Another servant of Allah being called...

The environment at the old hospital was so quiet and tranquil. No sounds of the  busy traffic. The chirping of happily fed birds. The many people going about their own business. The sound of babies crying. The mischievous children running all over the place. It was so quiet. As quiet as the graveyard. The few people around the place were busy doing their own work or absorbed in their own minds.

It was almost midnight, Monday 20th February. Sofiah, my nearest neighbour, called at about 11:30pm. I was just about to go to sleep. I was afraid the call was from one of the boys. They will call at whatever time they want to call even though they know by nature I would have gone to sleep. Calls at midnight are seldom good news. I answered the call only to be informed that Abang Talib had passed away at about 10:30pm. I told Noor I was too sleepy to go. He said it was up to me but he, the nocturnal owl, would go. I felt guilty. Allah swt had sent me the news and I was obliged to fulfill my duty as a neighbour.

I was glad I went. I did not know this couple very well. I knew their children. Shahidah was Akmal's friend being of same age group. I quite liked the solitude of the hospital at midnight. I felt at home with it. Abang Talib was an ex-policeman. He had just retired last year. After his retirement they discovered that he had third stage liver cancer. The doctors could not do anything much and gave him six months top to live. He was in and out of hospital often. He was admitted into hospital last Thursday and he never made it. I saw a few men wearing formal batik shirts around the bed and paying their respects to Kak Timah. One of them was the Chief of Police for Kedah. Kak Timah is also a police personnel. They must had come from a function. That was nice. The usual neighbours were around. Noor and I planned to leave early but they said they were taking out the body to be sent to Jitra, Abang Talib's kampung. So, we waited out of respect for the dead to leave. I could only said a silent prayer hoping that everything would go smoothly. InsyaAllah. We finally reached home at almost 1:00am.

Kak Bani commented that quite a few men had left us. We have a few widows and single mothers. Our housing estate are full of folks in their fifties. Having lived here for 22 years, we grow old together. Some of us have retired. Most of their children got married here. I hope we all learned a lesson from all this. Life is too short. We are obligated to take care of our own self. I wish Noor would learn a lesson and takes care of himself better.

"Allah menyeru 3 kali dalam hidup kita. Azan solat, seruan haji dan panggilan kematian. Semoga rohnya dicucuri rahmat dan dipermudahkan untuk yang hidup. Amin."