Teen tend mystery tomb - all
because of a dream
(Source: The Electric New Paper, Jan 21, 2004, by Jamaliah
Othman)
Sometimes a name isn't enough. The tomb had an inscription:
Sharifah Rogayah 1891.
Not much to go on, to solve the mystery of who she was and why
someone was tending her tomb so carefully - a Muslim tomb in
Chinatown.
But a family tree pasted on the tomb started the trail: It traced
Sharifah Rogayah as the granddaughter of Al Habib Al Saiyid Noh
bin Mohammad Al Habshee, also known as Habib Noh.
Habib Noh was believed to be a pious Muslim who cared for the
young, poor and destitute. He came from Kedah and lived in
Singapore for 30 years before his death in 1866.
But was it really his granddaughter buried here?
Habib Noh's shrine, at the Haji Mohd Salleh mosque in Palmer Road
off Shenton Way, is just 10 minutes away from Sharifah Rogayah's
tomb.
Are they related?
A phone number on the family tree gave another lead: It led to
Ahmad Ridhwan, a 16-year-old who has been tending the tomb for
four years.
When he was 12, he said, he dreamt about Habib Noh. In the dream,
Habib asked him to care for the tomb of his sole granddaughter,
Sharifah Rogayah, in the Tanjong Pagar area.
Intrigued, Ahmad sought the advice of his family. 'They didn't
believe it but they encouraged me to look for the tomb,' said the
second child in a family of seven who is waiting for his O-level
results.
In the same month that he had the dream, Ahmad found a street
directory in which Keramat Sharifah Rogayah was printed on a map
of Duxton Plain Park in Chinatown.
Since then he has been tending the tomb, sometimes with the help
of family or friends.
 
These photos were taken in June
2004. You notice that it was in color of yellow and green.
It was only later the top part was painted white as it is now.
WRONG PEOPLE
He makes regular visits to fend off people who might be using the
tomb for the wrong reasons. 'I try to go there after school,
especially on Thursdays and Fridays. That is when some people
might come by to ask for 4D numbers and I cannot allow that.'
He explained: 'Before, I mixed around in bad company but now I'm
more interested in finding out about Islam. I know that Islam
forbids keramat worshippers.'
He also did some research on Habib Noh and found a website which
had the family tree - which he has put on the tomb, along with his
phone number.
A check with Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura (Muis) revealed that
Muis has no records of the tomb of Sharifah Rogayah.
But they do have a record of a Sherrifah Rogayah. We contacted her
great-grand-nephew, Mr Syed Omar bin Mohamed Alsagoff, to find out
more.
'I don't know about the tomb at Duxton Plain Park but I can assure
you it's definitely not my great-grand-aunt. She was buried at the
Muslim burial ground at Paterson Road in 1927,' explained Mr Syed
Omar.
The New Paper visited the Habib Noh shrine to see if anyone there
could shed any light on the tomb of Sharifah Rogayah.
There, Mr Syed Abdullah bin Ahmad Alattas, the great-grand-nephew
of Habib Noh, acknowledged that Habib Noh had a daughter called
Sharifah Rogayah.
But he knew nothing of the tomb.
'I myself, in Singapore for 50 over years, have not heard of this
tomb until the day you asked me about it,' said the 74-year-old
businessman and father of five.
He was curious about the tomb. 'I might visit it in one or two
days' time,' he said.
 
Traces of Keramat worship can be
seen at everywhere
No-one knows who lies beneath
Elderly residents were well aware of the tomb's presence, but not
much more.
Said 71-year-old retiree Mr Freddy Kuay: 'I've been living in this
area for more than 25 years and this tomb has always been there.
'There was a wooden house near there and people in the house were
taking care of it.'
The wooden house has long been replaced by the landscaped shrubs
of Duxton Plain Park.
Caretakers and visitors, however, seem to persist.
'I notice people still come. At least two to three times a week,'
said Mr Kuay, a frequent visitor to the park. He is so used to the
sight of the grave he normally just ignores it.
''I don't disturb or anything I just let it be,' he said.
Other long-time residents of the area, however, do stop at the
grave.
Hajah Laitun binti Mohd, 70, who grew up in the area, said she has
been visiting the shrine ever since she was a child.
'During the time of the Japanese occupation, I was 10 years and
already we would come to this grave,' she said in Malay.
She kept up the visits right through her adulthood.
'When I was working around here as a cleaner for Singapore Tourism
Board, I used to come almost every day during lunch hour or after
work,' said Hajah Laitun.
She recently moved to Bedok and now only goes about once a week.
For someone with such devotion to the grave, she must know who
Sharifah Rogayah is.
Mysteriously enough, she doesn't.
'I don't know who is in the grave. I just come help take care of
it and sometimes ask for help,' she said.
 
1. Legend says it used to have
landslide when trying to exhume the grave. Could that be this
slope just opposite the keramat?
2 - 4. Nearby shop houses that were speculated to have built while
the keramat was already existed there long ago.
¡@
|
Answering
Mysteries
Come