A Sudden Departure : The Vacuum left by a Dead person.

A Sudden Departure : The Vacuum left by a Dead person.

 

by Nisaar Y. Nadiadwala on Wednesday, June 15, 2011 at 10:57am

                            

 Last week a young man died in my locality. His body was brought at late night and funeral prepartion too took place in the dark hour of the silent night.  Before lifting the Janaza the women were brought to see the face of the dead for the last time, There was a deafening scream by the mother of the dead, announcing the final departure. It broke the silence of the quite night. Then followed the cry of other people  bringing tears in my eyes as if I was weeping over my own Janazah. 

   Nothing is more disturbing in the family than the sudden death of a young person.Though an elderly person's death also leaves a stamp of sadness in the house but the sudden news of the death of a young person comes as a big quake  creating  a sudden vaccum in your life. 

   Mus'ab been Umair's (the companion of the Prophet pbuh )wife , tolerated the news of the cousin's and other relatives death but cried out at the news o f her husband's death. The sudden death of a young husband comes like a big calamity for his wife with sudden uncertainities looming over.  The little children he left behind, the old ailing parents who were his dependants, all are left over as if the roof of their house has been lifted away.

  The first few days are very piercing , when we see his empty bead, the hanging clothes, you open his wardrobe and see his clothes that he had worn just the last day before he died, his pen, purse, googles, everything works like a sharp knife pricking your heart every now and then till the memory fades away. But the initial few days are very painful and no words can describe the pain, cardiograms can record your heart beats but no instrument can record the absence felt  by the death of a near and a dear one. 

   Last year my son's friend died in an accident. I was present at the burial.It was unbearable to see the parents exploding into tears.The hands which shook his hand,the hands that carried him when he was young,  the hands that patted him, the hands that put the first morsel in his mouth will be the hands that will throw mud on the body after the face is covered and  the 'dig man' jumps out of the grave.  

   Death is  certainly  uncertain.  Can't say if today you are  burying someone tommorow it could be some one burying you. Last year many of those who celebrated Eid with us are in their respective graves, who knows this could be some one from us recieving his last Ramadhaan.

 Normally I avoid delivering a talk in a nikah khutbah because people are  in a mood to celebrate and not in a mood to take any advice . But the same people get softened during a death in their family. It is my expereince that people listen to what you say when are in grief of loosing a family member. Some people from the crowd take heed and amend themselves wheas other carry on to their regular routine till of a sudden they reach their own graves. Between the two,which category  I belong to ? This is a question to all who read this note.

AUTHOR : NISAAR NADIADWALA   speaks and writes from Islamic perspective. He can be reached at nisaar_yusuf@yahoo.com

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