Extremely tragic and shocking news - Faraj Hassan Alsaadi, former prisoner and haafidh ul Qur'aan, who led the qiyaam outside the US embassy last night and spoke at the JFAC rally was killed in a motorcycle accident at 9am this (Monday) morning.
Inna lillaahi wa inna ilayhi raji'oon.
Thinking of lessons from the death of Faraj Hassan
Written by Asim Qureshi
Monday, 16 August 2010
The tragic death of our brother Faraj Hassan has left me with much to think about.
I cannot sleep with thoughts of our brother Faraj Hassan in my head. The reality is that this world has lost someone who was truly incredible - patient in adversity and strong in his response.
From a wordly perspective there is much to weep for as we think of a young man of 30 years (only a little older than myself) who left behind his wife and three very young children. The family will have to gone on without him, after having endured every single hardship with him, they have been given another hardship which they will have to face without him.
His family were with him as he was placed under detention without charge, then put forward for extradition, followed by a deportation order to Libya, then on control orders and finally also subjected to financial sanctions. The family had survived almost the full range of counter-terrorism measures that any individual could potentially be subjected, and yet they beat every single thing the government could throw at them as they maintained Faraj's innocence. Subhanallah - he beat it all with the aid and assistance of Allah SWT.
It was only a matter of about 8 months ago that Faraj as finally released from his control order and allowed to walk a free man. Instead of walking away and building a new life for himself, Faraj immediately immersed himself in issues relating to the treatment of detainees in the UK through helping the organisation HHUGS as well as speaking for other organisations like JFAC.
It would initially seem that there is something inherently unfair then, that somehow despite him having endured the pain of so many years of struggle, that he would be entitled to some form of respite with his family. Here lies the lesson though for me, that surely then despite our worldly desire to have our brother with us again, the reality is that Allah SWT has taken His servant at a time when not only did he pass every test that was given to him, but then went further to struggle for the sake of Allah to help others - in other words, inshallah Faraj was taken from us when Allah SWT would have loved him most. Inshallah his peace will now be eternal, we make du'ah that he is spared any form of correction from Allah and that he is only amongst those who will be first into the jannah, ameen.
So we find with Faraj an example for the way we should continue our work and conduct ourselves - it is not simply about standing up for justice, it is about having hilm (steadfastness) despite whatever we are given and with knowing that help will only ever come from Allah SWT.
As for Faraj, he has now returned to Allah. It is his family who remain, and so it is to them that we should now turn our attention as Faraj would have told us himself that there is very little you can do for the dead, but much you can do for the living. I would urge all to donate to HHUGS - the service they provide those in their care is invaluable and the events of yesterday only remind us of their importance.
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