Adat atau Ibadat?

Woke up at 4am today.  Head out at 6am. Alhamdulillah it’s summer, so the sun was shining rather brightly despite it being 6am. Now it’s almost 9am. Done with ward rounds. Currently studying alone, waiting for my tutorials at lunch time. Writing this post to chase the dizziness away. :P

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A few years back, the world Malaysian world were in awe with a wedding clip, by none other than the famous CST production. It showed a wedding of our seniors from KMB apparently. And what captured us the most was the swimming pool scene where the cute newly weds jumped into the pool. With some commentaries of how they meet etc. it was all sweet really. One of a kind, definitely.

And then the CST team along with the videographer industry bloomed. *and of course CST has always been one of my favourites* back then. But after a while, you get to see them everywhere. Too much. Despite all the weddings being beautiful and sweet, my little heart cant help but notice a pattern from all those videos we can find.

1. From just akad nikah (solemnization) ceremony and reception,

now there seem to be 5-6 ceremonies per wedding. =,=''

2. From just the mosques or living rooms, 

now people have specific altars for them.

3. Then people started having majlis berinai.

4. Then there were things like mandi bunga.

5. And then there were the dayangs with all the colour-coded dresses. 

If it’s 12 dulangs, then there will be 12 beautiful ladies. 

Aurat terjaga? Hm..yet to find one.

6. Then there is even the coming out of the car part. 

Used to be the typical Mercedez. 

Then the cars apparently got bigger and more expensive.

7. And then you see things like extragavant majlis bertunang.

8. And then there are even re-enactments of how they meet, 

and how they pop the questions? 

Some even went down on one knee, literally. 

*what are we, mat saleh?*

So many things. I haven’t watched that many. But I thought of sharing the latest ones I bumped into. Where they showed the entrance of the wedding ceremony filled with pre-solemnization portraits of the newly-weds-to-be. And you guessed it right, there were photos of kisses-on-cheeks, hugs, all the poses really *sigh*. I wondered, how did the Tok Kadi felt when he walked in between those portraits? *haha* one can only wonder.

Truth is, I’m scared of what our Malaysian society has turned into. When people takes adat too seriously, and leaves ibadat, too seriously. Im scared of how everybody is doing what everybody else is doing. Following mempiggy-blinded, without actually thinking. 

Pleasing the eyes, rather than the hearts. 

Pleasing our nafs, rather than Our Creator.

And what scares me most, is that I AM living in this society. and iman yang turun naik ni might not be strong enough to keep me grounded with my beliefs should the time come. That I too, will worry more about adat rather than fulfilling my ibadat.

Tapi selagi masa belum sampai, I will keep on praying for me and everyone else out there, that Allah keeps us grounded and rationale in the things that we do, insyaAllah. Some say it’s a once in a lifetime event. I’d say yes, that’s true. That’s why you want to make the best out of it to present it to Him later on.

and here’s one thing that I’ve learnt from a sister a few years back, from Usul 20. (read: source)

“Asal dalam perkara ibadat adalah mengabdikan diri 

tanpa berpaling kepada makna-maknanya 

sedangkan asal dalam perkara adat, 

dilihat kepada rahsia-rahsia, hikmat dan tujuannya.”

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In my simple understanding and belief;

For Ibadat; 

there is always a reason/benefit/underlying meaning behind them in the Eyes of our Creator. Our job is to do it. Albeit not knowing fully the reason behind it *of course it’s better to know*. Ie; solat. Puasa. Kerja. Etc.

For Adat:

you have to know what and why are you doing them in the first place. Because more often than not, they lead you to all things wrong in His Eyes; especially when we choose to not know, and just follow.

just a thought.

wallahua'lam.