No Stone Unturned

My father has an appointment with Ustaz Harun Din at 6.30 am tomorrow morning.

For those unfamiliar with the name, Harun Din is a religious healer of some repute, and lately a quasi-prominent political figure in Malaysia. That aside, he has quite an impeccable reputation for ferreting out 'disturbances' from otherwise invisible quarters, something that many I know will attest to.

I've said this before, and I'll say it again. I'm a guy who likes his science. So does my dad, who also happens to be a doctor. Still, something has to be said for the power of faith (and prayer) in alleviating pain and sickness. It's either that, or the power of hysteria. Standing where I am right now, I can't say I'm inclined towards the latter.

The reason we're going is mainly to find out if my dad's strange bout of illness has a non-earthly origin. No, scratch that and call it a non-medical origin. What else can you call a sickness that according to medical specialists should not happen at all? I for one, am curious, simply because I have yet to see Harun Din at work (although I've listened to him give talks and heard stories of his exploits) and a part of me is intrigued to see if there is another darker explanation for what's afflicting my dad.

Of course, when all is said and done it may be an obscure infection after all (the final test results will only be back in 6 weeks) and if that's the case, medical science will lead the assault on it. If it turns out that it's not...

Talking to my siblings over the weeks I've realised something we all share: each one of us has seen or heard something inexplicable in our house for as long as we can remember. There was the strange figure walking around at night outside, the fiery ball that burst into flames in the kitchen, and most recently another figure flitting about, seen by my 15 year old sister. THAT surprised me more than anything because she had no reason to make it up and just out of the blue told me when I was home last week, as easily as if she'd been telling me about a new episode of an anime. I remember her asking me what I thought of it, and honestly I didn't know how to answer her (she's also deaf in one ear, so less possibility of hearing things?).

When something happens so often no one bats an eye, I guess. Tomorrow I'll attempt to document the process of diagnosis as thoroughly as I can, you know, for science.

And to find out if there's something else behind all this.