I Lost A Friend Yesterday

I just came back to the office from the burial of my friend, boss and colleague.

Eyes puffy and head splitting from the crying, I need a short nap.

Zul passed away yesterday at around 4:30pm from complications from his second surgery after his first gallstone removal surgery. I regret not finding time to visit him before he went under his second surgery and never regain conciousness again.

Yesterday, we were jolted by news that he had a turn for the worst and we came in droves, hugged Zida, the grieving and sad young wife. Patted the shoulders of Danny, the eldest at 15, Nina at 13 and Alyssa at 10. We took Andri and Baby who are 5 and 2 to breakfast and stayed around to babysit the younger ones.

It looked bad. I came to his bedside twice. This was only the second time I ever was in the ICU/HDU. The first was to visit Lollies' mom. Zul looked pale, he looked asleep but I prayed for him. He was sweating profusely the second time I went in.

By 4:30pm, the dreaded phonecall came in.

I rushed to the hospital with Hisham, his fellow Kelantanese and a very good friend, being of the same age. I saw the kids and tears flowed.

It was time. It was time. This is Allah's promise.

And this morning, alhamdulillah the burial went well. The sun shone brightly. Fresh tears flowed.

I came in the office, glancing at his room, dark and read his name on the door and I smiled through my blurry eyes. I knew him from the very first day I started work here, 12 years ago. We shared many stories together. Many jokes together, most of them rather x-rated and trips all over the country, meetings , negotiations and every possible thing that could have befall us, 8 hours a way, 5 days a week.

We bought our first houses together and celebrated the birth of our children together. We discussed what cars to buy and he would always ask me of my opinion with his health or Zida or any of his children. You see, Allah is great. Zul was worrying about having to have an open heart surgey to replace his now-warranty-expired 23 years old mechanical heart valve. And this surgery he had was a minor one. And that's what caused his death. His ailing heart held out longer than his body could. Allahu akbar!

MissKLSentral was a wreck too last night. Lollies would be too, if she was here.

Zul was a super likeable person. He was always making people laugh. 2 weeks ago, in his last Harfiyah lesson, he was cracking jokes and we were all reduced to teary-eyed laughing growups all through the class. More than usual, I thought and I was telling everyone about THAT particular harfiyah lesson because I enjoyed it so much. Moshi's missed the class, otherwise we would be on the floor, in stitches. He was always the class's clown. Making jokes and asking innocent questions. Who would've thought he would be gone today?

The last time I saw him, he came to my room returning azGROWLen's cds of The Hereafter series by Anwar Al-Awlaki. A month ago, he saw them in my room and was instantly intrigued. I was telling him the lessons I've learnt from those 18 CDs and he was instantly sold.

We discussed the CDs, the many many things that we never knew that we really should. He was so feeling slightly guilty for holding on to the CDs for so long to which I said, I was sure azGROWLen wouldn't mind. Zul was so so grateful that he had the opportunity to listen to the Cds again and again and he told me how his children, especially Nina was into them.

He completed the whole series last 2 weeks and now his journey has begun. I pray that Allah have mercy on him. I pray that Allah have mercy on his widow and young children. I pray that Allah grants us all enlightening. A death is a minor sign of kiamat. Especially when it's someone we know and we've grown close too, almost family.

Al-Fatihah.