Janazah

(Author's note: This entry is inspired by Kak Lela. Gambatte ne Kak Lela and may Allah grant you courage and bless you for trying to do the right thing for the little girl)

1.

We have never met prior to their unexpected visit, a day before Humaidi’s cukur jambul ceremony. Soraiya, a Singaporean, is married to Yusuf-san, a Nihonjin, with three children. They had been living in Singapore but Yusuf-san is contemplating returning to Japan for good. Their three children – two boys aged 11 and 10, and a girl aged 7 – are all conversant in Nihonggo and will not have any trouble adapting to life in Japan, since they are attending a Japanese school in Singapore anyway. But Soraiya was anxious about a lot of things, top of all regarding life as Muslim.

Mak and hubby entertained her many questions as I was still feeling lethargic.

- No, McDonald’s in Japan is a big no-no because they do not use vegetable oil, so even their ebi (prawn) burger and filet-o-fish is not halal. Try First Kitchen for their Ebi Katsu or White Fish sandwich instead. (Thanks Oja for the info) Since First Kitchen, Lotteria, Mos Burger and Mister Donut could all be considered non-halal; and all products using cheese in Saizeriya is not halal for they contain rennet... That leaves... err, tendon or tempura at Tenya if one wants to give fast food in Tokyo a try...

- It’s quite easy to find mosques and musollas in Tokyo and its surrounding area now. There’s a new masjid in Yokohama too, the hometown of Yusuf-san

- Plenty of halal shops and restaurants too, if one knows where to look for it. Siddique and Samrat are among chain restaurants serving halal food, and there are plenty of halal shops in Shin Okubo area as well as online.

- Otsuka mosque provides Islamic classes for children on weekends. ICOJ arranges for Islamic summer school and summer camps for children during summer break annually.

- Leaning Nihonggo would be a bonus for daily life, and she has the advantage of practicing with her family once she starts learning Nihonggo.

“Lega betul saya dapat jumpa masjid ni. Kalau apa-apa jadi kat saya, kalau mati ke, kurang-kurang waris saya dah tahu ke mana nak tuju…”

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2.

Out of the three janazah management (funeral) for ladies that were held in Asakusa Mosque since I arrived and live here, I had only helped attended to the recent one. The first two happened when I was pregnant, so I was excused from helping due to the trans-cultural belief that it is not ‘healthy’ for a pregnant mother to be near a dead body.

The latest janazah management was last Monday. Even then, due to me having a small baby, the sisters sportingly excused me from doing the ghusul (bathing), and let me assisted with other things. To my limited knowledge, there are three mosques in Tokyo where ‘janazah’ is possible – Tokyo Camii in Yoyogi Uehara (Japan’s version of Nationaml Mosque), Otsuka Mosque and Asakusa Mosque, and we had been receiving deceased bodies from outside Tokyo as well – Chiba, Saitama, Kanagawa, even as far as from Ibaraki. While we have attended to people from different places with different nationalities, the faces attending to the deceased are almost always similar.

On Monday, Ibu Tien, an Indonesian who regularly lead ‘janazah’ preparation for ladies in Tokyo was not able to come to Asakusa, so sister Fatimah, a Nihonjin revert took charge. (Sister Fatimah is probably in her 50’s or 60’s, married to a Pakistani who is currently studying in Syria. They live in Syria most of the time, but Sister Fatimah is a well-known face in Tokyo for her dakwah works, as unlike her husband who only returns to Japan during his 3-months summer break, she spends about 5 months in Japan annually)

Referring to a test pad filled with lots of notes, she directed the four sisters who were in the ghusul room on how to perform toharah (cleasing), wudhu’(ablution) and ghusul(bathing) for the dead sister. The deceased came from a hospital, where she had already been cleaned once, so performing toharah on her was quite easy. She also came clad in a white kimono, which acted as her kain basahan (so there was no need for kain batik lepas to cover her aurat as she was bathed) The rest of us helped with preparing the kafan – producing a long loose sleeveless shirt, a sarong, a tudung, two really long winding sheets and tying ropes – all from white cotton cloth.

I was the runner. Although most of the equipments – plastic aprons for four, disposable rubber gloves, cotton wool, body shampoo, shampoo, disposable toothbrushes, toothpaste – were available in the ghusul room, I still needed to fetch a few things from my house on the fifth floor – cotton buds, rubber bands (to keep rolled-up sleeves in place) and old disposable towel to pat dry the deceased body – and not in one go.

Everything was done precisely and minimally – unlike the customs in Malaysia, managing a janazah in Japan does not include the use of bidara leaves, inai leaves, pillow made from pandan leaves, cendana, kapur barus, etc. Running warm water with suitable temperature (since it’s autumn and getting quite cold) was used with normal body shampoo and shampoo, and a little minyak attar (non-alcohol perfume) was applied on the body after ghusul was over.

Everybody helped with wrapping the deceased sister in her kafan. She had been fighting cancer in the past three years, her skinny bony body a witness of her struggle. But there was a look of peace on her face as sister Fatimah put on the tudung before the final wrapping. 　

I wonder if I'll look that peaceful when my time comes...

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3.

The youngest helper in the janazah management was an undergraduate student named Emma from Indonesia. Like me, she had helped managing janazah of her relatives in the past, but had never attended to a stranger before.

Unlike me who only started helping with janazah in my late twenties, her first experience was when she was a little over twenty.

I wonder – how many Malaysian Muslims staying abroad, undergraduates or otherwise, are capable of fully managing or at least assisting in janazah management?

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4.

Koseki-san, the detective from Asakusa Police Station – who visited us 3 times in Ramadhan alone due to the sudden increase in jamaah and activity at the mosque – called me the following day.

Yes, Ramadhan is over.
Yes, Eid is over – that Saturday when there were almost a 100 people came to the mosque, that was Eid.
No, we did not have any party on Monday, it was a funeral.
The people? We don’t know them personally, just briefly. Most of the men are friends of the deceased’s husband.
No, there was no meeting held at all; we - about 10 women and 20 men - were gathered solely for the funeral and it's a little bit complicated to explain the process in details

And while he didn’t ask me directly, I almost blurted out – “no, we are not involved with any terrorist activity, so don’t you worry.”

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In a totally unrelated way,

Q: Dr Sheikh Muszaphar is not the first Malaysian in space?
A: Here