The Ramadhan Diaries - Day 20

Whoa!

Day 20 already!

Time does fly

Indeed it does.

hmmmm....

This morning i couldn't sleep in as i usually do... well... i did for a while, i napped until 8, after which i had to wake up because my business partner, Nick was coming around to pick me up to go see a prospective new printer. My dad (my other partner) came along as well.

we arrived at the office at around 9.00 and we were greeted by stack of T-shirts lining the office...almost wall to wall... WOW!

The owner was a Mr.Lee who had a lot of stories to tell us. Not that i really paid attention because what really caught me the most was his prices.

They were a LOT cheaper than other place i had been to. For a T-shirt printed with three colours at RM 9 a shirt, 100% cotton...well, for those of you not in the T-shirt business.... that is as Cheap as it gets, short of going and building your own printing factory of course.

He even offered to print a sample for us. And he was willing to allow us to stagger our order of 200 pieces...

ok, needless to say, we were bought.

After wrapping up his story about his daughter and how teens nowadays should be more active in business and social activities (that would be us...) we shook hands and he agreed to deliver the sample to us next week...

Tarawih tonight was rather interesting because we had an Imam who was only 11 years old. This little kid apparently was trained from young to recite the Quran...beautifully... he had this really cute pre-pubescent voice.

Usually imams are from those who have achieved puberty but seeing as how Tarawih is a Sunat (optional) prayer, i suppose the allowance could be made for the little imam.

Shocking?

Not really as it is quite common in schools for kids to 'jemaah' amongst themselves with a kid imam too. Plus when i was younger i have been imam to my fair share of adults as well.

An imam is not the equivalent of a priest/monk/holy man. An imam basically is a prayer leader. Any muslim can be an imam for a congregational prayer. However women can't be imam for a congregation of men... although this is sometimes disputed.

More educated members of the Muslim clergy are called 'ulama'' which basically means 'knowledgable'. Thus the Muslim definition of clergy is not just one who is well-versed in religious matters but in worldly matters too. Which is why in our Muslim communities we have a lot of ulama/politicians, ulama/businessmen, ulama/scientists.

One does not need a certificate to be declared an Ulama', but generally you have to be well-versed in a particular area and you have to be a respected person in your community... and people come to you seeking advice on various matters.

A true Ulama' never admits to being an Ulama' because a true Ulama' is never knowledgable as he is always constantly learning.