Goodbye to a Grandfather

My grandfather passed away a few days ago.

It was on Christmas day. The day that I came home from my trip to Cuba. As I got off the plane at 2pm Christmas Day, I got an urgent text message to call my mother. When I called her, my mother advised that my grandfather had passed away just two hours before (while we were still in the air), and that the family was waiting for me at the hospital so that I could pay my last respects before they take his body away. On that note, just to explain one thing...as Muslims, we have to bury the body right away, like within 24 hours if at all possible.

I rushed to the hospital, prayed a prayer for my grandfather, gave my condolences to my grandmother, and proceeded to make funeral arrangements with my father. This was a tough one, because we needed the funeral to be the next day, and because of the Christmas holidays, we had a tough time finding people to help with the burial service (digging the grave, etc). We ended up finding someone, but had to pay extra to have the funeral over the Christmas closures. Thankfully, we were able to have the funeral on the 26th.

It was sad to see my grandfather go, and from another perspective, it was expected. He was in his 90's, and lived a good life. He was a good man. And towards the end of his life, his quality of life really wasn't there. I asked my mother how he died so suddenly. I mean, I went a few weeks ago to the nursing home on Eid to visit him, and he was fine when I left for Cuba, and then he passed away on the day I was returning. My mother explained that he developed an infection in his leg. Four days before he died, the hospital asked my father to make a decision. They could either amputate both his legs to get rid of the infection, or they could put him on morphine and let nature decide his fate. My dad opted for the morphine. He didn't feel that there was any dignity in amputating his limbs, and he was concerned that this type of a surgery may not even be successful. I believe he made the right decision. He was told my grandfather would have 1-4 months to live. He died 4 days later.

I'm glad he died sooner, rather than suffering for an extended period of time. Still, it's sad to say goodbye to a man that lived with us for over 15 years when I was growing up. After his death, I remembered a day when I was 12 years old, trying to avoid one of my regular Quran lessons with grandfather, running and hiding in the bedroom closet. As I read from the Quran after my grandfather's death, I had tears in my eyes as I recalled the day he found me in the closet and said "Just remember, when my time comes, and I pass away, read from the Quran for me. Make sure you're not hiding in the closets when that time comes, ok?". I remember saying "Dada (urdu for grandfather), you're going to live a long time". And thankfully he did. And yes, I did get to pray for him, and I was glad I was able to do it. I can also thank him for encouraging me to learn my prayers. That's one contribution that he has made that will continue on, every time I read a prayer. And when I do read those prayers, I will make sure I pray one for him.