Dearest Granddad
It’s been four months since you left this world, and today I missed you so much. No longer will I be able to hold you and joke with you like I used to. No longer can I speak to you and smile up at you as we chat away for hours. To see the sparkle in your eyes as you smile down at me, proud. It’s painful to think I will no longer hear your kind voice as you gently rebuke me for the errors I’ve made.
I always hoped you’d be around when I got married someday, smiling proudly as I made the ultimate transition into womanhood, ecstatic that my husband be someone of deen. (“,) You always made such du’aas for me… Do you remember? And whenever I needed someone to look up to, you were there! A reminder from Allah! A man whose heart was so attached to the masjid that I’d be overwhelmed every time I saw you answering the call of your Lord. I sometimes watched on as you dragged yourself out of bed so that you could go to the masjid to pray. Every waqt of every day, you’d “run” to the calling of your Lord. If only you knew how much I admired you for making Him the centrepoint of your life. No matter what, He always came first. I remember watching you pray with sadness one day because your body was too weak to carry you to your favourite praying place. I know we all have our faults, but to me… you were the most amazing Granddad in the world! And how could you not be when my Lord had chosen you especially for me!
On the day that you died, my Lord gave me some very special gifts. Some of which were contentment, patience and foresight. I remember mom calling me shortly after Esha on New Year’s Eve saying they’d rushed you to hospital after you’d collapsed in the masjid’s precincts, not long after the completion of the fardh prayer. Allah in His infinite Wisdom and Mercy placed in me a feeling I will never forget. A feeling which told me that soon, you would leave this temporal abode. And sure enough, five hours later the angel of death came knocking, returning your soul to its Lord.
In life you taught me so much about my Lord Allah, but you did even more so in death. Your taking ill made us turn our backs on the haraam of this dunya, at a time when haraam is most rife. My Lord chose that moment to bring us closer to Him so as to save us from the fitna(trials) and fasaad(corruption) that New Year’s Eve brings. And when you passed on five hours later, no measure of comfort could fill the void I felt in my heart. But granddad, Allah is so amazing that He saved us from wrongdoing. He gathered us for His remembrance and gave us one last opportunity to make du’aa for you whilst you were still on this earth.
How beautifully my Lord plans! In returning a (beautiful) soul to its Lord, He saved hundreds from falling into the disobedience of their Rabb! If that wasn’t enough, you collapsed in the masjid my beloved grandfather… A most beloved place to Allah! And to top it off, He granted you five hours wherein He could wipe away the results of your follies. If THAT isn’t mercy from Allah, then i don’t know what is!
I feel as if you’ve never left, though I know its improbable that you’ll ever return. I feel so blessed to have had a granddad like you; a shining example of what a believer should be. I realise now that the closer I got to Allah, the stronger He made my relationship with you. Just this morning I heard Sh. Muhammad Mukhtar AshShinqiti say that “the happy one is he who praises Allah through the highs and the lows, and who remembers Allah constantly. He is the one whom Allah makes the people happy with him, so that he has a good reputation and is loved and highly regarded, and he is the one whom only good is mentioned about him.” SubhaanAllah my beloved grandfather, that is the exact description of you! We all love and miss you so much, and we can only pray that the Almighty looks upon you with the umost degree of mercy. But don’t feel bad my beloved grandfather, the pain of losing you is eased by the knowledge that Almighty Allah is happy with you (Insha_Allah).
May we all be beacons of light unto others, just as you have been to us. May we follow your example of propogating the deen of Islam through our character and deeds. and finally, may we all meet with you again in the highest of abodes; Al-Firdaus Al-A’laa (the highest and best of Paradise) ameen!
I love you for the sake of Allah
Fee Amaanillah
Your beloved granddaughter
‘Aqeela