Sabun Sertu

It came on the market at an opportune time – a time that I am shifting house, thereby the need to sertu the new house came into the picture once again. The whole process of sertu requires us to get the tanah liat (red earth/soil), the washing of six parts air mutlak (pure water) and one part air mutlak with the red earth. After consulting with an online ustaz, he feels that it is ok just to wash normally without sertu-ing especially if we have not seen or do not know whether there was ever pig (pork) or dog in the house, but think there might. But being culturally Malay-Muslim, and the fact that sertu is not wrong, and since there is this new product of sabun sertu, Alhamdullillah, perhaps it was Allah’s way of answering my prayers and the many queries in my muddled head.

After reading the newspaper article about the sabun sertu, we headed down to the shop. It was a small shop beside the haig road hawker centre cum market. It was only here that the sabun sertu, coceptualised and created by an ustaz Abdul Rahman, lined the white shelves of that small shop, a size of a store-room. Alhamdullillah, to this ustaz, and may Allah reward him for this. The online ustaz gave him thumbs up for what he called “an ingenious idea that helps us to contemporarise our Islamic practices.”

Someone was buying the stuffs before us – a bottle of sabun sertu for the body, and another bottle of sabun sertu for cutleries and house cleaning. The pakcik at the shop acknowledged our presence and asked whether he could help us.

“Nak tengok tu.” I said, looking at the two bottles being bought by the earlier customer.

“Boleh…tengoklah”. (Of course, go ahead)

I took a bottle from its white shelves. It was orangey-muddy in colour, and the ingredients do not look much, but had some similar scientific names of which you would see behind your shower wash or shampoo. There was also a “how to do it” section but it mentioned only 5 washes after that. That put me in disequilibrium. Why 5 washes?

“Kenapa 5 pakcik?” the confused, naived and ignorant me asked. As far as I have always understood, it’s 6.

“Yang pertama, awak cuci dulu dengan air. Lepas tu, yang kedua awak campur dengan benda ni. Kemudian, lima kali cuci.” (First, you wash with water. Then you add this to your second wash. Then, after that, the rest of the 5 washes.)

Ahhhh… that explains it. So clearly and simply. But I wish that the explanation on the bottle was clearer so that it did not cause such a misconception on the already ignorant me, especially if one was to buy from a grocery store without a knowledgeable salesperson at hand.

“Kena pakai banyak tak?” (Do I need to use a lot?)

“Takde…awak campur sikit dengan air, macam pakai sabun.” (No…just add a little bit to water, like you would normally use soap (liquid))

“Ada buihlah?” (There’s suds?)

“Ah…ada” (Ah…yes)

I opened the bottle to smell it. Not bad, I thought. No funny muddy smell - just like your normal shower wash.

We bought a bottle. And now it’s waiting time to be used.