Cak Nur will remain in the hearts of all

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.