By Mikail Sanni
Abuja”: (Flowerbudnews): Over the last four weeks, I have experienced more deaths in my life than I have ever imagined. *One of my twin cousins, two friends, a friend’s wife, a friend’s mother, and the centenarian patriarch of Tajwid in Yorubaland, Shaykh Hafiz Abou.* May Allah’s Mercy embrace them all.
Apart from the grief and agony brought by these deaths, I was assailed by a shocking reminder of my own mortality.
As important as all the deaths I experienced in the last few were, the latest brought in its wake lessons that made me wish that my mum should come back from the great beyond.
*What I am referring to is the death of Alhaja Hafsah Sanni, the illustrious mother of Dr.Mikail Sanni, the Grand-Chief Imam of Ejigbo Town in Oshodi- Isolo LGA, Lagos, and a lecturer in the Department of Religion and Peace Studies at the Lagos State University (LASU).*
As a people, we tend to dread death, and unless it is absolutely necessary, we avoid it as a topic of discussion, particularly, if it is about our own death. To many people, it is weird to talk about death or refer to the possibility of one’s own death.
*Yet, it is important for us to have a conscious awareness of the transient nature of our sojourn on earth fact that our time on earth and to reflect often on its implications. This is not to scare us but to ensure that we live wisdom and freedom.*
Like most of those who have lost their mothers, Mikail Sanni experienced great pain and agony; *but unlike most of them, he had prepared for the time he would no longer see her again by serving her wholeheartedly.*
At the gathering of tributes organised in her honour last week, Shaykh Mu’izz-ud-Din Alawiye exposed a unique aspect of Mikail’s life in this regard. Till his mother’s death, *it was customary to see Dr Mikail Sanni coming to personally wash his mother’s clothes.*
*Neither his position as the Chief Imam of a popular town nor his academic status deterred him*.
Despite several attempts by his wives, his children, and his subordinates to assist him, he insisted on doing this alone till Alhaja’s glorious exit!
*It is also on record that he often personally ran petty errands like buying pap, bean-cakes, and other things for her despite having so many people around him who would have gladly done so on his behalf.*
*I left that gathering wishing my late mum could come back.* Though I did my best to serve her in her lifetime, I must confess that most of the assignments were done either by my wives or by my aides. Though I facilitated whatever they did, it can not be compared with the *direct labour paradigm* of Mikail Sanni.
Why was Mikail able to do all he did? Why was he not deterred by his status and worldly attainments? Why didn’t he delegate those functions to others when he could conveniently pay for them? The answers are many, but they could be simplified and fused into one: *he understood the blessings of motherhood more than his peers.*
Who is a mother in Mikail’s mind, you may want to ask? *To him, a mother is a delicious admixture of patience, kindness, tolerance, understanding, discipline, industry, purity, and love.*
She is a unique being with a polypodic function who can be one and different persons at the same time- a counsellor to a depressed daughter, a coach to an athletic son, a doctor to an ailing child and a nurse to a disabled husband.
She is the only being on earth equipped by Allah with the capability to weep when she is happy, laugh when she is disheartened, and work when she is ill. *She is as meek as a lamb, strong as an ox, and brave as a lion when the affairs of her kids are involved.*
She may appear weak and helpless when her husband is around but transforms into a heroine of valour and resourcefulness when she’s all alone.
*With love, she smiles at the folly of her teenager and lovingly corrects it; she laughs at the naughtiness of her toddler and, with care, rearranges the scattered books and the shattered utensils. She’s whatever you call her; she fits into all, be it, mummy, mom, “mumsy” or simply, maami.*
Nothing gives her a greater joy than seeing you happy and successful; and nothing should give you a greater thrill in life than to point at her and shout with pride: “That’s my mother.”
*May Allah bless our mothers. If you are still lucky to have one, please honour and cherish her. If you are unlucky like me to have lost yours, pray for her every day of your life and do charity in her name.*
May Allah enable you to earn His favour and pleasure through devotion to your mum; may His Love transform you into a symbol of His Grace; may His Clemency embrace your supplications for your parents, and may His Benevolence sustain you till the end of time. (Flowerbudnews)
Timehin Saheed Olurotimi*
