•Late Hajarat Folashade Alake Sanusi
By Ademola Adedoyin
In the English culture and tradition, she will be described as my first cousin, the daughter of my late Mum’s only sister.
But Hajarat Folashade Alake Sanusi (nee Balogun) was a Big Sister to me, not just in accordance with the culture of our forebears, but in the purest definition of who a big sister is.
Hajarat Alake, a beauty to behold, ever smiling, loving, caring, with a heart of gold and a soul with compassion for all, left us early this morning (yesterday). She was aged 64.
A bubbling and agile lady full of life and verve, she had suddenly taken ill, and the sickness, at a point, got truly worrisome, but she came out of it, sounding her usual self and looking forward to getting back to a normal life.
I reached out to her at the commencement of our Ramadan and as it was her wont, she was effusive with appreciation and prayers for me. Her loving and devoted husband, as usual, joined her in the prayer session. I’d looked forward to checking on her again before the end of the sacred month
Then at dawn today…
Since the beginning of Ramadan, my elder brother and the Head of the Sanni Adeoti Adedoyin Clan, Alhaji Abdulwahab Adeshina Adedoyin, in the discharge of his fatherly roles, has made it a point of duty to rouse me from sleep on the dot of 4am every day. His phone call will wake me up and he will pray for me and urge me to get up, do my salat and the sahur.
Today wasn’t an exception.
His call had woken me up and was already in the bathroom for ablution before salat when my phone rang again. It was Alhaji Agba again and not quite five minutes after his first call. It was unusual but I never had foreboding of what was to come.
Just as he calmly, but soberly dropped the bombshell when our mother left us in the early morning of November 15, last year, Alhaji spoke again in similar vein: Hajarat Alake da ke ni sin. Bi Olorun se pe ni, ka gba fun Olorun.
I was stunned and shocked. The phone went dead like my beloved Sister.
Hajarat Alake, you lived a worthy life. A life of love and compassion, a life of selfless devotion, a life of malice to none, but goodwill to all.
As I was reflecting and ruminating over this life and why people of your kind do get plucked away so early, I managed to summon the necessary willpower to do my early morning devotion of prayers and Quran reading.
And what did I encounter as I opened the next page I was to reflect upon this morning? It was Surat Al-An’am, Q’uran Chapter 6 vs 59 and it says:
“With Him (Allah) are the keys to the Unseen, the treasure that none knoweth but He. He knoweth whatever there is on the earth and in the sea. Not a leaf doth fall but with His knowledge: there is not a grain in the darkness (or depths) of the earth, nor anything fresh or dry (green or withered), but is (inscribed) in a Record clear (to those who can read).
Not a leaf doth fall but with His knowledge…
Rest peacefully in the bosom of your Maker, Alake. We love you passionately, but Allah loves you more.
•Source: Facebook (Posted yesterday, 30 March 2024)
