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This blogspot is a medium to share my thoughts and adventures apart from promoting my books. Below are the books which have been written or authored and published by myself.


"Berpetualang ke Aceh: Mencari Diri dan Erti".

ISBN 983-42031-0-1, Jun 2006


"Berpetualang ke Aceh: Membela Syiar yang Asal"

ISBN 983-42031-1-x, May 2007


"Berpetualang ke Aceh: Sirih Pulang ke Gagang?"

ISBN 978-983-42031-2-2, November 2007


It is interesting to note that while these books were written in Malay it has gained enough attention to merit being part of the collections of the American Library of Congress and National Library of Australia. Look here and here.


While the first three books were published by my own company, the fourth titled "Rumah Azan" was published in April 2009 by a company called Karnadya with the help of the Malaysian national literary body Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka. It features beautiful pictures along with stories behind selected mosques which could be related to the history of Islam and the Malays alongside the formation of the Malaysian nation. Look at the article A collaboration of old collegemates - the book "Rumah Azan".


My fifth book "Ahlul Bait (Family) of Rasulullah SAW and Malay Sultanates", an English translation and adaptation of the Malay book "Ahlul Bait (Keluarga) Rasulullah SAW dan Kesultanan Melayu" authored by Hj Muzaffar Mohamad and Tun Suzana Othman was published early 2010. Look here... My 5th book is out! Ahlul Bait (Family) of Rasulullah SAW and the Malay Sultanates... . For more information check out my Malay blogspot CATATAN SI MERAH SILU.



Like my fourth book "Rumah Azan", the sixth book "Kereta Api Menuju Destinasi" is also a coffee-table book which is published by the company Karnadya with the cooperation of Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (the main Malay literary body in Malaysia). Coming out January 2011 it features pictures and stories on the adventure travelling by train to all of Peninsular Malaysia along with the interesting places which could be reached this way.


My seventh book "Jejak keluarga Yakin : Satu sketsa sejarah" in turn is a coffee-table book which is written, editted, designed and has pictures taken by me. Coming out of the factory October 2011, this book which combines family history with history of places such as Singapura, Johor, Batu Pahat, Muar and in fact the history of the island of Java and England has been reviewed with me interviewed live in the program Selamat Pagi Malaysia at RTM1. Look at the article Siaran langsung ulasan buku "Jejak keluarga Yakin : Satu sketsa sejarah" dan temu ramah di Selamat Pagi Malaysia. Some selected contents have been featured in Sneak peek "Jejak keluarga Yakin : Satu sketsa sejarah".


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The "Berpetualang ke Aceh" series of novels could be obtained in e-book form. Enter http://www.e-sentral.com/, click general novel and go to page 4. You can also type the word "Aceh" at the search box. Or click straight Book 1, Book 2 and Book 3.


Monday, February 18, 2008

From Segamat to Muar, a stop around the village of Tenang

OK... Time to continue the storytelling here after a lapse of 10 days. My last posting here, Reminiscing the teenage years in Kluang - Part 3 and last... was actually continued the same day but in the Malay blogspot CATATAN SI MERAH SILU . After Kluang, I went to the district of Segamat. So the continuation is called Segar yang amat sangat di Segamat... Ya ke? . Do click and have a look...
In Segamat, despite the invitation of some new acquaintances to spend the night at either one of their houses, I chose to stay at a certain mosque. Perhaps I just like to spend the night alone, perhaps I chose the location because of what's available across it. To find out what is there, read the story Makam-makam lama di (The old tombs at) Lubok Batu, Segamat... in the blogspot SENI LAMA MELAYU (MALAY OLDEN ART) .
This article began with what happened the following morning. My host in Segamat, Khairul decided to join me for the trip back to my hometown Muar. After all there's many places along the way he would like to visit with me showing the way. But first, breakfast with the new acquaintances.
Now, his friend Razman kept talking about a certain deceased man in his native village of Kampung Tenang. So I decided to pay a visit at the tomb of the man... Here's the story...


Some 20km south-east of the town of Segamat, still within the Segamat district though lies a village called Kampung Tenang. Now don't mistake this with a place of similar name Tenang which lies on the route from Segamat to Labis. To reach the Kampung Tenang in question, one have to go to Labis and then take the small road east heading for the mountains.

Here lies a Muslim cemetery with the tomb of the said deceased person. Known simply as Tok Tenang, the building above the tomb should signify that he must be a person of some importance.


Razman obviously have such high regards for Tok Tenang... So much so that he talked about the person with a certain tone aimed to impress, he probably missed the fact that I've travelled, visited, in fact in some places slept at tombs of persons much more acclaimed and well-known. Never mind that... I'm here not to compare the status of such persons. It's just I have high respect for those believed to have achieved saintly status and Tok Tenang is said to be one such person.

Razman kept telling how miracles happened around the place because of the karamah (saintly miracles) of Tok Tenang. He said Tok Tenang is related to the Perlis royal family.

If I remember correctly, Razman told how once the King of Perlis (used to be the Yang di Pertuan Agong) came all the way to visit Kampung Tenang and see the descendants of Tok Tenang. But the King was scolded because he forgot to take off his shoes when entering the house. That to Razman shows the high status of Tok Tenang and his family.

I don't doubt it as I know many cases of members of some old royal families, king's to be, some even former kings who left their throne to start a new life elsewhere. Whatever their reason, they tend to go somewhere far and hid their true identity, only to live a life like a common peasant. But then there's always people who knew their true status. That's why some of this so-called "unknown in the wilderness" are given respect like royals by those who knew...


Now, I don't really know who is Tok Tenang. Suffice to say this plaque at the tomb shows his name as Tuan Sheikh (as in the venerable holy teacher) Ariffin bin... (sorry I can't make out the father, have a look yourself) who died in the year 1274 Hijriah.

The plaque also said he opened Kampung Tenang on the 22 Ramadhan of 1221 Hijriah. That is equivalent to the year 1806 AD. Although the Hijriah lunar year is shorter than the Gregorian year by about 10 days or so, the year in question is still equivalent to more than 200 years ago... So you could say Tok Tenang lived from 18th till 19th century AD.


Came the time to leave the cemetery... Khairul at the car...


He insisted we visited another place not far from the cemetery...


Not far but still a few kilometres away and going inside the jungle. At one point, we had to leave the car and walk as the bridge had collapsed and was under repair. Luckily we had to walk less than 1km before arriving at this point.


So what is this place? Can you read the board? It is a recreational jungle known as Hutan Lipur Taka Melor or the Taka Melor recreational jungle...


Khairul insisted we went here as he liked to show me what's there. Soon enough I got a glimpse of what's available...

Ah... The waterfall is sure alluring. I just can't help sampling a bit of the delight!
At first I thought I just went to dip my feet only. What happened, I ended up dipping my whole body in this rather deep waters with my trousers on as I don't bring any shorts!
Then again, perhaps I was meant to do this... You see, when we arrived at the place where the bridge collapse, I decided it would be better if Khairul turned the car the other way around before we park. What happened then was the car got stuck in mud and I had to go out to push it while he enter the gears.
That's when the mud got spurted into me and my clothing... I guess that gave me the excuse for dipping my whole body inside the waters, hehe!


Then it's time to leave the whole place designated under the name Kampung Tenang...


Oh, forgot to tell... To get to Kampung Tenang, you have to pass the comboy town of Pekan Air Panas, literally translated as the village of hot water. Why is it called that? The picture below should give a clue...


True enough, there are hot water geyzers here, now turned into proper pools for tourism. So without the need for much persuasion (or any actually!) I went there and of course took a dip. After the rather cold water at Taka Melor, what better way to get my body going than to have a dip in the hot waters of Ayer Panas? No need to be a rocket scientist to figure that out!


Soon enought, it's time to leave the district of Segamat... The junction in the picture, on the Segamat to Yong Peng road, is headed for Muar through Bukit Kepong. The story will be continued in the blogspot CATATAN SI MERAH SILU

To get a better idea of where we are, have a look at the map below nicked from some government website, hehe!... See what I meant when I said don't mistake Kampung Tenang for another place called Tenang on the Segamat to Labis route? Too bad this map don't show the location of Kampung Tenang.. It should be somewhere on the east of Pekan Ayer Panas towards the Pahang border while the junction shown above is right at the southern end of Labis town heading towards Muar as could be seen in the map. Cheers! :]


9 comments:

Radzi Sapiee said...

Hmm... Just found this, some material on Tok Tenang cached in Google Search. The original forum where this material came from seemed non-existent now. So might as well post this for posterity...

khairuddin

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#1Post at 1-11-2007 12:52 PM Profile | P.M.
salasilah Tok Tenang


assalamualaikum,,saya baru lagi dalam forum nie,,apa yang saya hendak cari dan tahu akan kepastian adalah,,moyang saya tok tenang, pengasas satu kampung di Segamat, johor, Syed Mohd kamarul ariffin bin Syed Nuruddin dikatakan datang dari pagar ruyung dan dikatakan dari nasab jammalullail..dan keturunannya dikatakan berasal dari Hadramaut tak silat di Yemen..kiranya bagaimana saya hendak tahu nasab nya,,kira harap mederator dapat membantu,,,apa yng saya tau,,almarhum moyang saya menukar dan tidak menggunakan awalan nama Syed bila berada di tanah melayu ketika itu...bapa saya pernah mengatakan kami mempunyai hubungan dgn almarhum Tuan besar Tampin yg dulu...

[Adv.] Program Jejak Alawiyyin 1 ke Seluruh Semenanjung 2007

syfadhil

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#2Post at 1-11-2007 01:25 PM Profile | Blog | P.M.
sudah berapa gen dengan Tok Tenang ni?Tahun bila dia meninggal dunia?

[Adv.] Program Jejak Alawiyyin 1 ke Seluruh Semenanjung 2007

khairuddin

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#3Post at 1-11-2007 02:07 PM Profile | P.M.
Reply #2 syfadhil's post


sy gen ke 6 dari tok tenang..tahun berapa meninggal saya tak pasti dan akan cuba dapatkan tarikh meninggal mggu ni bl saya balik ke kampung..apa yg saya tahu..almarhum tok tenang tak menggunakan awalan nama syed or sheikh atas alasan2 tertentu or keselamatan..tak silap saya,,nama tok tenang syed kamarul ariffin bin syed noruddin bin syed alauddin..

Anonymous said...

assalamualaikum.
saya juga diberitahu bahawa saya keturunan Tok Tenang. Rumah saya lebih kurang 5km dari Makam Tok Tenang. Keluarga saya sendiri pun tidak tahu mereka keturunan Tok Tenang. Tapi banyak juga yang saya tahu pasal Tok Tenang. SUmber? Saya tidak boleh beritahu di sini sebab boleh mendatangkan fitnah.
Saya juga ingin berkenalan dengan semua keturunan Tok Tenang yang telah dipadamkan nasab nama awalnya.
semoga blog ini menjadi medannya.
terima kasih.

Unknown said...

assalamualaikum.,.,its me that u find the material from al-alawwin forum if i'm not mistaken.,.,so,,many researcher had come to see my father to make research about tok tenang. The latest one, one prof from Japan, who teach maybe peradaban melayu at japan university made research about tok tenang

razi said...

nice info..

BERRY said...

Salam semua, nampaknya ramai waris dan zuriat tok tenang disini, saya saifull hairry bin mohammed berasal dari segamat johor.Saya juga sedang mencari keluarga serta keturunan tok tenang. saya generasi yg ke 10 dari gen beliau. dari anak tok tenang yang bernama Syed mohammed Khairuddin...jika ingin melihat lebih maklumat sila ke www.petemu.org.my disana da maklumat tentang tok tenang. jika tidak keberatan sila lawati Facebook saya yg bernama 'Engku Leng' disana juga punyai maklumat tentang tok tenang. Wasallam

Unknown said...

Salam....sy telah cuba cari engku leng dlm fb tp xde pun....mcm mana sy nak berhubung dgn awak...klau x keberatan leh cal sy 0162663794...kita dri keturunan yg sama....Tok Tenang

Unknown said...

saya pun nak tau lebih lanjut lagi ttg tok tenang ni. saya pun dari susur yg sama jugak.

SHE said...

Saya pun nk tahu juga dgn lbh lanjut kerana kita dr keturunan yg sama. Boleh hubungi saya d no 0172965904

SHE said...

Saya pun nk tahu juga dgn lbh lanjut kerana kita dr keturunan yg sama. Boleh hubungi saya d no 0172965904