news feature

It was a fine Saturday morning in Terengganus coastal village of Kampung Rusila. After slaughtering his fourth cow, Terengganu Menteri Besar Abdul Hadi Awang was invited to a villagers house and joined the family for refreshments on a straw-mat on the floor.

Five minutes later, he thanked the family for their hospitality. As he was about to get up and make a move to another villagers home, a five-year-old girl wearing head scarf seated next to him asked him to take a break.

Hadi looked at her and quipped, Its already late, sayang (dear). There are 15 more to go. Everyone laughed.

Yes, 15 more cows were to be sacrificed that day in the village, sweet with the pungent smell of blood and the deep scent of grass.

All around the area, eager rural folk had tied these cows to coconut trees. Seven households would pay for one cow which roughly costs RM2,500. They had invited the local religious teacher, in this case Hadi, and were waiting for him to perform the act of korban (religious sacrifice) after which part of the meat would be distributed to the poor and the needy.

The occasion was Hari Raya Aidiladha, a day to commemorate the great sacrifice performed by Prophet Ibrahim who was all set to slaughter his own son as instructed by Allah but was stopped by the Creator at the last minute and asked to sacrifice a lamb instead.

Kampung Rusila in the Marang district is the birth-place of 56-year-old Hadi, who is also the deputy president of Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS).

Popular Friday sermons

The morning before Aidiladha, he was giving a sermon at the mosque in the centre of the village just as his late father, Awang Muhammad, once did. The mosque was rebuilt from a simple surau (prayer house) with donations from locals.

The 90-minute sermon Hadi delivered was just one of the many kuliah (lectures), as it is known to the local Muslims, he gives every Friday morning.

At least 3,000 people must have had listened to his kuliah that day, including those from neighbouring districts who came all the way to Kampung Rusila.

Some 1,000 of them were packed in the mosque. Another 1,000  men, women and even their children  settled down outside the mosque and listened to his voice blasting through speakers on the mosque tower. Some sat in their own cars and vans. But most just sat on the open ground in front of the mosque, under the blazing sun.

As for the rest, mostly villagers staying in the vicinity of the mosque, they sat in the porches and verandahs of their homes and listened to Hadis sermon from a distance.

In the mosque, quoting the example of Prophet Ibrahim who was ready to carry out Allahs order without a doubt, a stern-looking Hadi facing a video recorder confidently advocated in a firm voice total submission to the Almighty.

During his sermon, people nodded occasionally in agreement and some were diligently jotting down notes on the pages of a thin Jawi booklet called Akidah Muslimin which was written by Hadi. The booklet is one of the three textbooks for the kuliah besides the Quran and the Hadith (words of Prophet Muhammad).

Recorded for distribution

But it was not all traditional methods of preaching. That Fridays kuliah , like many of his before, was recorded on camera and would eventually be compiled into video compact discs (VCD) and cassette tapes to be distributed free to the public.

After the sermon, on his way out to his fenced wooden house some 20 paces away from the mosque, people flocked to him and greeted him. They clasped his hand with their both theirs and lowered their forehead to it  the salam gesture reserved only for the elderly and respectable in the Muslim community.

Hadi inherited his house from his father. But his father passed on more than just a house to him  he left Hadi the legacy of being the son of the religious teacher who taught the present Sultan of Terengganus grandfather.

Children were playing and running around in the yard of his house. Visitors are welcome anytime, no appointment needed, provided that he is in.

There is no personal bodyguard for him. Security measures are barely visible except for the police patrol car which comes around his house a couple of times at night.

Even after becoming the state chief three years ago, he remains in Kampung Rusila and only stays at the mentri besars official residence when he receives guests.

Religion first, politics second

One villager said, Tok Guru (the master, referring to Hadi) always has his door open for us. He is a busy man now but he still makes the effort to teach us every Friday.

Not only does he teach them, Hadi also makes it a point to be with the village folk, mostly farmers and fishermen, when there is a special event like the korban for Aildiladha.

To the people in Kampung Rusila, he is a religious teacher first and a political leader second; something which many of Hadis political detractors fail to realise or simply refuse to accept.

When Hadi was named last year by the now defunct Asiaweek as the seventh most influential communicator in Asia, many of the magazines readers wondered why.

And indeed, they shall continue to wonder why. Until they see how Hadi talks and listens to his people.

This is the second of a five-part series on PAS in Terengganu: three years after. Excerpts of malaysiakini interview with Hadi can be found in the Opinions/Features section.