Last night my Mom’s Mom passed away in her sleep. She was in her mid-eighties and had had trouble breathing for a while already. We were all quite prepared that she could go to her Lord and Maker at any time. I feel happy for her that she doesn’t have to suffer anymore, just sad that I won’t see her or get a card from her any more in this life.
What I found interesting was when I told my pembantu that my Nenek (grandmother) had passed away (meninggal dunia) she said this little prayer in Arabic and then asked what time she had passed away. Then told me that she shared my sadness. When I told one of the teachers at school, her first question was, “Had your grandmother already received Jesus?” As most of our family and friends are believers and come from families of believers, that question is just a given usually. But here in this country where 88% of the people are Muslim, it is definitely not a given. In fact the parents of the teacher who asked me are Muslim although some of her siblings have converted. I spoke with another teacher today who told me that when her dad converted to Christianity, his name was scratched off the family list and he was banned from ever visiting them again. He was also not allowed to use the family last name anymore. To Muslims that are very fanatic, conversion to Christianity is punishable with death.