Cak Nur will remain in the hearts of all

ID Nugroho, The Jakarta Post, Jombang

The sound of a car approaching from the road that passes Mojoanyar and Banjarrejo villages in Jombang, East Java signaled to the crowd that Muhlisah, the younger sister of Nurcholish "Cak Nur" Madjid, who passed away on Monday afternoon, was arriving.

The group of some 70 people, who were attending a prayer service for Cak Nur that Monday night, fell silent as the car pulled up.

Muhlisah's eldest son, Ainul Yakin, stood to embrace his mother who faltered in her steps as she walked toward him. She hugged him and wept with choking sobs, "Your uncle... your uncle has passed away".

Ainul walked with his mother to the back of the house, which had been the house of KH. Abdul Madjid, Cak Nur's father.

Such was the atmosphere in the house where Cak Nur was born when The Jakarta Post visited it several hours after the highly respected Muslim thinker passed away in Pondok Indah Hospital in Jakarta.

"Cak Nur's demise was unexpected," said Ainul.

The 450-square-meter wood and plywood house, which is located behind a small mosque, is decorated in a simple way.

Netting to keep out mosquitoes separates the guest room from the family room, while the front yard is not fenced off from the mosque compound. It is also used for prayers when the number of worshipers is high and, at other times, as a badminton court where young people play.

"Even though it's modest, Cak Nur always missed the house. When he had the opportunity to return to his hometown, he would ask to stay here," said Ainul.

Cak Nur grew up with his sister and two brothers Muhlisah, Syaifullah and M. Adnan, in the house.

Mat Cholil, 59, struggled to find the right words when asked to comment on the loss of his childhood friend, Cak Nur "I don't know what I should talk about. All this came unexpectedly," he said.

He said right from the start, when he meant Cak Nur in early 1945, he was struck by his intelligence.

"I was amazed at how he could catch so many gatul fish so fast. I later realized he had made a contraption like a net from bamboo. He placed it in the fast-flowing river and when the fish came swimming downstream, they were trapped," he said.

In those days, when children played with paper airplanes they made themselves, Cak Nur's was always the most colorful. "At first, we were surprised. We later found out that the colors were in fact derived from chalk, brick dust and laundry bluing," Cholil said.

Muhlisah, 60, remembered how her brother had urged her to continue with her studies.

"My brother was the one who was steadfast against me marrying early and encouraged me to keep studying," said the grandmother of three.

Cak Nur, highly respected for promoting religious tolerance and democracy, also managed Al Huda Education Foundation, which his father founded. He bought hundreds of computers and musical instruments for the marching band of the school, which is located adjacent to the mosque.

He also financed the purchase of land for the development of the road and bridges connecting Mojoanyar and Banjarrejo villages.

Before the road and bridges were built, village children studying at the Al Huda school had to walk through rice fields and wade through the seven-meter-wide river. When the river flooded, the children had to walk an additional three kilometers.

"Cak Nur wanted everyone to be prosperous," said one of his neighbors, Ali Ridho.