Sunday, April 09, 2006
Br. Houssam was the MAC Tarbiyyah Head - for all of Canada (you may"Verily to Allah we belong and to Him we shall return."
remember him from last year's TIC - he had the cap on his head and the
sweet smile). He came to Canada solely for the sake of spreading
Islam and spent a number of years here in that regard - when he wasn't
teaching or working as a Civil Engineer...
His death came by drowning...so we ask Allah the Merciful to accept
him as a martyr since the Prophet (saaws) said, "Whoever drowns is a
shaheed (martyr)."
Br. Houssam has a family, a wife and children, so all of us should
make duah for them as this will be a very difficult time for them...
I met him several times when I was in Calgary. He was one of the most soft spoken people I've ever met; probably one of the most knowledgeable too. To this day, I remember him going from one sleeping person to another to wake them up during qiyam on the night of the 27th of Ramadan.
I'd heard so many good things about him before even meeting him that I didn't even need an introduction to recognize him. I vividly recall going to a juma'h where he was giving the khutbah. No one had mentioned that he was giving the khutba that day but I was so impressed by his speech that on our way back to work on the LRT, I went up to him and introduced myself. I knew right away that this had to be him.
He gave me his phone number and asked to call him if I needed anything during my stay in Calgary. I swear there are some people I've met a handful of times in my entire life but have left a greater impression than others whom I've known for years.
I remember sitting around when he was giving a talk, holding on to every word that he uttered. He was young, no more than 40 perhaps. Yet his time had come. May Allah (swt) grant him Firdaus for all his righteous actions. Ameen.
Faraz Ahmed 10:19 a.m.