Sacrifice@Korban

Berkorban apa sahaja,harta atau pun nyawa......P. Ramlee's song.
 

Every year,on the 10th of Zulhijah muslims all over the world celebrate the Aidul Adha.Without fails,at least two cows will be slaughtered in my kampung as our ibadah for Allah.This year ,at Taman Maluri where I stay in Kuala Lumpur,the muslims here slaugtered 15 cows!Each cow is shared by 7 persons,costing RM 250 a portion.What I am afraid is that by just spending RM250 a year,we may feel camplacent and think that we have done enough sacrifice for one year!

There are other forms of sacrifice@korban that we can add to our annual traditional sacrifice@korban.In addtion to it,we can explore many areas that we can offer our sacrifices in our own ways and within our capacity.I don't think the spirit of 'korban' is once a year affair.Taking care of our sick parents is one great sacrifice.I really respect my cousin's husband who took care of his sick mother until she died.Every morning,he bathed and fed her mother before he goes to work.He even washed her mother after she has been to the toilet!It just happened that he doesn't have a sister.

In another example,my  own uncle had to work first for a few years to enable his younger sister to go to the university.And there are many other examples out there that you can quote.

Two weeks before this Aidul Adha,I posted a message to my alumni mailinglist( sdara@egroups.com) asking donations for our alma mater(SDAR) library.I received a good response and yesterday(15/03/2000) I delivered RM 1000 to the headmaster as our old boys contribution so that he can buy more books for the students.To me personally,it is also a payback time to the school that I was educated.I do believe that one thousand ringgit  is not much compared to what we all have  gained,but it is the beginning of our future contribution to our school and to our society.I think it is a symbolic gesture and reminder to all of us to do something(sacrifice@ korban) for those we love like our family, friends, race, religion and country.

It is sad to note that these acts of sacrifice is not given due recognition by our society these days.Now,everything is measured by dollars and cents.(This is a geneneral statement,and normally not 100% right).People only respect persons with money and power.The good values of the old days are nearly eroded away by the present waves of individualism and materialism. Last year I read a story of our soldier hero who awarded PGB(who is living in Sarawak) and hardly survives on his pension.He risked his life fighting a group of communists and almost died.There are so many multi-millioniares out there who have benefitted from the peace of this country,but none has offered any help.To me ,it is a disgrace to the government and the nation as a whole.According to Dr Jemilah,the President of MERCY-a Malaysian  NGO that provides free medical service,not many muslim doctors are willing to go with her team to Kosova.Out of more than 1000 muslim doctors in Malaysia,only less than a handful are willing to sacrifice their time to help these victims of war.By the way,she just came back from Maluku and accordinhg to her recent email to me,it is worse than Kosova.Kudos to MERCY team!

Five years ago,I was at al-Baqik cemetry in Medina.Most muslims who went to Medina for Haj or Umrah will not fail to visit this cemetry where quite a number of Prophet Muhammad S.A.W companions were buried there.After reading my prayers(doa) with my arms gripping  the metal grill around the cemetry,I cried and stood there for  a few minutes.Looking at the Sayyidina Hamzah (known as Allah 's Lion for his bravery) cemetry,I was asking myself what I had sacrificed so far for Allah?I searched far and deep into my memory and found nothing worth mentioning!

I know for sure that a lot of Malaysians had made many a sacrifice for his/her  family,friends,race,religion and country.Most of them went  unrecorded and unrecognised.Our success to-day,as individuals and as a nation,owed a lot to these people.The least we could do is to emulate a few of what they have done earlier.It is also timely,not only the people of Malaysia are asked to make sacrifice@korban,but also the leaders as well.