Part 260 – The Biggest Reality Of Life

Two Years Later : Eid Day

As narrated by Riza:

When I woke up this morning, I woke up excited and happy. After a beautiful Ramadaan, it was another blessed Eid. And this year Eid had fallen on a Jummah, adding more to my happiness.

Nemo was also here with us this year, making it even more special. We had the day all planned out and the laughter of our children filled our homes from the break of dawn itself. It was going to be a day to remember!

A day to remember for sure. For no Eid was ever going to be the same again.

When we’re supposed to be thinking about it all the time, preparing for it…yet it happens everywhere, everyday, and we know that it will happen to us too for it is indefinite, we live with the hope that it won’t happen to us just yet.

We are but leaves on the tree of life, and one day, we will fall.

We just hope that that day won’t be today.

We hope that we still have a long way to go.

But when that delicate leaf falls gently to the ground, it shakes our existence with the power of an earthquake of enormous magnitude. Turning our world upside down in a flash.

When it happens to us, when life pulls away someone close to us, it leaves a void that can’t be filled from the very second that they leave us to journey on into a world where we can’t follow them into, until it is our time.

As heartbreaking as it was, this was the greatest reality of life, one that we chose to forget ,yet one that we would be reminded of as suddenly and swiftly as today.

It was drizzling again, the rain trying to cover our tears as we proceeded ahead. But it didn’t help. Our tears wouldn’t stop…how would they? When on our shoulders lay the body of one of our own.

On our shoulders, was a friend who had made a difference in all our lives.

On our shoulders was a parent whose little one wouldn’t understand yet that they would never return.

On our shoulders was a spouse…whose partner shed tears of blood in disbelief.

On our shoulders was a piece of all our hearts.

As we lowered the body of our friend into the grave…The four of us cried openly. Our group was shaken, our group was broken. Emotion took over each of us as we prayed fervently for the one who had left us. For the one who would never return to us. And as we filled the qabr with sand, my heart shrunk in my chest. Life would never be the same again.

Everything was playing back in my mind, in brilliant flashes.

The sight of her running across the lawn for what would be a final hug. A “see you soon ” was to be, a never again.

The sound of the glass dish falling to the ground when I uttered the words I never thought I ever would . How I wish I could have taken it back. ..how I wish it had never happened.

The cries that pierced my heart with the might of a million pitchforks.

The eyes that begged me to say that it wasn’t true, the eyes that looked towards the doorway eagerly.

But it wouldn’t be so. It would never be so.

For during Eid namaaz, along side with the rest of us, while we prostrated in Sajda…He never got up.

He had breathed his last while bowing to Allah. He had left us being right beside us.

We bore the weight of our friend on our shoulders with no physical difficulty, but with a strain on our hearts like no other.

We buried our brother with boulders upon our souls, even though we knew that death is inevitable, and especially as Muslims we do not question the timing , we do not question the will of Allah.

He has returned to his Rabb….His time in this world has ended, and his place in our story was only up until this far.

Arshad was inconsolable when he dropped the last handful of sand into his grave, causing all of us to weep bitterly.

A beautiful soul, a heart of gold, an honest and loyal friend ,husband and father…departed in a way that most of us can only wish to go.

It is so true that we cannot judge a person, for we do not know his relationship with Allah.

I looked down at his qabr and my heart broke over and over again. The best of the lot of us was gone. In a heartbeat, in a split second, without any warning, without a single inclination, life’s biggest reality had shown it’s presence.

We know it all along, but it hits home the hardest when it happens to someone so close to you.

Almost instantly, the face of the brother I had known for the greater part of my life, flashed before my eyes. With the same warm smile that gave anyone and everyone hope…A feeling of despair washed over me all at once, thinking about him and those he had left behind.

And a silent promise escaped my heart, a promise to a friend, a promise to a brother, as tears poured down my cheeks, a promise to take care of his loved ones for as long as I shall live.

And I knew that the rest of us would do the same.

Rest in peace my friend , until we meet again. It was an honour having you as a part of my life.

Rest in peace my brother. Rest in peace knowing that your life will never be forgotten.

Rest in peace, for your name will always live in our hearts.

Rest in peace Zoheb, rest in peace, for Insha Allah, your legacy will live on.