lot younger than him; because he believed that his knowledge was not that much.
Sometimes he would go to some young men who were just graduated from Islamic boarding school to ask about certain matters or ask to be taught how to read and write in Arabic. Jaelani has become very old and weak but it did not ruin his will to be active in preaching the word of God from one masjid to another masjid and from door to another door for his belief and the glory of his religion. People in the society were getting more aware of his noble deeds and started to follow his path. Thirty years earlier people only knew one Jaelani and by the time there were many more people who worked as hard as Jaelani in preaching as well as making living for their family. The old man Jaelani now has become a model of hardworking man and righteous in the same time without neglecting one of them.
0 comments:
Post a Comment