By: Kashif Hasan
Aamir Mehmood was the first among us to grasp what I call the “hundredth coin of fortune.” We, meanwhile, are still searching for that elusive penny known in common speech as peace. Yet true peace, as the Creator of all existence declares, is none other than the taste of death — a taste decreed for every soul without exception.
That taste, paradoxical though it seems, carries a sweetness. So often is it invoked — one hundred and forty-five times in His Book of six thousand six hundred and sixty-six words — that its certainty eclipses doubt. Life itself is given equal weight, for creation and sustenance are placed side by side so that balance endures. Death, however, is the one unseen certainty that manifests with unflinching clarity. Whether one accepts the Unseen or denies it, none can dismiss its inevitability.
When death claims someone close, grief and fear rise together. It is as if, in a crowded coop, a butcher seizes one bird while the rest recoil in terror. Yet what appears as loss is in fact a secret grace, a mark of divine selection.
The moment a life departs, an aching void spreads through every heart. After the burial, with eyes still wet, the mind travels back to shared moments — the words spoken, the guidance offered. Aamir was such a guide. He showed me paths as Khidr once showed Moses the hidden wisdom behind trials. His sternness was mercy in disguise. His trials carried gifts I did not recognise then. His every word aimed at my betterment, his every challenge a shaping of my strength. Quietly, step by step, he was leading me towards my destination.
He became the means by which my prayers were answered. For the Almighty seldom acts by direct descent, but through intermediaries who lift the distressed out of their turmoil. Twice Aamir Mehmood became the channel of my livelihood. And livelihood, let it be remembered, stands even above the prayers upon the mat, for the Beloved Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him, has said: He who toils to earn his bread is beloved of God.
So when a labourer lifts his hands and prays forgiveness for the one who became the means of his sustenance, the Almighty surely grants that prayer.
O Lord, raise the rank of Aamir Mehmood, and grant him a place in the shade of Thy mercy. Ameen.
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