On 16th of December 2014, at about five o’ clock early in the morning, my beloved father, Khazir Mohammad Sofi, breathed his last. To take his lean and fragile body away, God had assigned the task to a specialised agent called Cancer. I still remember the day when I took him to SKIMS Soura for his second cycle of chemotherapy. The tests showed low platelet count and the doctor refused to administer the chemotherapy. He asked for blood transfusion and I offered mine. I felt I was going to do something good for my father for the first time. The conversation between the doctor and me was heard by my father. When he heard the word “khoon”, he uttered these words: “Don’t be silly, you don’t have so much blood. Tell him you can’t arrange. I am telling you, you are not going to give your blood. Leave it as it is.”
Such words of a dying man show the depth and intensity of his love for his son. These words always haunt me. Whenever I happen to remember these, tears roll down my cheeks. I can’t forget those few days before his death when he repeatedly uttered such words: “Never quarrel with one another. Do good to the neighbours.”
Finally, a day before his death, when my mother and I were beside him, he spoke his last words: “I have to die. You need not observe my chaharum with great fervour. You just do one thing: Give some money to the masjid.”
Parents are the most precious gift to us from God. Let me quote one of the sayings of our beloved Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) which translates to: “If your parents are happy with you, God is happy with you.”
May God bless all the parents of the world!

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SOFI FAYAZ