Yesterday it marked the first 3 months since my dad passed away and i decided to publish something that I wrote a little while back....
“The weight of the pen is heavier than the weight of a sword”
There is a lack of quality education in today’s society and nowadays there are many seminars,movies and speeches that individually address the lack of a proper education in our society today and I think that is what Islam brought i.e. when it was properly implemented. I mean the fundamental reason for most of the globe’s problems are not rooted in extremism or poverty but rather a lack of the right type of education. That is why I believe that God has put a special reward aside for those who are teachers.
People like my late father.
Just the other day I met a magistrate from Pakistan who turned out to be one of my father’s students. I have also met a Nigerian who was doing his PhD under him and a student from the Ivory Coast , not forgetting the thousands of Malaysian ,Nigerian and Indian students that learnt Evidence, Criminal Law ,Criminal Procedure Code and scores of other legal subjects as well as many life lessons from him. Police officers, Judges, Professors from all walks of life, Government Officials and literally people from all sorts of careers and from all walks of life sent their deepest condolences to my family when my father passed away. On the 11th of July,2008 it will be 3 months , approximately 90 days since I last spoke to my father and that day still is as fresh in my memory as if it were happening now... for me that day at times can play like a movie ... in front of my eyes as if it were the present.
The call that I got at 2:10 pm from my mum saying that your father has fainted, the call from my brother who was overseas telling me to rush back home as soon as possible. The laptop bag that I grabbed while in the lab working on my FYP and the time later , sitting in the car on my way to the bus station ... telling my group mates that if everything would be okay then I would try and come back in the following days to finish up our Final Year Project which we had just started work on the day before, the last day that I saw my dad alive(10th of April,2008)...the rushing to the bus terminal(I was there in 15 minutes max from the time that he fainted)...the buying of the bus ticket for the earliest available bus at 3pm for RM 20 which was a slightly raised rate. Being offered the driver’s seat initially as there was no space to sit for such a sudden booking and then moving to the backmost seat. Calling home at 2:40 pm and asking my mum what was happening and remembering that she said that they are trying everything pray Haris, pray and hearing her recite the prayer(doas) loudly on the phone and then calling my brother and asking him to book the earliest flight back home and then sitting on the bus with my heart pounding and praying that my dad would still be alive by the time I got home. Then calling at 3:00pm and asking my sister to pass the phone to Aunty N who was there and hearing from her that they didn’t want to tell me until I reached home but that it wasn’t good news.
Then the call from my brother in law and sister confirming it , followed by a long 3 hour bus ride in which I cried so much but all that the people around me were doing were trying to ignore me and the calls that I made and got-which had me telling people about it.
Those 3 hours were the shortest in my life and they whizzed past like they were a few long minutes. Then reaching the Gombak toll and being picked up by Uncle A I and initially being brought back home and then turning around to go straight to the mosque as the traffic was too heavy.
Receiving the calls from loads of people asking about where the Funeral Prayer(Jenazah) was going to be held and then reaching the mosque, meeting a friend of mine while doing wudu’(ablution) which was then followed by me praying my Asr and then going to meet another friend of mine ,E in the ISD office.
Then waiting for the Jenezah van to arrive and drinking a small bottle of Apple Juice simply because I knew that it was going to be a long night and I needed Sugar in my body and needed it fast as I hadn’t eaten lunch.
At around 6:45 the Jenezah van pulled up outside the mosque lower ground floor and then helping to carry a long white box which was all covered up, into the bathing room.Shaking all over at that time both at the coldness of the room and the fear of seeing my father for the first time since he passed away.
Then Uncle MAM and AQ who had come with the van from the house asked if I wanted to see my father’s face to which I replied in the affirmative.
Taking off the cover which was actually quite light and then seeing my father’s face for the first time after his passing away wrapped in a cotton blue chadder(cloth) and then breaking down initially only to be told by Uncle MAM that my prayers would benefit him more to which Ireplied and slightly rudely as well that I would pray as well. The half smile that was breaking on my father’s face at that time was what I noted and this was confirmed by a family friend ,who later told me that your father was smiling after he passed away , Inshallah this is a correct assumption by all those who saw it.
Covering the mayyit(dead body) with the long box-like cover to await the ritual washing and then having to meet all the lecturers and family friends who had gathered outside the mosque. This was followed by Maghrib prayers and then I met my mum and sister for the first time since it had happened.
It was a very tough moment which was brief as well as I had to go downstairs to aid in the washing of the body which was done by 3 main people ,myself and Uncle AK and another uncle. We were also assisted by the mosque assistants and then later the chief imam of the Mosque.
Then taking the body upstairs to the ante room which was located outside the prayer hall and then the Isha prayer which was a beautiful prayer lead by a Nigerian Imam with a sweet melodious voice Mashallah who later ended up leading the Jenezah prayer as well. Then the announcement by uncle AK in both BM and English- that so and so a lecturer of so and so a faculty has passed away and please pray the Jenezah prayer for the deceased after the Isha prayer (the announcement was made before the Isha prayer),however there was no need to ask anyone as I saw most(99%) of the 300 or so people in the congregation stayed behind to pray the Jenezah prayer.
Then taking the mayyit to the van where I then called my mother and sister to have a last look at my father before we took him to the graveyard. Also at that time an Uncle advised me to ask if he(my late father-May Allah(swt) have mercy on his soul) owed anyone money then to claim it from the family and if he had offended anyone to forgive him. At this point , may I add no one in the crowd replied in the affirmative to either of the afore mentioned questions.
Then going with M bhai and uncle MAM in the Jenezah van to the graveyard and then at the graveyard exiting the van which they had parked as close to the open grave as possible and since this was all happening at around 9-9:30pm they had put spotlights all around the grave so that we could see all around us.
Then getting into the grave initially with my rubber slippers that my friend AA had brought and then removing them and then joined in the grave by E and AA ,with AA at the top part of the grave, which was facing Makkah , and E towards the bottom part of the grave with myself in the centre and then placing our hands underneath my father’s body to lift him.
Lifting him and then slowly lowering him into the grave with our arms and placing him tilted towards his right side and then loosening and opening the strings that bound his body as well as opening the hood that covered his face. After that E and AA climbed out of the grave which was up to my shoulders and then we placed a wooden board tilted side ways to prevent the soil from falling directly on him and also leaving some space where he would have been questioned by the Angels as all of us will be.
At the very end filling up the gaps in between the board and the earth with pieces of hard clay which were wedged in between the sides of the grave and wooden board. This was then followed by using a hoe to pull earth back into the grave and stepping on the earth as it hardened and then climbing out of the grave as it got higher and then piling soil on top with a spade and making a bump which was sticking out of the ground to mark the grave.
We then proceeded to place 2 green plants at each corner of the grave and then sprinkled a few flowers on top and that was officially the end of my earthly life spent with my loving father.
On a side note-That is where we will end up ,in the ground whether we are prepared for it or not. How we live this short earthly part or our lives will determine how we will live the remainder of our lives ,whether we will end up in heaven or hell, eternal salvation or eternal punishment.
You decide!
