This week saw the first anniversary of our semi-captivity, and the first anniversary of the declaration of the pandemic. To date, there have been in excess of 117.4 million confirmed covid cases around the world, and more than 2.6 million people have died...

But it was also the week of Israk and Mikraj.

Israk means a journey by night, and Mikraj signifies an ascent, a journey upwards. So this is the celebration of two journeys made by the Prophet Muhammad. First, there was the miraculous overnight journey from Mecca to Jerusalem, on a winged white beast called al-Buraq (bariq being the Arabic for lightning), with stops on the way, as ordered by the archangel Jibril, at places such as Madinah, Mount Sinai, and Bethlehem. Second, at the culmination of this journey, the Prophet was transported beyond the seven heavens to reach the throne of God himself, where he received the instruction to instigate the Muslim duty of five-times-daily prayer.

This all sounds very triumphant, but actually it happened when the Prophet was "experiencing a state of deep grief or what is called the year of amul huzni (year of sadness)", after losing his wife Khadijah and his uncle, Abu Thalib. They had both supported his work, and their absence exposed him to loneliness and intimidation. The dual journeys, then, were God's proffered comfort, and the recollection of them has the purpose of motivating and encouraging human beings to look forward to new beginnings.

I found it quite moving to read the various suggestions for blessings and exhortations that believers can use to greet each other. Onwards and upwards, they seem to say, and heaven knows, we all need that encouragement at the moment.

This week, alerted by some exchanges on the Sarawak Heritage Society's ever-informative WhatsApp chat group, we took a stroll along Carpenter Street, where a new mural is under construction, and some sign boards have started to adorn historic buildings:



As you can see, the signs (which are presumably part of the initiative I mentioned a few months ago) feature bar codes that you can scan to access more information. We haven't been able to check them out yet, as we recently disabled our barcode scanner on the grounds that it had taken to autonomously opening unwanted web pages on our phones...

The only other thing we have to report, which we find quite amusing, is the "smoking zone" that has been set up opposite the Song Kheng Hai Ground Food and Recreation Centre. (We're pretty sure this is new. Certainly, we've not noticed it before.)


I hope people remember to socially distance as they gather round the central ash-tray, watching their fumes being borne away by the big, beefy central ventilator...

And finally, the gallery for the week: