Penulis : Isa Kamari

ISBN : 9971-77-427-5

Cetakan Kedua 2004

m/s : 192

saiz : 140 mm x 210 mm

Baca petikan novel ini

Sinopsis

Penerokaan berani ke alam seksualiti dan pertaliannya dengan kesedaran agama menjanjikan sebuah kisah yang pasti mencengkam dan menginsafkan pembaca.

Disenaraipendekkan bagi Hadiah Sastera Singapura 2004 (Singapore Literature Prize - Malay 2004)

Synopsis

Kiswah tells the story of a young man named Iryadi who was known by his friends to be a religious person. He married his undergraduate sweetheart Nazreen. They went on a honeymoon trip to Delhi, Kashmir and Kathmandu. They also planned to perform the ‘umrah’ (small pilgrimage) to Mecca immediately after the honeymoon.

It was in Kashmir and Kathmandu that Nazreen discovered that Iryadi was not as ‘gentle’ as she had expected him to be. He was ‘brutal’ in sex and had craved for the forbidden. The aphrodisiac he bought from a peddler in Kashmir and the sex murals he saw at the Jaganath temple in Kathmandu fired up his sexual appetite. He treated Nazreen more than an object of desire. Nazreen had to oblige because she was his wife. But deep inside her she had lost all respect for him. She yearned for Mecca. Iryadi on the other hand was restless of the thought of stepping into the Holy Land.

While in Mecca, Nazreen performed the rituals earnestly and found peace. Meanwhile Iryadi was fearful and ‘lost’. In front of the Kaabah he was brought into another world in which he found himself being attacked and raped by a group of women whom he had watched in pornographic videos before going for the honeymoon and pilgrimage. Immediately after that a tragedy happened. Nazreen was abducted by a taxi driver while Iryadi went into the hotel lobby to leave behind his hotel room keys with the concierge. Iryadi was devastated. He took the incident as God’s punishment towards him. He vowed not to step into Mecca again.

When he returned to Singapore Iryadi led a hedonistic life. He met Nancy who was a masseur and brought her to his home. Nancy had a mother who was sick. One night while in hospital she dreamt of the Kaabah was excited when she saw the same scene on TV the next day. She told Nancy of her wish to convert to Islam and visit the Kaabah. Nancy did not find that strange because she and her mother had lived among Muslims in a kampung in Malaysia.

Meanwhile Iryadi was approached by one of Nazreen’s friend to repent and take Nancy as a lawful wife in Islam. Iryadi was delightfully surprised to know that Nancy also wanted to convert to Islam. When Iryadi proposed to her, she said that she would accept it on the condition that they solemnized the marriage in front of the Kaabah in Mecca. Iryadi was caught in a dilemma. He had to face himself and God.

They finally went to Mecca. There Iryadi ‘met’ Nazreen again.