I was shopping with Shifaa in Trader Joe's today when one of the Morroccan/Algerian clerks smiled and waved at me from afar. "How's the Hajji?" he asked.
With about five people between us, I just smiled, shook my head and moved towards him. "Alhamdulillah."
"I haven't seen him in so long," he said, with a smile and a perplexed look on his face.
"He passed away," I said, and teared up.
"SubhanaAllah." He was silent for a bit. "When?"
"Four weeks ago."
"When?" He scratched his head and asked again.
"October 2nd."
He was silent for a bit and shook his head. "I only knew him for a short while, bas kaan 3zeez 3la al qalb. 3athamaAllahu ajrakum."
I couldn't stop the tears, said thank you and moved away.
SubhanaAllah Baba. People are still asking about you. You touched everyone's lives. CVS store clerks and Trader Joes' salesmen. May Allah accept from you and keep these people remembering you and making duaa' for you.
A smile here, a greeting there, a minute to converse with these people who you didn't know as anything but Muslim. You searched for them, read their nametags, asked them where they were from and picked your brethern out from the crowds. May Allah accept. Love.
fatima
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2 comments:
Ameen. This was one of his most unique traits that used to drive me insane, especially when he would make me converse with the female Muslim salesclerk, and all I could tell him was, "Baba, I don't need to talk to every Muslim we see!" But that's why everyone loved him, because he loved them all- young and old, Arab and non-Arab, Egyptian and non-Egyptian, female and male, from the lowest sales clerk to the ambassador at work- for the sake of Allah alone.
ameen. what a smile.
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