A Tribute to the late Pak Amat Sirat

Life & Death, by Damanhuri Abas

Someone remarked, "Its amazing how death can pull people together." For it is one of those rare moment in life when we suddenly realise what life is really all about.

Pak Amat Sirat, the late father of Dr Albakri, was the first President of the Muslim Fellowship of Singapore, the forerunner of what became FMSA in 1994. He was remembered by many for his laborious patience in listening to the young minds and their fervour for Islam. Seeing his face for the last time at the cemetary bring back fond memories of the man who has seen through all the difficult times of the early struggles of the Jamaah. It needed his generational wisdom and fatherly fortitude to bring together such a diverse group of young people with such energy and unique set of individual characteristics and ideas.

When I prayed at his open grave after the soil has been laid on his wooden coffin, I uttered instantaneously the following words in my heart, "O Allah, be kind and merciful to Pak Amat, I do witness that he has done a wonderful job to bring us together in Your cause. He was a father to all of us in our little-little struggles in life. We will continue the work he started and may he be continously rewarded for inspiring us to do Your work, O Allah. Forgive him O Allah and let us meet again in Jannah one day. Amin

I am pleased to see so many brothers who are part of the Jamaah in one way or another through the years of our struggles and dakwah. Through the hugs I see hope for ukhuwah Islamiah and it must be heartening for the memory of Pak Amat to witness in his passing, the coming together of hearts that remain apart for a while ....

The Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. in his final sermon made a truly remarkable reminder of keeping ourselves as one. He said among other things, " ... All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over black nor a black has any superiority over white except by piety and good action. Learn that every Muslim is a brother to every Muslim and that the Muslims constitute one brotherhood. Nothing shall be legitimate to a Muslim which belongs to a fellow Muslim unless it was given freely and willingly. Do not, therefore, do injustice to yourselves. ..." At death, we all will wish and hope to see again the ones that we have left behind someday. The door has closed for the moment and we seek for the future when we will be reunited again with all our brothers who share the path of our journey before.

Like Pak Amat, when we die one day, we would by now has seen the truth of life beyond this material world. We would have been shown the prelude of our life to come and hopefully it is one that offers a rewarding tear in our eyes and a smile in our face. We too would have had a glimpse of the agonising pain of those who defied the nikmah of his Creator. In that state, we will surely hope that those still living get over the trivialities of divisive words of differences, as what matters at death far exceed such issues in the eyes of our Creator.A life of a beloved fatherly brother has just ended .... let those still alive rise up to live life again.

Let Allah s.w.t. unite our hearts to work together through the diversity of where we are and strive for Him in a unified way to bring our small ummah in Singapore to be a living embodiment of the shinning spirit of the akhlak of Rasulullah s.a.w. "And hold fast, all together, unto the bond with God, and do not draw apart from one another. And remember the blessings which God has bestowed upon you: how, when you were enemies, He brought your hearts together, so that through His blessing you became brethren; and [how, when] you were on the brink of a fiery abyss. He saved you from it. In this way God makes clear His messages unto you, so that you might find guidance," (Surah Al-Imran 3:103)

{by Damanhuri Abas, 5 March 08}