Malaysia's new King is humble and pious | Being oneself

Bismillah.

I am very proud indeed to be a Malaysian. No let me rephrase that. I have never been this proud to be a Malaysian, to have a King like Sultan Muhammad V who took oath as the 15th King of this beautiful country, a couple of days ago.

This Friday is his first Friday as the King and just look what he wore for Friday prayers! I have seen photos and read reports about his routine of walking to the mosque near his palace in Kelantan wearing a simple thobe (jubah). Prior to taking oath as Malaysia's 15th King, Sultan Muhammad V reigned as the Sultan of Kelantan (a state in the northeast of Peninsular Malaysia). As a Sultan of a state, that's unheard of - Sultan wearing thobe in public. As the King of Malaysia, I didn't expect His Majesty to keep to his "favourite" humble thobe. VIPs attending Friday prayers at Malaysiá National Mosque or any other mosques would customarily wear expensive looking Baju Melayu with sampin songket - a traditional outfit for Malay gentlemen. The intricate designs of their sampin songket is a feast to the eyes.     

But just look at our new King. MashaAllah!

Malaysia's New King - Sultan Muhammad V attended Friday prayers
at the National Mosque garbed in simple white thobe.
The gentleman on most right is wearing a traditional outfit
for Malay gentlemen (Baju Melayu with sampin songket)

According to the Mufti of Kelantan (as reported in a local newspaper), His Majesty would always bring along his al-Quran teacher whenever he travels abroad, just so that he does not forget to hold prayers in congregation. The King is an expert in slaughtering cattle for Qurban/sacrifice, thus would do it himself and distribute the meat himself too. He would study any new Islamic law that is to be formulated and is very concerned on proper enforcement of the Shariah laws in Kelantan. The King would annually perform umrah on the last ten days of Ramadan and spend Eid in the Holy cities. At his palace in his home-state, the Sultan of Kelantan who has now become the 15th King for Malaysia would hold majlis taalim once a week and make sure his palace staffs do not miss the weekly session.

Sounds like a perfect King to me!

The photo of him wearing a simple white thobe for Friday prayers, tells us one important thing, the King wants to be himself, not his glamorous self or whatever, but his pious learned self. Let others lose themselves in the tide of modernity and secularism, His Majesty seems to prefer to stick to the fundamentals of his faith.

By the grace of Allah, with such a notable King, Malaysia should prosper marvelously. Ameen.

And let's pray so that our single King will find his Queen soon : )

p/s

I can imagine Sultan Muhammad V performing Qiyamulail every night while the majority of his subjects snore the night away. LOL. 

Long live the King.
He is 47
one year my senior : )

Further reading:
http://news.asiaone.com/news/malaysia/5-things-know-about-malaysias-new-king
http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/sultan-muhammad-v-reveres-islam-respects-religious-intellectuals