I am not an Acehnese, I have never been to Aceh, and my knowledge of Aceh's history is not so much. But that should not prevent me from writing something about Aceh. For the past few years I have been obsessed with Aceh, and I love Aceh so much. My journey of love to Aceh began in September of 2009. At that time, at dawn, I read an Acehnese poem in an Islamic magazine called Eramuslim Digest. The poem is dododaidi.
In the past, when I hadn't read the poem, I had no feelings for Aceh. What I know, Aceh is the westernmost province of Indonesia where there was once a DOM and then it was famous for its GAM, only that. And the image of Aceh in my head changed completely when I read dododaidi.
I cried at that time (really crying), I didn't think there was such a deep poem from Aceh. Dododaidi, is the ninabobo of Acehnese children, in every verse there is perseverance and sincerity, there is courage and sacrifice, there is faith and jihad. I am truly fascinated, what emerges is love. Then Allah was pleased to give inspiration to my head in the form of a story idea of a novel that would later be titled SABIL. The novel has now been published by Mizan and has been circulating in various cities in Indonesia.
From that day on, Sabil and the events of the Sabil war in Aceh always burned me with curiosity. I traced the history, I rushed the story from the internet, I looked for books about it, along with all that I wrote Sabil. And the more I dive into the history of the Aceh war, the more I love. I am more amazed and respectful to the Acehnese Muslims.
Maybe history is just a collection of stories of the past, but the stories of the past are not dead stories, contained in spirit, values, and counsel. God Himself commands us to look back, to history, then take advice from him, then arrange the future. And the Aceh Sabil war will always imprint on my heart, along with admiration and respect. He has taught me a lot about determination, and determination to maintain faith, honor and ideals. Do not forget… 