Honor Behind the Stain
The Greatest Struggle

“I can sit?”  The emperor pointed to the sofa.  His feet were pegel, he had stood up and no one had told him to sit down.  He just came home in bad shape.  

“Eh, sit!  Come sit!”  Khanza guided her husband to a sofa.  He then went back for a while and brought back a glass of water.  “This drink!”

Kaaisar was greatly honored by Khanza's attitude.  He took a sip of the drink. After his throat felt wet, he began to tell stories.  

That morning, after escorting Khanza to the school building, the Emperor returned home to retrieve the files left behind.  But instead he was stabbed by Rama, the long-haired man looked vengeful.

In a state of injury, the Emperor was still conscious when Rama put his body in a sack, then carried to the cart.  Rama pushed the cart to the river.  The emperor did not know what was going on outside as long as he was inside the sack.  His breath is stuffy.

He felt his body being carried somewhere.  Then he felt his body being toppled from the wagon towards the ground.  He felt a kick to roll his body.  Then he shook when he fell into the water and the whole sack was filled with water.

Although in a state of severe injury, almost unconscious, but the water that soaked his body made his consciousness wake up again.  He exerted all his energy to be able to open the tie that hooked at the end of the sack.

The emperor felt the river current very rushing, his body being dragged so fast.

After a great struggle, the end of the sack finally opened, the Emperor managed to get out of the sack.  He tried to swim, but the swift currents of the river had dragged his body very far.  He was still conscious when his body was rushed by the river current up to kilo meters away.

After the pain got worse, the Emperor was unconscious, not knowing what had happened to him.  Even upon awakening, the Emperor forgot how long he had been unconscious.  

When he woke up, he found himself in a small house.  A foreign home.  And a girl said that she had saved the Emperor who was then dragged down by the river and finally stranded on the edge of the river.  

The two girls who were around twenty years old were living as orphans, they had no parents.  The wound in the Emperor's stomach was wrapped in bandages when he was awake.  And he found himself in a state of being infused.  

Long story short, the Emperor then thanked the two girls for saving him.

“This is the biggest struggle of my life so far.  Where I was faced with death, it was as if death had really come before me.  As the river currents dragged my body and I was helpless, I felt that I was going to die.  I'm resigned.  I gave my life and death to God.  Even then I repeatedly said shahadah.  I ask God to accept my repentance, forgive all my sins.  But who would have thought, when I opened my eyes, not the angel in the grave I met, I was still in the world.  God still extends my life.”

A story that breaks the soul.  The heart is torn by something unexpected.  That is faith.

“What a great wisdom behind this incident.  I even felt it.  Death is like near.  Real close.  And I want to prepare myself towards that.”  Khanza held the Emperor's hand tightly.

The Emperor's smile expanded.  His wife could finally talk like that.  Yes, behind the heavy incident, not only did the Emperor get a hard slap.  But also Khanza.  The one who felt he had to make the most of his time, made the most of five things before coming up.  That is the youth before old age, the healthy period before the time of illness, the adequacy period before the time of deprivation, the leisure before the busy period, the life period before the time of death.

Khanza came to realize that the death of a loved one was a reminder to him.  After all, life is the preparation of the day to meet the Creator.

***

Seriate