Unique Muslimah

Many years ago I cried when I first watched the video I’m about to share with you. I could never record it as it was an advert on an Arabic Satellite Channel. It had a deep impact on me. Today I found it on the internet. It still has the same impact. I cry. I hope it has a good impact on you too. I’m glad I can now keep this, share it and look back on it whenever I need a wake-up call.

My grandfather passed away on Thursday evening. His burial was on Friday after the Friday prayer. I was driving when I heard the news. I received the phone call. As humans, we always know the inevitable death of a loved one is coming. But we may never be prepared for the sudden shock and despair one feels when the day comes.

I have spoken about my grandfather before on this blog. He was a avid photographer in his days and when I took on the hobby everyone commented that it must be a genetic inheritance.

But now he’s gone and in his absence a dark hole remains. Now he is gone, my grandmother is alone, shattered, finding herself alone after decades. They married when she was sixteen. Today at 85 years old, she is alone.

My grandfather must have seen it all. Born in the early 1900s he witnessed the progression of mankind. He saw the first inventions being made. He saw the World Wars. He saw my DSLR camera and compared it to a time when he used a SLR.

But he didn’t get to see his great-grandchildren, something he had wished for time and time again. He didn’t get to give me away at my wedding, something he had wished for time and time again. He saw so much, but he didn’t see the things he really wanted, the family things, the things that bind us close and run deep in our veins.

Being in the West, I am far from the Congregational mourning that goes on in Egypt. I was far away when he passed away and I was far away when he was buried. Today is his funeral, where people come to a hall in a mosque and pay their respects and here I am far away.

Death changes so much in our lives. And we all have to adjust and move on, because life goes on. But the test here is to see if we can move on to be better human beings, so that when our time comes, we are greeted with happy angels, proud to present our pious soul to the Creator.