THE PASSING OF REHAB EL BURI

Special thanks to Al-Madina Institute for sharing this powerful piece


On March 6th 2011 Sister Rehab El Buri died of cancer at the age of 25. Rehab, an Islamic activist, was loved by all those who knew her and a cause of inspiration for those who didn’t. We would like to share some of Rehab’s own reflections on her trial taken from her personal blog. We ask Allah to shower his mercy on Rehab, enter her into the company of our beloved Messenger Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family). We leave you with Rehab’s words:


I know I ended my last post pretty abruptly. At the time I was writing it, going through the play by play was difficult.

It took me about three days to accept my death. On the first day, as you read, my mind was in chaos. On the second day, I was numb. And on the third day, my husband and mother began talking sense to me, and I finally came to some important realizations:

1. We are all going to die. The people who took the news of my disease calmly and those who panicked- they are going to die one day too. Death is one of the few realities we can be certain of in this life, and yet we somehow slip into thinking that we are exempt.

2. We live this life for the next. I was living my life as a Muslim…praying and fasting, but I had somehow allowed my real goal in life to be swallowed by buying salad plates for my next dinner party, and trying to get free shipping on my next jcrew order, and finding pillows that popped against my cream sofa. In between being a consumer and entertaining myself to death, I let what really matters in my life slip away from me. If I was truly living my life for the Hereafter, I should not be so fearful of the future I had created for myself. The Quran says, “And this life of the world is nothing but a sport and a play; and as for the next abode, that most surely is the life- did they but know!” [29.64]

3. I am in the same boat as everyone else. None of us are given any guarantees in life. Our health, our wealth, and our families are trusts give to us by Allah- and they are His to take when He, in his infinite wisdom, deems fit. We all claim to believe this, but in practice we often falter. I don’t know why I thought I could push the thought of death out of my mind for at least a good 30 or 40 years. Allah (SWT) could claim any of us at any time. I am in the same boat as everyone else- I have no idea when my time is, but I should try to live everyday as if it is my last.

4. Each day is a gift. Receiving this wake up call is such a blessing in that each day Allah grants me is an opportunity to do some more good and try to make up for some of the mistakes I made in the past. For some reason, the mornings are usually a little rough for me. I think it’s just waking up from my dreams and realizing that I still have to live with this disease. But every morning I try to tell myself, “Alhamdulilah, I feel good today, what good can I do today?”

These realizations, and the support of my mother, husband, his mother, my sisters, his sisters, my father, his father, my friends, and my community have helped me not merely cope with what I’m going through, but actually seek the reward of going through this trial, and try to sincerely accept what Allah wills for me.

http://rehabelburi.blogspot.com/

Ya Allah what are we really doing with our time. The above has really made me realise how I really waste time on things of ill or no importance. InshAllah make dua that we all utilise every minute Allah (swt) has given us. So sad.
 
Allah Most High tells us in the Qur’an:
“And We will surely test you with something of fear and hunger and a loss of wealth and lives and fruits, but give good tidings to the patient, Who, when distress strikes them, say, “Indeed we belong to Allah , and indeed to Him we will return.” Those are the ones upon whom are blessings from their Lord and mercy. And it is those who are the truly guided.” [Qur'an, 2.155-157]

6 comments:

  1. How sad, so young but she speaks words of wisdom. Point 2 & 4 is so true, we are so embroiled in our own materialistic lives that we forget to worship Allah anymore than the 5 daily prayers and even then do we pray them on time? A great reminder of how this life can come to an abrupt end, without even the slightest warning. And those of us who are fortunate enough to get that warning, through the news of a chronic or terminal illness should be thankful to Allah that he has blessed us with the opportunity to wake up and do good. As often with the news of illness comes the reality of death, not only for the one suffering but those that are there to witness it. I feel for this girls family, may Allah have mercy on her. Ameen.

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  2. Inna Lillah Wa Inna Lillahi Raji3oon...so sad..:(

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  3. to Allah we belong and to him we shall return. Death is promised to us all.. It always slips our minds and the shaytan takes over, however we must try our best to try our best in making the ahkirah our goal. i indeed have learnt a lesson from this article and that is live every min like its ur last. some ppl might take this in diffrent ways but i take it as if ur living you should feel blessed that u have another min to worship Allah swt.. this article brings back a memory of when i witnessed a young man die infront of my eyes.. and also another family member dying from breast cancer leaving behind 4 gorgeous children.

    May Allah swt provided her family wit sabr and grant her jannat alfirdous for her struggles of her sickness.. Allah alone knows what a test it is..

    Alahmdillah.

    yussra

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  4. May Allah give her a spot in heaven inshallah , when we read something like this it really wakes us up and gives this new energy to be better muslims,
    but unfortunately that only lasts a short while and we go back to how we were before. The shaytan is so powerful we dont even realise when he does this, so its good to have good muslims around you to always remind you about our religion.

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