The thank you note

Dear Mr. Bu Salman

You may not know me. Actually, I am pretty sure we have never met before. However, I'd like to take this opportunity to send you a "thank you note" to express my sincerest gratitude for all you've done for me thus far. I never realized that a stranger’s death would change my life and make me understand that life is very short. Yes, I realize this might have taken you by surprise but let me begin to explain....

I was shopping at the mall when I received a call from my husband. He informed me that you had passed away. I couldn't believe it. I kept telling myself how can it be... He is too young... He probably hasn't even celebrated his 40th birthday....I couldn’t finish my shopping. All I could think about was what was going on at the funeral. These verses from Surat AlMu'minun jumped to my mind.

حَتَّى إِذَا جَاء أَحَدَهُمُ الْمَوْتُ قَالَ رَبِّ ارْجِعُونِ (23:99)

23:99 (Asad) [AS FOR THOSE who will not believe in the life to come, they go on lying to themselves] [59] until, when death approaches any of them, he prays: “O my Sustainer! Let me return, let me return [to life], [60] -


لَعَلِّي أَعْمَلُ صَالِحًا فِيمَا تَرَكْتُ كَلَّا إِنَّهَا كَلِمَةٌ هُوَ قَائِلُهَا وَمِن وَرَائِهِم بَرْزَخٌ إِلَى يَوْمِ يُبْعَثُونَ (23:100)

23:100 (Asad) so that I might act righteously in whatever I have failed [aforetime]!’’ [61] Nay, it is indeed but a [meaningless] word that he utters: for behind those [who leave the world] there is a barrier [of death] until the Day when all will be raised from the dead! -

I have always found it hard to continue my Sunnah prayers. I would do it for a few days and then I’d get too lazy to go on doing them. But now you made me realize that I might not get a second chance. Thanks to Allah and then to you, I now have the strength to perform them whenever I can… Subhan Allah, in every prayer, I pray that Allah’s rahma be upon you and all of us… and that we meet in the Ferdous insha-Allah…

Yours sincerely,
Zafarana