THE MOSQUE KEEPERS AND COVID-19

The Grand Mosque of Mekah is now practically empty. It is the House of Allah since Ibrahim who first laid the foundation with his son Ismael. Why Allah wants to empty The House? To cleanse it from deviationists?

It appears that the Sauds want to claim that Masjidil-Haram is theirs by intruding a large portion of their palace into the sacred mosque. This affront has deprived of badly needed space for pilgrims that throng in by the millions during Hajj and Umrah. 

Then they allowed (unbeliever) Hilton to build a hotel right into the compound. And now many high-rise hotels have been built crowding the Al-Haram, thus  not only depriving space for pilgrims but making  the Grand Mosque looks diminutive.  During peak prayer times pilgrims could pray comfortably within the hotels in the lobby or their rooms.

For years and years the Sauds have been  getting monumental income from the global pilgrimage. How they spend the trillions of money only they knows. It is only now they want to improve facilities and infrastructure for the pilgrims. They are worse than their cousins, the Jews in terms of greed.  

The Sauds say that they are keepers of three Grand Mosques of Medina, Al-Aqsa apart from Mekah. What have they done for Al- Aqsa to counter Israeli aggression right into the Mosque? They have been silent like a mouse.  How about taking in Palestinian exodus fleeing the country since 1948? There is no refugee camp in Saudi. 

Blood had been spilt in Mekah several times. Hundreds of Iranian were killed during pilgrimage under some pretext that happened after the Iranian revolution. 

A revolt took place right in Masjidil-Haram and there was much fire-fight and many died. But what was the cause and the reasons. People must be damn angry and dissatisfied to make their point felt and dare to mar the sacred place with blood. Allah forbid.

Now they are on killing spree. Instead of finding peace with Yemen, the Sauds bomb them. They use sophisticated weapons bought from U.S. Earlier on they allowed the latter to have an air force base at Riyadh, the Sauds safe place. Lately, a ruling member is implicated in the murder of an Arab journalist.

Surely the ummah has become arrogant.

Walla hu 'alam.

HEALTHY EMERGENCY FOOD

For those who live in small towns or outskirts of big towns it is easy to harvest natural and heath food from the surroundings. There are the familiar escaped plants from cultivation found along roadsides, riverbanks, jungle fringes such tapioca, yam, kangkong (water spinach), banana, papaya, coconut, jackfruit, bamboo that can provide edible shoots, fruits, juice, and roots to be eaten directly or for cooking. Dispersal of seeds and other forms of propagules of these plants are usually incidental discards by people.

There are many wild plants that have edible parts that grow in their  natural or modified habitats. The young leaves of some ferns, wild bamboo shoots, mushroom types, water lilies are good for cooking. And there are ulams - pegaga types, mata pelanduk, cabang tiga to add flavour. The larva of sago beetle is good for protein and usually fried or even eaten raw as in Sarawak.

For sometimes now I have been harvesting cabbage (umbut) from young escaped oil palms in the farm or along roadsides. It is quite a laborious task to get the shoot but worthwhile. The taste is not as good as cabbage of coconut or nibong when cooked (masak lemak). 

The beauty of these emergency food types is they are organic and free for the taking.