An Inspiring Death

There is a source of inspiration, even in death. My grandmother's uncle passed away recently at the age of 91. He succumbed to a complication in the intestines. There is no epic nor heroic tales that I could narrate about this old man. I hardly knew him. I didn't even know his name. We were kind of distant since I only met and exchanged very few words with him when I visited my mother's hometown in Serkam for weddings and funerals. I couldn't recall what he did for living when he was young. But I knew he worked in his farm. He was an ordinary man living a simple life, fulfilling his duties as a husband, a father, a grandfather and a member of the jemaah in the village mosque. The last duty is worth elaborated. The people in the village knew him as he had always been the man who walked to the mosque to perform the 5 prayers daily. Even on the days before his death with his deteriorating physical conditions, he was able to muster all his might and did not miss the jemaah. Old habit just dies hard. He stopped only on the day when he could not walk anymore and that was the day he died.

I came to know about his death when I last called my mother. This was what she said.
"Pagi tu bila dia tak boleh nak bangun, dia orang bawak dia pergi hospital. Tapi belum sempat sampai kat hospital, dia dah takde dah. Orang kampung pun buat pengumuman, orang yang paling tua kat kampung dah meninggal. Murah betul rezeki arwah Atuk Yang (Moyang) kau, penuh masjid orang datang sembahyang jenazah untuk dia..."

And my mother would not let me go without saying, "kau tu sembahyang jangan tinggal....."

We are all blessed with the seed of faith as newborns. As we grow and age, some of us are blessed with the strength to hold the faith above anything else. Some of us have just enough strength to juggle faith with everything else in life. Some of us have diminishing faith that can be fit in our pocket as we play and concentrate on other cards that seem to matter more in life. Faith may get greater or smaller; but it will not be lost, I think. Some of us may have misplaced the faith, as it may have been getting small and forgotten for a while.

It never occurs to me that the death of a simple old man who I hardly knew, as told by my nagging mother over the phone in a short long distance call, open my stubborn and dark heart to regain the faith.

Al Fathihah. Alhamdullillah.