The one that almost got away

I’ve finally gotten the chance to go for a class run by one of my very good friends, an Ustaz.

Most – no – ALL of my Ustazs became my friends after I was their student – however, only this Ustaz became my friend first. I have not had the opportunity to become his student so far, due to bad timing, work commitments, location and what not. There was once he gave me notes for one of his earlier classes, for which I couldn't attend – but the notes just didn’t cut it, as there was so much of potential dialogue that was missing from the pages of the notes. The worst thing is, I’d always tell him, jumping up and down, “Yes bro, I’ll come down! For you, for you, peace out!” but there’ll be some stupid reason or another that would hinder me from going.

Recently, I was not able to go for a class of his on jurisprudence, as it was the aftermath of a whole range of developments in the family. Just when I decided to go for one of his last few lessons, a doofus vacuum cleaning salesman had to make an appointment and demonstrate his $3,000 vacuum cleaner at my house. I had to go back home as my wife and kid were all alone, and I had initially forgotten about it. What gave the salesman the looney idea that he could just walk in and try to sell me something, the money for which I could use to pay the bills for Zayed’s pampers for more than a year? Ludicrous! (as one of my profs from NTU used to say)

The following week, I got held up at work for something, and again I wasn’t able to go for the class. Subsequently, I decided not to go at all for the class, as I felt I had fallen short of my own limits in keeping my word.

Then a wonderful opportunity came a-knocking, and finally, I realized that this was the only window I had been given to be taught by my friend before he travels abroad for further studies. I jumped at the chance and decided to even forgo my weekly tafsir sessions at Abdul Ghafoor mosque, which unfortunately clash with the new class (I'm hoping to get audio recordings from the masjid).

I feel that I have so much to learn from my friend, and from the bottom of my heart, it pains me that he will be overseas in less than 3 months for two things - one will be the sense of loss of the physical presence of a friend whom I've come to know for the whole of my working life so far, one who has kept my spirits afloat during the most testing of times at work and in personal life. The other loss is that I feel that I have not even scraped the topmost layer of his immense knowledge. Wallahu a'lam.

But there is a reason and purpose why we met. May our paths intertwine in the years to come, Insha Allah, for me to gain some knowledge from him.