This is something that is very personal and important to me. I hope
that you will learn and benefit from it. Let me begin by saying
"Bismillah." When I first started University, I had met another Muslim
brother. We had become good friends , but this friendship was not like
any other ordinary friendship, I would have done anything for him, he
was like my real brother.
During our last year of University, this brother ofmine announced that
he was engaged and that hewas to be married after he graduates this
year and finds himself a job. I was glad for him and so was he. He
talked non stop about getting married, I was sort of getting jealous
of him, because the brother had it made for him, finishingschool,
getting married and especially coming from a wealthy family.
One day this brother was to meet me at the coffee shop. He showed up,
but astonishingly he wasn't smiling and wasn't talking about his
fiancée.I asked him what was wrong, he asked if we could talk
somewhere privately and we did. Finally I knew why he was upset. He
had told me that he found out that he had a brain tumor which was
malignant, which meant it had become cancerous.When he told me the
news, his voice was quivering and tears werestreaming down his cheeks.
I had never seen him like this before. I tried keeping in my tears and
Itried not to show that I was hurt also. I was burning up inside and
things were racing through my mind. I kept thinking, how could this
have happened? A man who had everything made and had everything
perfect. I keptit inside because I did not want him to see me upset.
I saw this brother slowly go down. He had to drop out of school at his
last year because he began to lose his memory and he started to repeat
himself over again. He did not have a chance at school without his
memory. This brother was intelligent, but after,he became lost.
He was told that his fianceés family and her parents did not want
their daughter to marry him, because he had no job and basically no
future. This was hard for him, I remember he would cry to me about her
and how he cared forher and how hopeless hefelt.
Later, the brother had problems writing and hisright eyesight was
fading. The tumor was on the left side of his brain so it affected
everything on his right. Because of his memory loss, the brother soon
forgot suras and he even forgot how to pray. A year later, his right
arm was paralyzed and his eyesight was taken awayfrom him. It was the
hardest thing for me to see. The brother I loved so much as going
through so much. I began coming over everyday helping him recite
suras.
When I was recited sura Fatiha to him and he wasslowly repeating after
me, I looked at him and I thought, this was the same brother who was
so intelligent and was to finish school. This was the same brother who
came from such a wealthy family. This was the same brother who talked
for days about getting married and raising a family. This was the same
brother who had everything. But now he can barely remember what I said
to him ten minutes ago, he can't getmarried, and now he is struggling
to read Qur'an, he was not much of a practicing Muslim so it was
harder for him to recite the Qur'an. This man was now turning towards
Allah, he dropped EVERYTHING and turned towards Allah. Allah gave him
everything, and he could take everything away just as easily.
A month ago, I had received a call saying that the brother passed away
and that his janaza is today. I washed his body with a couple of other
brothers and I saw his lifeless body. He was buried and after that I
returned home. The next day, I sat down wondering to myself about the
power of Allah.My brother's death made me realize that we forgetwhat
our purpose of being here is for: To serve Allah. You could have
everything, but do you have anything that isimportant? I spent six
years knowing this brother, and caring for him. I never once shed a
tear when he was alive and not even when he passed away. But the
dayafter his death, I did cry because I thought about the power of
Allah. I thought about my brother. We always say that we will return
to Allah, but we never reallybelieve it. If we did, then we would
struggle to read the Qur'an and pray to Allah like my brother did.
My brother had his eyesight taken away from him, his arm was paralyzed
and his memory was lost, but he still got up every morning and he
insisted and I repeat, insisted on reciting the Qur'an. But we are
able, but we still do not struggle to read the Qur'an. We do not
really believe that we will return to Allah, or else we would struggle
for Allah.
My brother had love for materialistic objects, but when death
approached him, those things were no use to him because heknew those
things were not going to lead him to Jannah without his Iman.Allah can
give and take things easily whenever and wherever. I love my brother
and I pray that Allah will accept him, andI humbly request that prayer
be made for him. Ido pray that you have a true belief of Allah and our
return to Him because if you do have this fear, you will struggle for
your Islam to the best of your ability before you can say it is too
late. May we all be rightly guided. Ameen.
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