Adios, Aminu Sani Maikudi
Innalillahi wa inna Ilayhim raji’un (from Allah we come and to Allah we shall return). The blurred voices will sometimes become audible, telling me to continue to recite the words above as I sat there in disbelief and stupor on the information I just received – that the corpse of my son was in the […]
Innalillahi wa inna Ilayhim raji’un (from Allah we come and to Allah we shall return).
The blurred voices will sometimes become audible, telling me to continue to recite the words above as I sat there in disbelief and stupor on the information I just received – that the corpse of my son was in the mortuary (after two and a half days he left home and our frantic search for him were all to no avail).
The day, precisely one year ago, started like any other Eid day does. There were early morning activities of cooking by the adults, whilst the children and their dad get ready for the Eid prayers. They all went for the Eid prayers on Wednesday, 6th July 2016; and when they returned, the usual taking of photographs to commemorate the day was done.
Visitors came to felicitate with us and we attended to them, entertained them and exchanged banters.
Our son Aminu was up and about, participating in all the activities. He also attended the Eid prayers with his dad and siblings.
Later in the day, he went out to socialize with his friends and celebrate the Eid. He captured some of their moments on his phone, which we later saw. He came back home and said his Maghrib and Isha’i prayers with his dad and siblings. Around 8pm, he came to my room to tell me that I had visitors. He served them refreshments and when they left, he cleared the place and asked me, as he always does each night, if there’s anything else I wanted him to do for me, I replied ‘no’ and he said, ‘Toh, sai da safe Mama’ (Okay, goodnight mum). Little did I know that that was the last words I would ever hear from him and the last time I will ever see him alive. Innalillahi wa inna Ilayhim raji’un!
The next day (Thursday), around 8am, his dad told me that Aminu didn’t come out for the Fajr (early morning) prayers and I thought maybe he overslept but would ask him why he missed the prayer when he comes in to greet us in the morning as usual.
When he didn’t come in for some time, I asked his sibling to check on him and they discovered that he wasn’t in his room. Still, not suspecting anything amiss, I thought he might be somewhere in the house. I called his number but it was switched off. I continued my daily activity and receiving guests whilst intermittently dialing his number. Still it was switched off!
By Dhuhr time (noon prayer) and he’s still neither in the house nor answering his calls and texts, I then asked our security man if he had seen him go out and he said that Aminu went out the previous night, around 9pm, with his friends and hasn’t returned since then.
At this point we began to panic; this was highly unusual because except at university, abroad or during family trips; Aminu never spend the night away from home. Where was he and why was his phone switched off? We made series of phone calls and sent text messages to his phone number but still no response. We visited our relatives and some of his friends to inquire if he’s with them and everyone answered in the negative. By the Asr prayer time (4pm), and there still wasn’t any information on him, we reported the case of a missing person to the police.
This is how we spent agonizing two nights and two days without any information on Aminu and/or his whereabouts. Visits to all the accident and emergency wards in the major hospitals in Kaduna was done by his siblings. Still no information; and by late evening of the second night (Friday) of his disappearance, around 9pm, information came in that the corpse of a young boy of his age and description was lying at the Barau Dikko Hospital Mortuary.
Investigations confirmed that it is indeed Aminu! Inna Lillahi wa inna Ilaihi rajiun.
Report had it that the corpse was picked along the Isa Kaita Road by the police and deposited in the mortuary on the night of 6th July, 2016.
Nothing prepares anyone for this kind of agony and no philosophy prepares anyone for this kind of trauma. Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhim raji’un.
The way and manner Aminu died brought him immense piety and resulted in a lot of ‘popularity’ for him. His burial was attended by hundreds of people including parents, uncles, well-wishers, friends and many more people that we never knew, from all walks of life. We appreciate all those that identified with us in our moment of grief.
We are totally helpless in the hands of fate. Here today, gone tomorrow and gone forever, never again to be seen or heard. Never again will you be seen. Unlike long journeys entailing long absences, this one is final. We all know that death is very painful even though we have been warned by the verse ‘kullu nafsin za’ikatil maut’ (all living things will taste death and then you shall return to us, Q.29 V57); yet we are benumbed by its finality. Never again will one see the beloved.
We are happy and grateful to Allah for Aminu’s life. All that knew him attest to his gentle mien and friendly disposition. We lost a son and a brother but we gained a martyr for Allah has promised that such people that died in the manner he did, are the inhabitants of aljanna (paradise) Inshaa Allah. He died on Eid el Fitr day, a day after the month of Ramadan and a couple of months after his last Umrah (lesser Hajj). Alhamdulillah for this Rahma!
Goodnight, Aminu. None of us knew we’d be missing you this soon, or that you’d predecease the rest of us. May Allah, the all-powerful, most merciful, ever-forgiving and all-knowing creator and judge of everything in existence; grant you the ultimate crown of Aljannatul Firdaus, Ameen.
Dr. (Mrs) Maikudi sent this piece from Kaduna. [email protected]