:: Quran Buruk ::

I remember my grandma once mentioned the meaning of ‘quran buruk’.  As decaying as it may sound, it is something unpleasant.

I visited the wife of one of my dad’s friends last Sunday.  She’s in poor shape I gotta tell.  Type 1 diabetic and her condition’s not so pretty.  She kept on saying that she’s gonna die soon.  Kept apologizing. 

Both of her legs are swollen.  I’m not sure if someone could get elephantiasis through diabetes.  She got her middle toe amputated cuppla weeks back.  And since then she looks gloomier than before.

I’ve known her for few years.  Since the first day I knew her, she never looked happy. 
To make the story juicier, she allowed her husband to marry another woman early this year. THAT after 3 weeks of silence-treatment by the hubby who is supposedly an Ustaz.  His excuse was, for someone to take care of her while he’s working, someone to take care of their 6 small children.  And his excuse has been excused.

Abah and Mom heard that she was terribly unwell and that we went to pay her a visit with another family, a close friend to Abah, which happens the wife is a doctor.  She briefly checked her up and insisted Ustaz to bring his wife to the hospital because she refused to eat for more than a week now.

She is depressed, all of us are certain of that.  The mix feelings of the husband married to another woman, of her being sick, the nurture she was promised that she’ll get, the lacking in attention which is now divided. 

There I was sitting next to her bed trying to put myself in her shoes while I also alternately glanced at ustaz, studying his behavior, and the way he looked at her, I could see the indifference.  He has no feelings towards her anymore.  Naught. Nada. Zilch. Zero. Nothing.  Sympathy? I could hardly see it.  That’s the trouble when you have the ability to read someone’s micro facial expressions that could reveal their true feelings. I could see something between contempt and disgust through the lines on his face.

And what triggered was what my Tok Wan pernah cakap, Quran Buruk ni, nak disimpan tak boleh dibaca, nak dibuang rasa tak kena. 

 While driving back home, everybody was quiet, perhaps recollecting what we have seen and Abah broke the silence with one question “Rasanya Ustaz ada lagi tak rasa sayang pada zaujah dia?”  and silence hit back.