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In mid December 2008, I received a text
message from the late Prof. Taha Basman,
former Commissioner of UNESCO and President of the Center for Moderate Muslims
(CMM), inviting me to speak in the 3rd International Conference of Muslim
Leaders that was held on January 9 to 11 at the Dusit
Thani Manila. I felt some urgency in his message,
imploring that I must accept. I therefore immediately replied and said, Inshaallah (God willing) I will come.
Taha, as I
fondly called him, was a first cousin from my mother side. Since we were almost
the same age, he was one of my closest cousins and I have always been proud of
his intellect and gentle manners. Looking back six months ago, I now understood
why he wanted me to participate in the Conference. It provided us an
opportunity to see and bid each other farewell before he finally succumbed to a
lingering illness and passed away on 22 January 2009. I am one of those few relatives
to whom he disclosed the severity of his condition after it was diagnosed sometime
in 2007. In a number of visits I made during his many confinements, I knew that
he was always happy to see me and I was glad that I was able to provide him
some comfort and strength to cope with his sufferings. In all those visits
especially during his last confinement a few days before the conference, he
consistently demonstrated admirable patience while in pain and never missed his
daily prayers. A man of strong faith, he was ready to accept whatever Allah (swt) willed for him.
When I arrived in Manila from Jakarta on 7
January 2009, I called and wanted to see him. He said he was in the hospital
for a routine check-up. I therefore visited him and realized he was confined
for something more serious. He was having blood transfusion and was coughing
all the time. I felt so sad to see him in that condition and wondered how he
would be able to proceed with the conference. Yet his mind remained very sharp
and he continued to provide instructions for the conference which he wrote down
in a sheet of paper. Thus, through his strong will and deep faith in Allah’s
mercy, he managed to attend and speak during the first and last days of the
conference in a wheel chair while undergoing pain and patiently coping with his
suffering in his hotel room while the different sessions of the conference were
proceeding. I could not imagine how I could have managed what he went through
if I were in his place. He was truly a man of strong will, determination, and
patience and one who deeply trusted in Allah’s will in allowing him to finish
what he started.
In his brief speech on the last day of the
conference, he talked about his real condition, thanked all the participants
and bid farewell to all. Many who were not aware of his sickness were shocked.
It was a very touching and heartbreaking moment that left almost everyone in
tears. An Ustaz led a prayer of supplications for Allah
(swt) to cure Taha of his
sickness and grant him another lease in life. But Allah (swt)
in His infinite wisdom and mercy knows what is best for everyone. On 22 January
2009, Taha slipped away gently and peacefully from
this world to return to His Creator, leaving behind an important legacy to
Muslim Filipinos which they should continue to nurture to further the noble cause
of Islam as a religion of peace, tolerance and moderation.
Taha was credited
for starting interfaith dialogues in Muslim communities and hailed as the
father of interfaith dialogue and moderation among Muslims. In the words of Ms.
Marites Guingona-Africa of
the Peacemaker’s Circle, Taha “slipped away gently
from this world leaving in his wake the garden of friendships he had nurtured
with people of diverse religions and spiritual expressions for over a decade,
and the seeds of peace in the hearts of Muslims and Christians that he had
sowed”. Taha
and his wife Ann were exemplars of peace in Islam and were passionate in their
goals of interfaith peace building and developing the plight and welfare of
Muslims, especially those in the lower strata of society.
For
me personally, I will be forever grateful to Taha for
granting me an excellent opportunity to engage in Islamic dawah
(spreading the message) through the publication of my articles in the Universal
message which is one of CMM’s important projects in
disseminating not only its various activities nationwide but in imparting
valuable Islamic teachings to Muslims and non-Muslims alike. My humble
contributions to Universal Message started in 2003 when Taha
published my article on the death of my beloved son Hamdani.
After that first article, Taha urged me to continue
to contribute articles and while I was hesitant at first recognizing that
writing is not really my area of expertise, I agreed as a means of fulfilling
one of my important obligations as a Muslim in imparting the message of Islam. Alhamdullillah, by the grace of Allah and through Taha’s persistent encouragement, I managed to contribute a
number of articles to Universal Message on various Islamic topics which I hope
and pray have contributed even in a small way to imparting the universal
message of Islam as a religion of truth, peace and justice.
Another endeavor which Taha
helped me carry out is charity work through the Hamdani-CMM
Day Care Center which CMM operates to provide free education to the needy
toddlers in Maharlika and surrounding Muslim
communities. Starting with only a couple of students and modest funding, the
Day Care Center through CMM’s able management has now
over 300 students.
Words
are not enough to accord Taha the great tribute he
truly deserves for the outstanding works he has done and accomplished not only
as a father, husband, son, brother and relative but as the champion of
promoting the noble values of Islam and implementing projects to benefit the
Muslim communities in Manila and many parts of the Philippines. His death is a
great loss not only to the family but to Filipino Muslims and the promotion of tolerance
and interfaith building which he so passionately espoused in his advocacy.
I truly miss Taha
and I continue to pray to Allah (swt) to forgive all
his sins and wrongdoings, reward him for fulfilling his spiritual duties during
his lifetime, recompense him for every atom weight of good that he has done and
grant him eternal joy in jannah (paradise). Farewell
my dear brother and may you rest eternally in peace
and tranquility, Inshaallah.
Roslaini Iljas Rasuman
8
June 2009
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