Wasurenaide ne

"Nihonggo o wasurenaide ne... Wasurenaide kudasai."
(Please don't forget how to speak Japanese. Please do not forget)

She pled at the end of our meeting that night.
Sara-san, wife to Brother Nazeer earlier commented that my nihonggo is rusty. Brother Nazeer affirmed her claim, saying that I was a lot more fluent back in Tokyo, and while I still understood what they were saying, I had to take some time recalling words in Nihonggo before responding.

"Wasure wa dame. Dame!"
(You can't forget. No. No!)

Yes, I can understand why she feels strongly about it. One of the biggest hurdles for dakwah to Nihonjin is overcoming the language barrier. (I may not live in Japan anymore, but there are many Nihonjin currently living in Malaysia and who knows if one day I may be asked about Islam in Nihonggo?)

#####

The guests from Japan

It's good to meet up. No, I didn't make any request for omiyage (souvenir) although Brother Nazeer already asked us to let them know if there's anything we would like to get from Japan. Knowing Brother Nazeer and Sara-san, we knew that they would not meet us empty-handed. Since we were not prepared in advance, hubby and I dashed for some last minute Malaysian-souvenir shopping at Isetan (which was terribly costly and with not much choice, we might as well shopped for souvenir in Pavillion) before we met them for tea, followed by dinner at Pavilion (thank you Anira for your assistance with our order that night)

Hubby with Brother Nazeer (that Isetan paper bag contained the newly-bought Malaysian souvenirs, both edible and non-edible ones)

Brother Nazeer excitedly shared about As-Salaam Masjid in Okachimachi with Sara-san chipping in here and there. As-Salaam Masjid is relatively new - just opened in Ramadhan last year. But a popular masjid due to its strategic location, or so according to the couple.

"Benri, benri. Kaimono mo, eki mo..."
(It's really convenience as it's near to both shopping area and railway station)

In Tokyo, the more popular masjid/musolla are strategically located near the railway stations and it is a plus if it's near to shopping area (think Otsuka, Shin-Okubo, Yoyogi-Uehara...). As-Salaam is located near to Okachimachi station - which is near to both Ueno and Akihabara, two hot shopping/tourists spots in Tokyo.

"Last time, I must admit that I didn't always pray Fajr. Not anymore. Alhamdulillah, now that the Masjid is there, my wife always wake me up for Fajr. And even for Fajr, there will be about 2o people there."

Impressive. I remember it was difficult to get even one makmum coming to Asakusa Masjid for Subuh. And good for Brother Nazeer to have a strong motivation to wake up in the morning, alhamdulillah.

Nasi Bojari for dinner

"Jumu'ah is a busy day - usually we get about 50-60 people. Khutbah is in English, so it's really popular with tourists or businessmen. We can receive up to 200 congregations in one time, insya Allah."

50-60 pax for Jumu'ah congregation is no small feat in Tokyo. I assume those who used to travel to Asakusa Masjid - from Ueno, Okachimachi and all - would now go to As-Salaam Masjid. Plus the tourists and businessmen on short trips. Yeah, 50- 60 pax makes sense.

Brother Nazeer had plain rice, Otak-Otak, crispy fried chicken wings and beef rendang (not in picture)

"Insya Allah we're going to Makkah for Umrah and will do some Ziarah in Turkey. I would like to get some chandeliers for the Masjid as well as some stained glass windows. Sara-san would like to get some headscarves there as well as some nice clothing which cover the aurat."

Sara-san nodded enthusiastically.
I was happy to hear that she's going to start dressing in 'proper' aurat-covering clothes for good. It takes a lot of courage to do that and I pray that Allah will grant her the needed strength and guide her all the way.

Banana fritters with ice-cream for dessert

Banana boat which melted while we went to perform solat Maghrib for hubby and tropical fruits for Brother Nazeer and Sara-san

"When we go to Makkah, we are going to make du'a to get one son. We would like to train our son as a practising Muslim to be a multi-lingual Hafeez who can help spread Islam in Japan one day, insya Allah"

Hubby raised his hand and started making a du'a there and then. Brother Nazeer already had two sons from previous marriage. Sara-san has never said much about getting a child, but this time around it was obvious that she's looking forward to getting a child. When asked who was taking care of our children while we went out for dinner that night, I told her that we have an Indonesian helper. "We would like to hire an Indonesian helper too, one who is a good Muslimah, to help us raise our child Islamically," she confessed.

Omiyage (until then, I didn't realised I miss Karintou)

The next day they were scheduled to have a meeting with representative of RISEAP and 4 other Japanese Muslim reverts.

"We wish to get more Nihonjin Muslim active in dakwah in Japan. To be done and over with the bad publicity of Muslims and Islam and to start showing true peaceful colors of As-Salaam..."

(Brother Nazeer once discussed with the Japanese Muslim Association on his plan to develop a mosqe and then hand it over to JMA to be managed by JMA. Unfortunately his plan was not warmly received by JMA, instead he was told that they were content with the small room they rented from where they operated in Yoyogi)

Here's making du'a that his (and Sara-san's) wishes for the good of ummah will come true, insya Allah.