It's been a hard day today, like extra hard...my family has kept away the news from me...and I only learned it today, I learned of the death of Lateef. I will call him Lateef, which means in Arabic a Sweet Kindness...a Benevolent Kindness.
And Lateef was just that, a benevolent kindness...he passed away at age 35. He had just gotten married a year ago and his child is less than a year old...
I feel heartbroken that I can't attend his Fatiha. I spoke to Auntie B, his mother and she said to me...He told us he was going out for one hour ---and he never returned...and that's it...he will never return...
From what I have managed to gather -- Lateef was with two of his friends, running some errands, and suddenly he collapsed, his friends said he fell on his knees in prostration, then collapsed fully on the floor and made the sign of the Shahada (testimony of faith) with his right index...he was rushed to hospital, forget ambulances...and by the time he reached the emergency ward, he was already gone...his family and friends, who gathered around him, said his face was smiling and it shone...
Lateef was very pious as in God fearing... in the full sense of the word... God lived in his heart...always...or maybe he lived in the heart of God...
I remember my grandfather once telling me -- Layla you need not fear those who fear God.
And here Fear is not meant in the commonly understood sense...as in being afraid...but Fear of God is to be understood as in there is a Higher Power, you are accountable, you will be judged according to your deeds...so someone who fears God has this at the back of his/her mind 24/7.
How many a times I have come across so called pious and even none pious ones, who had no fear of God in their hearts...believing they are invincible, eternal and that Death will never touch them...Egos running wild with delusions...and illusions...
Tell me what is in your heart and I will tell you who you are...show me your acts or inactions and you show me your full self...
At Lateef's funeral, over 5'000 people showed up. The family was taken aback, who were all these people ? they wondered...
Some were women with orphans and Lateef in SECRET, used to support them...without anyone knowing about it...one was an old lady he used to spot in the neighborhood, a poor woman and he always offered her a ride back home, others were unknown faces with whom Lateef shared his income, without anyone knowing about it...
We say in Arabic - El-Muslim Qalbu Daleelo meaning a Muslim's heart (the one who has surrendered to God) is his guide...and "strangely" enough, for the past 2 months as his very close friends reported, Lateef has been giving them instructions like ...make sure whatever property/belongings I have, go to my son and wife, make sure orphan X. Y and Z get the support they need, make sure that so and so is looked after...and his friends would shake their heads and kept asking him -- why are you telling us all of this ? And he replied, because you will still be around and I will not...
Lateef was only 35 years old, he was in good health...
Why do I need to write about all of this ?
Because there is a big lesson to learn here...for those who keep missing the Lesson...
For those who are taken up with their own egos, their own little world, their own little plans and designs...
For those who believe they are the center of the Universe, that Death will never touch them, that their comfort zone will remain for ever...
For those who have willfully harmed others in deed and words, for those who have lied, cheated, betrayed, abused, tortured, raped, killed...
For those who are silent, apathetic, indifferent, or just jaded...
This is to tell you that none of you, none of us, will come out of it alive.
And whether you are a believer or not, it does not matter really...because you will be remembered by your deeds and actions...
The question to ask each night before the small death of sleep approaches, is "who will remember me and how do I want to be remembered...?"
I know many who lead lives full of deceit, lies, wrongdoings, and have harmed so many others in the process...trust me, no one will remember them...and if they do, it is only to say -- thank you God for having delivered us -- from so and so...
Lateef, on the other hand, will always be remembered for his Benevolent Kindness...and what a way to go.
