It all began seven months ago when Annas Jaffy, Muhammad Jaffy and Hizamuddin Alidin decided to go around Peninsular Malaysia to clean as many mosques as possible for free. Their cleaning mission is about to end when they arrived in Perak recently.
“The first mosque we cleaned was Sultan Salahudin Abdul Aziz Shah Mosque in Shah Alam on January 24 and by August 17, we’ve cleaned some 120 mosques, in total,” said Annas to Ipoh Echo.
With no help or funding from anyone, the trio, from Sabak Bernam, began their journey on foot, pushing two trolleys packed with bags tagged with the national and Selangor flags. The boys related their experiences when met at Sultan Idris Shah II Mosque, Ipoh on Monday, August 17.
“One of the most unforgettable moments we had was when we had only RM20 in our pockets. We didn’t spend on lodging, as we slept in the mosques. But we needed money to buy necessities like food and drinks to survive. All of a sudden we received RM100 from the imam of the mosque. It dawned on me that when you do something good, God will help you,” said Annas.
Although the boys wanted to go on foot throughout the journey, they received so much help from the public, including policemen.
“The police insisted that we keep them updated to avoid unnecessary accidents. For example, when we were about to walk from Taiping to Kuala Kangsar, they advised us take public transport, as the road was unsafe. We later met someone who offered to drive us to Kuala Kangsar, instead.”
Before cleaning a mosque, the boys would first seek the permission of the mosque committee. Once approval was given they would first clean the toilets, clear the garbage, clean the windows and walls and finally the general area. The objective was to create awareness in the community that keeping a mosque clean was everyone’s responsibility.
After Perak, the boys will return to Selangor thus ending stage one of their odyssey. They plan on visiting East Malaysia and Brunei next year to continue with stage two of their mission.
“Thanks to social media, more people are getting interested in what we’re doing. Our Facebook followers from Sabah and Sarawak are asking us to visit their states. God willing, we’ll visit them next year,” said Annas.
Readers keen on knowing the latest regarding the trio can visit their Facebook page at “Ibnu Battuta Adwt”.
Ili Aqilah
