LAYERS OF HIJAB
In this photo, I don’t have a full view of the sun as it arises due to some clouds but I know for sure the blurred whitish image hanging above the horizon is the sun. Sometimes, we see the sun in full view, at times, it is fully hidden and sometimes it is partly hidden. But we know it is there all the time. If not, all of us will be frozen to death.
When we see a beautiful sunrise, the first hijab was removed-the physical layer. Peeling off another layer with some knowledge, we know and understand what is the sun, its location relative to where we are and what is it made of and what roles it plays in the whole solar system and the universe.
I just wonder how the sun could continue giving us light and heat(among other things that I don’t know of) non-stop for thousands of years? What kind of fuel does it use? Another layer of hijab will open and tells us there is a continuous state of nuclear fission taking place there… As we probe further and deeper, I come to question that science does not have an answer: Who created and put the sun into orbit for the benefit of mankind?
From the seeing, we move to the understanding and we go further to meaning. Going deeper, we dig into the meaning of the meaning.
Once a month in the ’60s, my late father took me to Kota Bahru for shopping with my mother. On one occasion, after our lunch at Sumatra Restaurant, he suddenly told me that we had to go home. I was not very happy because I needed more time to wander around in KB. I complained to him but he said no and we have to go home. When I asked why he replied: “A lot of people are waiting to see me at our house”.I asked again, “How do you know?”(No mobile phone at that time)He replied, “I have kashaf. You have 14 inches of hijab”.I just shut up and followed him.
By the way,my late father was Tok Guru Pondok Beris,Bachok ,Kelantan.Only 40 years later I knew the meaning of hijab.
Once the ‘hijab’ is removed, then we can ‘see’.
