Chapter 4 - Apocalypse Almost
From the third Book of Johore
In these days gruesome news reached the sultan
and he turned his face against the dark grey clouds and cried:
"Why have you forsaken us!"
Large parts of Johore and Api were sinking into agony as wave upon wave
of illness struck the poor people in the 1850s and 1860s. Many brave
men, woman and children fell victim to cholera, tuberculosis and
typhus as well.
From the Book of Revelations
The sultan was wandering in anxiety. He did not know what
to do or what to expect, lesser even where this plague
came from.
"We did not deserve this. Have I not done everything what the lord told me to?
Have I not obeyed and followed his law..."
Just as the sultan wanted to leave the empty mosque,
the lord raised his voice once more:
Yes! You have and you shall carry on to do so.
But why are you punishing us? Why did you let my
people suffer so greatly, though they have done
nothing but working hard and following your word?
Do not question my ways for it is not in your
power to comprehend! 'Tis but a mere test of faith.
I gave your people, and all mankind for that matter,
a free will and brains to use. Let that be a warning,
you and your kind have it in your own hand to end
such rigor in future days. Do order your scholars and
apothecaries to find a cure, a medicine to heal your
peoples wounds.
Oh lord, I will gladly do, but all our scholars
are occupied with exploring the ways of western countries.
They seem to be wise in many ways that are still
locked away from our understanding.
See to it then for you have your own part to play,
The nation of Johore needs many a reforms to be ready
for a western way of living.
And so the lord left the sultan alone in his mosque and
the peoples faith was subject of further testing.
But hope was not all forlorn. A spirit of curiousness
and ambition spread throughout the schools and
academies. Even the sultan himself studied day and night,
he gathered his advisors around him and elaborated numerous
reforms to overhaul the nation and have it renewed for
future tasks to come.
But it did not go unnoticed what happened in little
Johore, in fact many of eyes and ears were resting on the
Sultanate.