Another kind of Pilgrimage (3)

Once gold remains gold

Just because we are the students of thariqah, it doesn't mean that we are all good. It only means that we are trying to be good in the way we live our life. Since it isn't a formal institution where no money nor pressure involved, any people can enter it for whatever reason they had in their mind. And people decide to enter thariqah for many reason. Some that I can tell are because they have financial problem or mental problem, they want to gain superiority or supernatural power, and some want to seek the way to be in proximity to Allah.

How to mine the gold in us?

This deeper intention then shows up in the way they are practicing the knowledge they learn from thariqah and how they interact with others. Some will be good and getting better. Some will still be mediocre and some remain poisonous when interacting with other. The fault isn't in the teaching. The fault is in the person who don't realize the teaching and apply it well in their life. And this had been part of the experience I had in the trip.

One it happened to my female colleague who joined the group after the first stop in her town and visited the land that was going to be used as Jaamiatul Mudzakkiriin (JM). She was a successful notary in her town. She and the other students there wished to have the building in their area. So they combined their financial support to buy land. Because most of them aren't wealthy, the major payment was done by her to the point that she had to mortgage her house to pay for the land in her wish to have the building. And she had granted and declared the land to be owned by our great spiritual teacher. He had received it and declared that the land was to be used as JM, which means it is then up to the students there to make their dream and wish come true under his guidance.

And during the visit in front of many people, he had passed some amount of money to her on behalf of the committee. After she received it, she sat next to me and I told her that it was to be used to buy things for starting the building. And she understood well. After all the procession in the location, she then came along with us to the next city. She didn't had a chance to pass the money to the committee treasurer for he refused to accept them in the busy and crowded situation.

I moved to her car this time. And she asked me to count the money witnessed by the driver and a female student from her area. The total amount was 50 million rupiahs. We followed our great spiritual teacher to visit another JM that was still under construction before we arrived in the house where we would stay overnight.

On the way, she told me the slander that she received from people around her; the bad treatment of her brother who sold her inheritance land that she had from her father without her permission, the false accusation she had from other students. Yet, she kept trying to prove herself that she was a good person unlike what people said. There was a saying she told me 'One gold will always be gold'. I trust her, for I have worked with her for more than 5years and saw her loyalty. She also told me her life story which she used to hang around with common people like becak (a kind of rickshaw) drivers, how she loved her maid and her family who had helped her to cared her children during difficult time and treated her like her own family.

Truth is generally the best vindication against slander
~ Abraham Lincold ~

The following day, when we went to another JM that was still under construction, something came up. We got the information from our general chairman, that someone had accused her for taking the money and he questioned him "why the money must be given to her instead of him?". We were quite surprised with this information. As a woman, she cried over such a false accusation. And I felt sorry for her and for the one who had been 'immature' enough in accusing her.The evidence to prove that the accusation was false were there. The fact that she mortgaged her house at the amount of six times more than the money handed to her to pay for the land was hard evidence of her sincere intention. Her long support to the development of her local area was another.

So on the next trip when we headed to another JM in another town, to lighten the mood I made a joke that next time she met him just tell that she was taking money with her to get more blessing from other JM that we visited along the trip. We laughed at this, though we both were serious about this accusation. She asked me to sign the money. So I did and I wrote my note on the envelope to declare that I was the one who counted and signed the money as guarantee that she didn't take nor change the money in the envelop.

Hearing the accusation, one of our spiritual teacher assistance commented wisely that he was just too afraid to be left behind in taking part on this important program. So we just had to be patience in accepting other people. Their response is the reflection of what is kept hidden inside of them.
Just like any good intention though hidden will show its true state sooner or later, so will the bad intention. And those who is gold will remain gold no matter how people treat them.