A life - never insignificant.

 Sat 2.9.2023 (16 Safar 1445H)

Let's mark that date.

It's not about a high official, a Statesman or of Royalty. But it's of a life. It should never be insignificant.

We waited at Calit's surau after Solat Asr.  Idah and I were there after Zohor. Calit had reconfirmed that the arrangements for his late brother-in-law were for after Asr at that surau. The van eventually arrived at about 6 p.m. Remember, it was a journey from JB, a long way away, made longer by the weekend highway traffic that slows everybody. But the next journey is longer.

I watched sadly as the mother stooped to lovingly kiss the exposed face. Many times, all over that exposed part, quietly crying, hands on the shroud, her shoulders held back by assisting hands. I came close to tears myself. Other relatives followed - siblings, cousins. A lot of time was given for this final touch of farewell.

A decent number made up the final congregation for the solat jenazah led by the surau's imam. Any one of the brothers would have made a touching act in leading this final prayer. It's his fate, like all of his sad life. We make our supplications. The Almighty Receives everything.

For me, it's a goodbye with no hello. 

I never met him. I didn't know him. But I know of him, and the circumstances of his tragic life. 

Family ties obliged my attendance today, but I would have come anyway. I write now so that perhaps the poor soul is not lost and forgotten. The late father I knew very well. The surviving, grieving mother I know very well, too. My late mother was fond of her, and she had a lot to do with Calit's marriage into that family. But we were relatives anyway.

Could a different life-story have been written ? We cannot make judgement.  It's cruel and unfair to turn over the tragic history of the poor departed. We must accept God's Will. Still, the thoughts of an alternative scenario haunts me, and I didn't even know him.

Let us pray that God Accepts him, and Forgives him for the state he was in, and put him among  the blessed.

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