Innalillah wa inna ilai hira'jiun.
Allahu Allah....I don't know how to begin.
His words of wisdom had first graced this space in June 2009. Most of them were from the majlis taa'lim organized by Ba'alawi KL in Kemensah, hosted by Sister Ina & spouse.
Without a doubt, we'll have to revisit the lessons. I made a niyyat (pledge) to translate his most recent lessons that were shared on his Pesantren Yasin's FB page InSha Allah, as many as possible, bi-iznillah.
I must thank Sis Ina for the opportunity to participate in a group Quran Recital for Almarhum Shaykh Fahmi Zamzam this morning. A very sad morning indeed.
I'll be honest. The passing of any mu'aleem/Habaib/Shuyukh saddens us, for sure but I'd never cried so hard as I did today. I pray the tears will serve as proof of my respect and love for one extremely learned and loving man as Shaykh Fahmi Zamzam. Coincidently, his last lesson as shared on his FB is about respect for learned men, one's guru. He said, in Malay: 'Tidak sampai orang yang sampai kecuali dengan menghormati gurunya.'
'Sampai' (arrive) is an old Malay term that is commonly used among salik, meaning to obtain the knowledge that one seeks, its usefulness and its blessings. It means one has attained success in esoteric terms due to the respect one offers to the guru.
I felt funny as I was reciting the holy verses. I thought, what am I doing? The shaykh does not need it. He is way up there. He is a beloved soul. Even in his passing, he taught me something. The recitation is for me, the hasanah is for me even though it's dedicated to him. I am the faqir. He has most definitely read the Quran a whole lot more than I can ever match. He is meeting the Lord with plenty of credits. Subhanallah.
So I said in my doa so that Allah pardon any mistakes in my recital. My deeds are full of flaws. How can I offer something worthy for an honourable person like Shaykh Fahmi?! It's simply a humble gesture of respect and love that I have for him, no more than that. You know love is subjective. The matter of the heart is latif (subtle), you feel what you feel. You feel a bit more strongly to some souls than to others. Only God knows why.
I can only thank God for the beautiful and memorable experiences of being in his majalis. The fatherly tone of his voice, interspersed at times with laughter, the clarity of his message...and of course it was lovely to see him at his peak, so to speak, about nine years ago 2009 to 2013, he was in his early 50s. If you listen to his recent talks, you'll know what I mean, it's obvious that he had been giving way too many lessons than he should. But Allah knows best. And certainly, as we all know, the shuyukh are all tireless and selfless. MaShaAllah.
Now, what about us? We fall every now and then, we need a frequent refresher of the advice and wisdom he has left us with. We need to keep our hearts connected with the ruhul qudus, the muqarabeen those who still grace this land and those who have passed on.
Wama taufiqi illa billah.
***
Bismillah.
Links to Shaykh Fahmi's lessons from 2009 - 2013 that I managed to capture by the grace of Allah. Those years, there were not many YouTube channels or FB pages that published such lessons. So we must be grateful and take advantage of the abundant resources and access that we now have.
