Today, I paid my last respect to a fallen MCKK batchmate and brother-for-life, Dato’ Mohd Ridhuan Ismail a.k.a Bindul (C’76) who died suddenly yesterday of heart failure. His house at Desa Pinggiran Putra, Kajang was solemn and mournful as relatives and friends gather to pay their respect to the dear departed. Solemn and sullen faced relatives from Penang and Johore congregated to his home where he laid rest shrouded in white at the living room.
Doyen of the Water service industry came to pay their last respect. Staff of SPAN came to pay homage to their ex Big Boss. Batch-mates from MCKK FT7276 throng the humble corner lot terraced house to mourn his untimely death and bid farewell to a fallen brother.
Death is a vast mystery, but there are two things we can layabout it. It is absolutely certain that we will die, and it is uncertain when or how we will die. The only surety we have, then, is this uncertainty about the hour of our death, which we seize on as the excuse to postpone facing death directly. We are like children who cover their eyes in a game of hide-and-seek and think that no one can see them.
Death is the final destination of every man. For my dear departed, his final journey was on the ‘Van Jenazah’ (Funeral Van) from his home in Desa Pinggiran Putra to the nearby Al-Hijrah mosque for the Salat-al-Jenazah (Final prayer rites) and then onwards to the graveyard for burial at the Muslim burial ground at Kampung Sungai Manis, 2km away.
I am always saddened by the death of a good person. It is from this sadness that a feeling of gratitude emerges. I feel honoured to have known him and blessed that his passing serves as a reminder to me that my time on this beautiful earth is limited and that I should seize the opportunity I have to forgive, share, explore, and love. I can think of no greater way to honour the deceased than to live this way.
Sadly enough, the most painful goodbyes are the ones that are left unsaid and never explained.
Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un (إِنَّا لِلّهِ وَإِنَّـا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ). We belong to Allah and to Allah we shall return.
Farewell my friend, see you again in the Life Hereafter.
