Haji Tak Jadi (Hajj that did not materialise)

A writing sample for a tele-movie inspired by prevailing fraudulent cases and pilgrimage.  

Nora is an intelligent and educated woman. She graduated with a Masters in pedagogy and has since been a dedicated and passionate teacher. She has a wealth of experience — teaching for 20 years.

Over the years, she has saved up a lot of money with the plans of retiring early and enjoying the fruits of her labour. She has also decided to sell off her house and use the profits from the sale to supplement the money she has saved up for her later years. This money is also for her to realize her ultimate wish, which is to perform Hajj.

She manages to sell her house with a handsome profit. The housing agent, Khalid, is a smart man who has helped her earn a profit of up to $250,000 through the sale of the house. Due to this success, Nora trusts Khalid wholeheartedly with regard to financial matters since he has proven himself capable. Furthermore, Khalid is very well known to be a successful and credible housing agent and does bear a good reputation. A charismatic speaker who knows how to please others very well, Khalid has often been called, “Super Khalid” in the industry.

With all the money she amasses, Nora prepares for Hajj. She sets aside some money as savings and plans to use the remaining amount to finance her Hajj trip. She attends the Hajj preparatory classes and is all ready to realize her ultimate wish.

Khalid is well aware of the huge amount of money that Nora has saved up from her career and earned from the profit of the house. Making use of Nora’s complete trust in him, Khalid decides to offer a fraudulent investment opportunity for her to earn even more money. He is certain that Nora will agree to his offer, as she is never one to turn down any opportunity on making even more money.

As intelligent as she is, Nora’s greed and arrogance always blind her. It does not take much for Khalid to entice and eventually get Nora to agree to invest her money in his “earn-money-fast” scheme. He tells her to invest $125,000 in the scheme to enjoy returns of $80,000 after a month. Nora is skeptical at first but a huge part of her is not willing to say no and reject the chance to earn $80,000 in such a short period of time without much effort. Even after slogging for so many years as an educator, she has not managed to save close to that amount. All Khalid has to do are to work his charms and remind her of how capable he is, as evident from the huge profit garnered by the sale of her house.

Nora eventually caves in and signs the documents to release $125,000 to Khalid as part of her investment in the scheme. Khalid tells her to be patient and promises that she will get her $80,000 in a month’s time. He even pushes it further and tries to bait Nora with more returns if she manages to rope her friends in to invest in the scheme. With every friend she manages to convince to invest, she will receive an additional $5,000. Khalid tries to play it cool by pretending to not force her into doing it but he is very well aware that Nora has been successfully persuaded. He knows she is an influential person and she will not have any problems convincing her friends to join in.

As foreseen by Khalid, Nora manages to rope a few friends to join in the scheme. He assures her that she will earn even more money and with the extra cash, she will no longer have to worry about Hajj or her retirement. She will be able to live and lead a very luxurious life once the investment matures and she receives her returns.

Nora becomes increasingly excited for the money she is about to receive that she begins to be even more arrogant and extravagant. She starts buying more branded goods and decks on more jewellery. During social gatherings, she will flash her branded bags and shoes as well as her gaudy jewellery on purpose. She even spends lavishly for her Hajj preparations. She is anticipating the huge returns at the end of the month.

Her sister, Rina who is not as well to do as her, dislikes her squandering attitude. They will always get into a heated argument. Nora feels that Rina is simply jealous of her success. When she tries to convince Rina to invest as well, the latter rejects. She accuses Rina for not adopting a progressive mindset.

Nora also treats her sister condescendingly. Due to her impressive educational background, she never believes in luck. She believes that lucky draws are meant for losers like her sister, who often fills in the lucky draw forms. Nora throws away all lucky draw forms that she receives. To her, life is about proper planning and having a good sense of investment.

As promised, Khalid does give her the $80,000 as returns for the investment, coupled with the additional amount accounting for the friends she manages to rope in. Nora is ecstatic to hold the cold hard cash in her hands. She does not regret one bit in trusting and following Khalid’s advice. He does deliver what he promises her.

However, Nora is not allowed to take out the initial $125,000 she has invested. Khalid tells her that the money should still be kept in the scheme so that she can earn more returns. He eggs her further by telling her to add more money so that she can garner even higher returns in the following month. He advises her to put in another $75,000 to round up the total investment to $200,000. With that, she stands to gain $120,000 as returns of investment. Again blinded by greed and arrogance, Nora agrees without hesitating and signs the documents without going through them. She knows she can trust Khalid to get her even more money.

Nora becomes even more proud and patronising. She perceives herself to be far superior than others since she is able to earn so much money within a short period of time and without much effort. She goes around convincing her friends to join in the scheme and chides those who refuse to buy her offer. She regards them as narrow- minded, cowardly and not visionary like herself. As for her other friends who have invested previously, she forces them to invest even more money and reassures them that she will be able to return every cent if the investment fails. She believes that everything she does is for the betterment of everyone, herself included, since she will be able to perform Hajj with much ease. At that moment, she feels at the top of the world.

Eventually, when the month ends, Nora asks Khalid for the subsequent returns she is supposed to receive. However, Khalid tells her that she is not going to receive any money. She becomes furious and reprimands him for going back on his words. He denies the accusation.

In fact, instead of getting money, Khalid claims Nora that she is supposed to give him even more money for the coming month. She becomes more infuriated yet confused at his claims. Khalid then shows her the documents that she has signed earlier on. To her horror, she has indeed agreed to give him more money as stated in the documents. She finally realizes that she did not read the documents when she signed them previously. She refuses to give him more but Khalid threatens her that she and her friends will not receive any more money, including the amount invested initially. Nora is devastated but is left with no choice. She surrenders whatever money she is left with to Khalid. He smiles and reassures her that she is doing the right thing. He tells her that this is just a small sacrifice and with no pain, there is no gain.

Nora grits her teeth and prays for the best. She hopes that Khalid will not go back on his words and return her all the money she has given to him. She no longer pins hope for the extra returns. All she is asking for is the initial amount she has put in to the scheme. The money which is set aside for her retirement and more importantly for her to realize her ultimate wish — to perform Hajj.

After a month, Nora does not hear a word from Khalid. She tries to call him but to no avail. She searches high and low for him but it seems that he has left without a trace. She asks around for his whereabouts but no one knows where he has disappeared to. She finally accepts the reality that she will never be able to get back the money she has painfully saved up. She begins to regret her actions.

Nora has to pawn all her jewellery to compensate for her friends’ losses. She is devastated because she has been fooled and can no longer perform Hajj.

Miraculously, she receives a letter that states she has won a lucky draw to go to Hajj a week later. She is very surprised, as she knows for certain she has never participated in any lucky draws. Apparently, Rina has secretly sent all lucky draw forms using Nora’s name. Nora becomes more ashamed of her predicament. Rina urges Nora to accept the win and go to Hajj. Nora apologises to Rina profusely and they eventually bury the hatchet.

With the win, Nora goes to Hajj with nothing else, no material wealth or possessions. She only brings with her humility and an honest heart.