THE DEATH

The Death of Musa

I did not have the details about the death of Musa. But, my grandpa (Mamat) told me briefly how his father died.

It was one fine evening when Musa returned from his padi(rice) field. He took the route beside the Muslim Cemetery and suddenly spotted a small baby cobra aggressively and fiercely confronted him.

Musa tried to chase away the snake, but it didn't want to flee. So, Musa became very angry and he stepped over the head of the snake, pressed and forced it till death. He threw the snake into the bushes and walked home.

I was told by my grandpa that Musa Had a bad dream that night. He had a visitor claiming to avenge the death of his son committed by Musa. The snake killed by Musa was a baby boy of a Jinn family. The father gave Musa 1 day to prepare for his death. 

The following night became the moment of truth when Musa was attacked and bitten by a king cobra just after he finished his Isyak prayer. So, the revenge was really happened and Musa was struggling with great pain waiting for his death.

That night was also became a scary night for villagers because there were some tigers wandering around Musa's house. The tigers making noise and roaring. Musa did say something to them. Soon after that, the tigers left and Musa was gone forever...

My grandpa inherited the house and the land from Musa. The land was less than one acre and my grandpa had the smallest portion of the assets if compared to other sons and daughters of Musa. But, it was ok for my grandpa because he just had a small family then.

Musa was buried in Muslim Cemetery of the village called "Kubur Kelat".

I do not know how old was Musa at the time of his death. No death certificate was found. But my grandpa was very sure that his father's death was few years before World War II. I reckon he died at the age of 70 or 71 years old when he was still strong and healthy.

I will end my writing about Musa here and would like to thank so much for those who had wasted times by reading my blogs about Musa. However, this site will continue its stories about Musa's sons and daughters and his descendants in continuation thereof.

SETTLED DOWN 2

Marriage and Happy Life

Musa was then getting married with a local girl, named Fatimah. 

He modified and renovated his house to make it more comfortable and safer for his wife. He still remember the bad episode of his previous marriage. He knew the reasons and causes which led to the happening of the incident. He will ensure such tragedy will not be repeated again in his second marriage here.

Time ran very fast and Musa and his wife were granted their first baby, a daughter. They named her Aminah.

Then came the second one, a baby boy called as Boto'.

Later on Musa was awarded a twin, Fatimah and Said.

After Fatimah and Said was my grandfather, Mamat. Then came a daughter named Hitam. The last and the youngest one was another daughter, Lijah. So, altogether Musa had 3 sons and 4 daughters. 

Based on records, every sons and daughters were granted with a piece of land, about 1 acre each after their marriages. Selamah, Hitam and Lijah were granted adjacent lands surrounding Musa's land. Musa's land was later on granted to Mamat as his youngest son.

Meanwhile, Aminah was granted a land in area called Kampung Dusun while Boto' was granted a land a bit isolated in a different village called Tok Adis. Said had a land in another location called Padang Kemunting. All places granted however were under the same Mukim of Kuala Ibai.

So, every body from Musa's family has had lands and houses granted by Musa and they lived peacefully thereafter.

I have some memories with Selamah, Said, Hitam, Lijah and Mamat save for Aminah and Boto' as they died when I was still very young.

Save for Mamat, all sons and daughters of Musa have had many kids. The most productive one was Lijah, who was granted 8 kids. The second one was Hitam with 4 kids. The biggest family now days are from Lijah's descendants because almost all of her sons (save for Manaf) and  daughters were productive too.

My grandfather, Mamat originally was granted 3 kids but 2 of them ( Abu Bakar and Hawa ) were died at a very young age, leaving my mother Pe'ah alone as the sole descendant of Mamat. So, I came from a very small family of Mamat as part of the descendants of Musa.

NEW HOME

Kuala Ibai Kuala Terengganu

From Kuala Berang, Musa walked to the coastal area, headed to Kuala Terengganu. The town was a fishermen's port expanded vastly during the occupation of British. It was later became the state's capital of Terengganu in place of Kuala Berang.

It took about 10 days for Musa to arrive at Kuala Terengganu. He  passed by  places like Ajil, Wakaf Tapai and Bukit Payong on the way to Kuala Terengganu. He rested for 2 days in Bukit Payong before continued his journey.

He arrived at Kuala Terengganu on the last day of the year 1893. He had been wandering around the town searching for landed property to be bought. He found out that the properties in the town were expensive.

So, Musa walked to the south of the town and arrived at a place called Kuala Ibai. He tried to buy a piece of land facing the sea, but no body agreed to sell the land to him. He was told that there were some landed properties for sale in Kampung Kolam Kuala Ibai. The place was just less than 1 km away from the sea shore.

It was a perfect place for a new settlement for Musa. Even though the place was surrounded by a swamp area, Musa still satisfied with location and proceeded with the purchase of the land. The land he purchased was about 5 acres and about 40% of the same were swamp area. But the price was cheap and Musa was happy to have the land.

So, on the first day of the year 1894, Musa had a landed property in Terengganu.

The name of Kampung Kolam was originated from the meaning of the place itself. 'Kolam' in Malay language means pool, pond or swamp in English. Since the village was surrounded largely with swamp area, the founder of the place named it Kampung Kolam or Swamp Village.

Musa constructed a small wooden house by himself using timbers from the land itself. The house was a typical Malay wooden house with pillars strengthening the floors and the roof.  The roof was made from a kind of palm trees leaves locally called "nipah" and the wall was made from bamboos plus that nipah leaves fixed horizontally to the wall. The floor was made from bamboo timber which grew strongly on the land. 

It took 1 month plus for Musa to complete the construction of the house. In the mean time, he was allowed by the head of the village to stay temporarily at the village's Mosque pending completion of the house. He also started clearing the surrounding area of the house and planted coconut trees and other fruit trees such as mangoes, banana and jack fruit.

Meanwhile, Musa's arrival in the village and his quick settlement had attracted attention of many people resided around the area and became a hot topic of their daily conversation in the coffee shops. They thought Musa was a very rich man and they knew he was a bachelor.

So, suddenly Musa had been  targeted as a dreamed husband for girls in the village...

He will be married again...for a second time in his life. But, those local people did not know he had been married before in Kelantan.

New episode in his life will begin...soon.

NEW LAND - End of 1893

Good Bye Friends - Finding New Home - Terengganu

It had been 3 months for Musa living with tigers in the thick jungle. Sometimes Musa has to divert the route to avoid them from confronting with people from nearest villages. He did not want to make new enemies. His presence accompanied with a group of beasts will definitely scared the villagers. Besides, the cubs were getting more aggressive and always hungry.

Apparently, Musa must find a solution for the unusual problems. He must discharge himself from the tiger's family. Sooner was the better. He must go back to the life and the likelihood of humanity, to the real life of a person with sound mind.

He must talk and make agreement with the tigers. The agreements were that they will always remember not to hurt each other till they die and have rights to visit each other when they missed them very much. Proper place, time and manner of the meeting will be arranged by Musa.

So, the friends, human and beasts had to be separated accordingly. Finally the friendship has had to be ceased. They knew it will be a very long time for them to meet again. But, Musa had given some names to each of the beasts. If he really needed them, he will call any single name or all names if necessary.

Musa had tried to join the public by having tea or coffee and buying new clothes from the shops in the villages that he had passed by. It was certain that the local people did not know him at all and did not even bother about him. He heard that the place was known as Kuala Berang.

Musa believed that the place he stayed had different government and different jurisdiction with Kelantan. At that time, in the year of 1893 there was no federal government in Malaya. Every states have its own ruler with its own laws and jurisdictions. So, if one has committed a crime in Kelantan, he could not be arrested in Terengganu, what more to convict him and likewise.

So, he started to find a suitable locations to settle down. He moved closer to the coastal area where he can start a new life and at the same time he can be a fisherman again...

THE AUTHORITY

Search For Musa


The 3 boats chasing Musa on the killing night were actually the Marine Department's boats. Each boat carried armed policemen and few villagers who were experts in trailing criminals or bad guys.

It was the screaming voice of the wife and her spouse in pain (after being stabbed by Musa with spear from underneath of the house) that woke up the 2 baby boys and the closest neighbor. The babies crying and the neighbor called for help.

The killing incident has woke up almost entire villagers and within less than an hour Musa's house and its surrounding was full with them. The police arrived to the place about half an hour later. All visitors were astounded with what they have seen. They did not believe their own eyes. The nude corpses were still remained intact as well as their sexual organs. The spear had fixed the two bodies, male on top of female with their eyes and mouth opened wide. They were shocked by a big surprised with painful death.

The head of village covered the corpses with cloth to hide the bodies from the public. He did not touch the corpses and waited for the police to investigate. He thought that it will be very difficult to separate the bodies because they were fixed together by the spear and the wooden floor. The male body has to be removed first from the spear...and to be followed by the female one.

Soon, Musa's house and its surrounding were flooded with visitors who wanted to know and see what was happening. And later on there were many personal speculations, guessing, comments, justifications, accusations and opinions from the public. 

Some supported Musa's action and will do the same if their wife committed adultery. Some did not agree and will let the government or police to punish the sinners. Some will happy if Musa can escape and pray for his survival. Just few of them would like to see Musa be arrested and punished. They were persons related to the victims who had program to retaliate and avenge if Musa was set to be freed later on.

The big group of policemen and villagers had stopped at the coffee shop where Musa had breakfast before. That place were known as Kuala Besut, Terengganu.

After gathering information, the chasing group headed to the jungle following Musa's footsteps. Soon they found the big tree where Musa used to sleep and encountered the tigers.

Luckily, Musa was not there anymore. Musa had ran deeper to the big jungle and higher mountains with his new family.

The chasers found the soil around the tree were full of tigers' footprints and its scratches. There was no possible chance for a human to survive from the attack of some tigers. Even though there were no evidence to support their claims that tigers had killed and ate Musa, they were optimized that the remains of Musa's body such as his bones were taken away by dogs or wolfs.

The group then decided to stop their search for Musa and will confirm of his death by tigers' attack in the jungle as final report.

To some people, Musa's disappearance was a mystery and they believed Musa was still alive because he was once been a close friend and a student of Tok Kenali. Surviving in the jungle was just a very small matter for these type of man whom had devoted his life to Allah and his family.

So, the search for Musa was finally aborted and came to an end...

TIGERS

New Friends

The smell of Musa's urine has  had attracted the tigers. They were a group of tigers consisting of a male and a female and three young cubs. They were scratching their claws at the root base of the tree and kept grinning, roaring and roaring...

Shivering Musa has nobody to help. He must remember and get help from his God. He recited few versus from Al Qur'an and craved mercy and help from Allah. He repeated that many times and had not stopped until he fell asleep again...

Morning sun sparkled and its shine has struck Musa's eyes. He woke up quickly and looked down around the root of the tree. The tigers had left, leaving the scratched land around the tree.

Musa must go quickly because the tigers will come back soon. So he untied the sarong from the hanging root which contained his supplies. He hanged and going down slowly to the ground.

Just about his foots touching the ground suddenly one huge male tiger appeared just in front of him. Musa stunned and frozen. But his mind was working. He recited a verse from Al Qur'an in Surah Yusuf from Ayat 4 and repeated it several times with full concentration. Then he blew his breath straight to the face of the tiger.

Allah the Almighty, with His willing the tiger bowed and lowered its head touching the ground in front of Musa. The tiger grounded its body and reclined closer to Musa. Its body touched Musa's feet.

All of sudden Musa regained his braveness and strength. He lowered his body and touched the tiger's neck slowly and softly. The beast closed its eyes and looked like enjoying the massage.

an example of a cub, like the one playing with Musa?

Then came the moment of truth, the female with its three young cubs appeared from nowhere. The female stood to the ground with an attack mode and ready to lunge on Musa. Suddenly the male stood up as if it was protecting Musa. There were lots of grinning and roaring between the two tigers. Musa lurked behind the male tiger with suspense.

The young cubs however were not interested in their parent's altercation. The cubs ran to Musa, smelling and licking Musa's body and clothes. Soon after that, it looked that the cubs had a new caretaker. They became comfortable to each other just in a blink of eyes. And the mother has to obey and abide with the majority's decision.

That day Musa was very busy to suit himself with the life styles of the new friends and had to play with them with such a strange game...Silat Harimau!!!

This time, he had to learn the tricks from the tigers how to defend and attack. It was priceless!!!

IN THE THICK JUNGLE

First Night In Jungle

Musa was deep inside the thick Tropical Rain Forest where there were hills and ravines, home of mosquitoes and leeches and playgrounds of snakes and tigers. How to survive with that type of surrounding? He was alone, frustrated, sad and depressed.

"Ya Allah! Help me please. I crave to you Allah the Almighty, protect me from all dangers and difficulties. There is no effort and strength on me save from You ". Musa prayed to his God when he started to feel the forces of the jungle became closer to disturb him then.

He found a suitable place under a big tree where he can take a rest and eat. There was a big branch of the tree above his head at about 5 meters high. There were some roots of the tree hanging to the ground. Musa tried to climb to the big branch of the tree using the roots. The roots were strong and he managed to settle himself on the branch. The huge tree and its big branch was a perfect place for him to sleep that night.

Not far from the big tree he found a small stream created after a heavy rain before that. He used the water to clean and cool his body. He started to pray and pray for the Solah that he had missed before.

After performing the night Solah, Musa had his dinner, some cooked rice with salted fish that he bought from the coffee shop in the morning and bananas. Then he quickly packed his belonging with a sarong and brought them up to the big branch. He tied up the sarong to one of the strong hanging root .

He tied up one of his leg to another strong hanging root to ensure he will not fall down when he fell asleep.

Just about having a deep sleep, Musa stunned by the roars of tigers beneath the big tree.

Musa was very frightened and immediately became panic.

Inadvertently, he pissed off...and the tigers were getting much more excited for the awaiting dinner...