Bismillahirrahmanirrahim
Assalamualaikum warahmatullah wabarakatuh
AlhamduLillah syukur ... kadang-kadang kita mendapat jawapan dari sumber yang tidak diduga ...
~
There's something unique about us Malaysian speaking in English ... where ever we are, our ears can easily pick up the true Malaysian English ...
and so it was ... in the early morning hours of our departure from Amman Queen Alia Intl Airport. I was in the queue in the Ladies ... and suddenly i heard some ladies behind me conversing in English ... and a very familiar style of English ... i turned around and saw some Chinese ladies ... and as usual her highness "the sibukness" smiled and queried "Malaysian?" ... ya lah one answered ... oh! i was surprised ... Malaysian Chinese ... i sibuk some more and asked this and that (while still in the queue) and finally understood that they were part of a KL Catholic tour group to Baitul Maqdis ... Christian Chinese and Indians both ...
Remember the Church of Holy Sepulchre which i wrote HERE ... this is one of the reasons for the Catholic Christians visit ... we introduced ourselves ... as usual i'm just hajjah and she was Elaine ... a sweet lady from Kuantan ...
out of the Rest Room ... we went our separate ways ... knowing that we would be on the same flight home ... and on board as luck would have it we were just separated by the aisle ... after settling down, again this her "sibukness" could not stop herself from enquiring ...
"we went to visit Masjid Sayyidina Umar our Muslim Khalifah ... next to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre" I said ..."and we were informed that the keys to the Church were held by some Muslim families since the days of the Muslim Commander Salahuddin Al Ayubi ... and I'm just curious why the Church elders now do not request for the keys themselves?"
"Oh" Elaine said and went on to explain ..."this is because they have different Catholic denominations in there and because of their differences they prefer the keys to be held by the Muslim custodians"
( ... more details of the denominations below ...)
"got it" i said ... and suddenly i was reminded of the history of our own N. Sembilan whose Yang DiPertuan Besar was specifically invited from Sumatra because the local Chieftains could not agree among themselves as to who should be King ... :)
i narrated the Church History to my Bruneian Sister Hajjah R who came to visit recently ... and she on the other hand was reminded of another incident during the great flood of pre-Islamic time when the Holy Kaabah was being repaired by four Quraish tribes who could not agree as to who should have the honour of lifting the Holy Stone Hajar Aswad ... and finally it was settled by Muhammad Al Amin, our beloved Prophet SAW. This was the period before his Prophethood ... a Bahasa Malaysia version of the history of Holy Kaabah here ...
~
more on ... The Church of The Holy Sepulchre and the Custodians of the Keys ...
The primary custodians are the Eastern Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic, and Roman Catholic Churches, with the Greek Orthodox Church (Eastern Orthodox) having the lion's share. In the 19th century, the Coptic Orthodox, the Ethiopian Orthodox and the Syriac Orthodox
acquired lesser responsibilities, which include shrines and other
structures within and around the building. Times and places of worship
for each community are strictly regulated in common areas.
Establishment of the 1853 status quo did not halt the violence, which continues to break out every so often even in modern times. On a hot summer day in 2002, a Coptic monk moved his chair from its agreed spot into the shade. This was interpreted as a hostile move by the Ethiopians, and eleven were hospitalized after the resulting fracas.
In another incident in 2004, during Orthodox celebrations of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, a door to the Franciscan chapel was left open. This was taken as a sign of disrespect by the Orthodox and a fistfight broke out. Some people were arrested, but no one was seriously injured.
On Palm Sunday, in April 2008, a brawl broke out when a Greek monk
was ejected from the building by a rival faction. Police were called to
the scene but were also attacked by the enraged brawlers.On Sunday, November 9, 2008, a clash erupted between Armenian and Greek monks during celebrations for the Feast of the Cross.
Under the status quo, no part of what is designated as common territory may be so much as rearranged without consent from all communities. This often leads to the neglect of badly needed repairs when the communities cannot come to an agreement among themselves about the final shape of a project. Just such a disagreement has delayed the renovation of the edicule, where the need is now dire, but also where any change in the structure might result in a change to the status quo, disagreeable to one or more of the communities.
A less grave sign of this state of affairs is located on a window ledge over the church's entrance. Someone placed a wooden ladder there sometime before 1852, when the status quo defined both the doors and the window ledges as common ground. This ladder, the "Immovable Ladder", remains there to this day, in almost exactly the same position it can be seen to occupy in century-old photographs and engravings. An engraving by David Roberts in 1839 also shows the same ladder in the same position.
No one controls the main entrance. In 1192, Saladin (Salahuddin Al Ayubi) assigned responsibility for it to the Muslim Nuseibeh family. The Joudeh Al-Goudia family were entrusted as custodian to the keys of the Holy Sepulchre by the Ottomans few hundred years later, and both families now share the responsibility. This arrangement has persisted into modern times.
Establishment of the 1853 status quo did not halt the violence, which continues to break out every so often even in modern times. On a hot summer day in 2002, a Coptic monk moved his chair from its agreed spot into the shade. This was interpreted as a hostile move by the Ethiopians, and eleven were hospitalized after the resulting fracas.
In another incident in 2004, during Orthodox celebrations of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, a door to the Franciscan chapel was left open. This was taken as a sign of disrespect by the Orthodox and a fistfight broke out. Some people were arrested, but no one was seriously injured.
Under the status quo, no part of what is designated as common territory may be so much as rearranged without consent from all communities. This often leads to the neglect of badly needed repairs when the communities cannot come to an agreement among themselves about the final shape of a project. Just such a disagreement has delayed the renovation of the edicule, where the need is now dire, but also where any change in the structure might result in a change to the status quo, disagreeable to one or more of the communities.
A less grave sign of this state of affairs is located on a window ledge over the church's entrance. Someone placed a wooden ladder there sometime before 1852, when the status quo defined both the doors and the window ledges as common ground. This ladder, the "Immovable Ladder", remains there to this day, in almost exactly the same position it can be seen to occupy in century-old photographs and engravings. An engraving by David Roberts in 1839 also shows the same ladder in the same position.
No one controls the main entrance. In 1192, Saladin (Salahuddin Al Ayubi) assigned responsibility for it to the Muslim Nuseibeh family. The Joudeh Al-Goudia family were entrusted as custodian to the keys of the Holy Sepulchre by the Ottomans few hundred years later, and both families now share the responsibility. This arrangement has persisted into modern times.
~
Thank you Elaine for your kind initial explanation ...
not the actual keys ... just a google image ... :)
here's an image of Mr Nuseibah opening the door ... the ancient key is about a foot long actually ...
... image from Nuseibah Family Website
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for sharing your thoughts ...