It has been a week now ever since my grandfather kembali ke rahmatullah...And it was just a few weeks ago that I could recall talking to him...remembering him asking what was Ridhwan's name as old age was getting to him and memory loss was quite bad...but no matter how many times he forgot our names or who we were whenever we visited him...he was a wonderful host to his guest...making sure we all had enough food and drink at the table....was always asking about our health and was even teasing my grandma whenever he could...he also looked forward to our visits everytime we came as if we never visited him for years when it was only a week ago we came to see him...
His death is much felt for the whole family as he was always the leader among the menantu(s) on my grandma's side...as my grandma being the eldest of the family, it was natural that my grandpa was the eldest menantu(s) and the person all the other menantu(s) and sisters look up to whenever they were in need...he was also very hospitable and well respected because of his character and how he treated everyone around him....even during his career as the director general of customs malaysia and when he was a normal custom officer, he was one of those who did not hesitate to defy the english when the english were here...yup, during the old english occupancy era..as a matter of fact, there was one story my mother always told me which is still very fresh in my mind was when he was a customs officer, can't remember his position at that time though..anyway, being a customs officer, my mother's family had to move around Malaysia a lot, and they had just moved to one state, can't remember which one, and within 24 hours he was asked to moved to a new state as he bravely defied one of the english officer there...my grandfather was a man with high principles and was not afraid to fight for the truth..and being so brave and bold ended him up being transfered to another state within 24 hours...wow!...but he proved even being a local custom officer or a malay officer at that time when the english were reigning, he was not afraid to speak up and that is something I admire till now...there was even a time, my mother may have not existed because of his courageous act!.. during one of his roundings with the customs officers at sea, he was actually captured by the pirates!! mind you, there are pirates out there in the sea betul2x sebenarnya!.. and he was actually thrown from the boat into the middle of the sea by these pirates as they refused to be taken into custody by the customs...tapi tu lah, ajal arwah datuk tak sampai lagi .. alhamdulillah he was rescued but when they rescued him, he was already blue and was not breathing...tapi ajal semua di tangan Allah kan...he survived the ordeal...and became an even greater man...
They are many courageous stories of him my mother would always tell me as a child and even when I am now a mother to a wonderful little boy...and the stories never stopped to amaze me to this day....and so the news about him passing away really shocked me, especially when I was the one who had to tell my mother of the news..it just broke my heart into pieces....the call my mom made to my auntie after hearing my grandpa was unconscious was passed to me as she couldn't hear clearly what my aunt said...and when my aunt told me to tell my mom that my grandpa was gone..i didn't answer anything to her and just placed the phone down...and looked at my mom and stared crying badly...my mom was then in a panic and asked what was wrong...and i told her the news....
However, alhamdulillah arwah datuk was a man who was always consistent with his amalan harian and ibadatnya and was always very generous in giving and sedaqah, and so alhamdulillah, his rezeki, pengurusan jenazah was very fast and without any hiccups at all...by 2.30 pm he was buried at the Tanah perkuburan bukit kiara near my grandma's house ....
It was a solemn day that day and for the very first time I could see my grand-uncles actually breaking down and crying their heart out and some of them are actually great men during their younger times and I have always admired them... and seeing them crying really made me weep even more and broke my heart and realised how much my grandpa was really admired and looked up to all these years...
But as muslims, we must not weep too much as we would only cause the jenazah to be in more pain and aggravate him...cause as we leave this world, what is important is what we have done before our time is up and the 3 main things are, our amal soleh, ilmu yang manfaat and anak yang soleh...and my arwah grandfather have always had these things with him throughout his time here in this world...
Therefore, semoga roh arwah datuk dicucuri rahmatNya dan ditempatkan di kalangan orang-orang mukmin...I loved you very much datuk and your courage, your passion, your love to your family, your love to your spouse, your sense of humor, your generosity and most of all your amalan ibadat is something I would always remember and try to follow so I may one day be a great person like you too...wallahualam...
Arwah datuk and nenek at my house before my aqad nikah in September 2003
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