"God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mothers”.
(A tribute written by Iqbal Latif, on behalf of Latif family, to be delivered on occasion of his mother’s funeral in Orlando on 9th of Aug,2003).
It is an old Jewish saying that "God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mothers”. For those of us gathered to pay tribute to Sayeeda Khanum Anissa, whom we call “Ammi”, this adage holds much truth, for she was one such mother. Ammi was selfless in her thoughts and actions, with her only wish being the happiness of her beloved children. The heart of a mother is a deep abyss at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness and time & again Ammi gave credence to this belief. As the unassuming head of the family she continually inspired all those around her through her wisdom, knowledge and unconditional love. She always maintained that the moments when you have truly lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love. We will never forget that which she passed on to us in order for those that may come after us to enjoy those very sacred principles. As we bury people sometime we should never forget that we can keep them alive for generations if we keep them close to our hearts and try to follow the examples they have set. Every one of us is a face that represents the image of our ancestors and for the Latif family it is the day of reckoning in that the highest moral standards set by our mother should be those that we impart to our children.
The values Ammi imparted were those of the inherent peace and unity in this world. Ideals such as global unity are often considered catchphrases that will transpire through miracles but it can only be realised through the painstakingly struggle of raising islands of stability, which are strong family units. Matriarchs like Ammi had boundless vision but limited her role to nurture a more core unit that believed in creating unity and removing barriers of hatred to mankind. It is this devotion, which she performed tirelessly and to the end of her life, that will stay with us.
A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials, heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine, desert us when troubles thicken around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavour by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts.
Today as we mourn the passing of our Ammi, we can take comfort in the fact that she led a most remarkable life and never deviated from the betterment and advancement of her children. As her spirit ascends into the heavens, we can only hope that we lived up to her expectations. We do not lose the sight of the injunction of Bahaullah which enjoins upon us that:
O SON OF THE SUPREME!
I have made death a messenger of joy to thee. Wherefore dost thou grieve? I made the light to shed on thee its splendor. Why dost thou veil thyself therefrom?
It is said an eastern monarch once charged his wise men to invent a sentence, to be ever in view, and which should be true and appropriate in all times and situations. They presented him with the words, 'And this, too, shall pass away.' How much it expresses! How chastening in the hour of pride! How consoling in the depths of affliction!
Mourning is an integral part of the human tradition as near and dear ones depart but we must relax our own inhibitions since her departure is a new birth. Such is the eternal cycle of life, etched since creation, and it is with great sadness & a tincture of joy, that we embrace the ascension of her soul to the higher plains of existence. For us today it is important that with her loss, much as we all feel adrift, we do not lose sight of the fact that her journey has just begun. We rejoice that as a friend of humanity she fulfilled her ambitions to establish a successful human unit through her untiring efforts. We mourn her passing but celebrate and mark the life of a remarkable woman, made even more so by her absolute determination to overcome the most difficult of circumstances.
The story of our great mother is like that of many unknown great mothers and is shrouded in mystery. Ammi in physical appearance was a petite and fragile woman but this belied a steely resolve, her larger than life character and the lasting contribution that she had made to the life of her loved ones. Many of you have seen her in Dr. Marshall’s home would have found her quiet, but hers was a wondrous story, in the eight decades on earth, she had a remarkable life from her birth in a small village, Nogama Sadat, in the Uttar Pradesh state of India, nearly 5000miles away from her final resting place.
The bridging of this distance took nearly 80years of selfless efforts and devotion. Although the Indian Sub-continent was a British colony, literacy rates were desperately low and none really appreciated the need of education of women. Thus in the time of Ammi’s birth the circumstances and social structure she emerged from that were quite hostile to any meaningful education.
It was in the early part of the twentieth century that the Bahai faith was introduced to the father of Ammi, Syed Mushtaq Hussain, and Ammi’s village was the heart of Shi’ite orthodoxy, where the local populace proudly traced it’s lineage to the most holiest of sires, the Holy Prophet Muhammed (PBUH).
Ammi was born amidst this stifling environment, nearly 80years ago and had it not been the introduction of the all-encompassing message of Bahai faith, which adhered to the oneness of mankind and equality of man and woman, then the life of Ammi would have followed the course of the other woman folk of the village. For it is our cardinal belief, passed through the generations, that if the two wings of humankind, men and women, do not participate equally then we will never soar beyond the highest peaks.
Nogama Sadat still exists and its inhabitants are still caught in a vicious cycle of self-righteousness and hatred. The vision of unity of mankind and global unity propelled Ammi’s father to rebel against the entrenched orthodoxy of the village. He openly decided to reject the medieval traditions and adopt the life changing message of the Bahai Faith; That encouraged him to instil amongst his children, in that small little village, the vision that all human beings are born equal and should be treated as equal. That there be no distinction of colour, creed, race or gender. For a Syed, who by tradition and blood was invested with the authority to be the first among equals, this message of egalitarianism was totally opposed by the predominant Shiite population of the village.
After the physical persecution and in the name of ideological Puritanism; Ammi and her family were forced out of the village at a very young age and moved to Delhi. The father of Ammi pursued with vigour the education of his children with special emphasis on the educations for his daughters. Ammi in the early part of the century was helped by divine intervention to embark on the road of education and enlightenment. To courageously, withstand the orthodoxy, requires strong convictions and self belief and Ammi’s strong devotion in Bahai faith enabled her to leave the pits of ignorance in her home village well behind her, and most significantly escape the strict confinements of a woman’s life there.
In her six years in Delhi, she studied to become a qualified herbal practitioner and a midwife a renowned achievement for a woman of her times. In 1947, the partition meant that once again Ammi had to leave her home and this time she moved to the newly formed Pakistan. It was in this new predominantly Muslim nation, that Ammi met her future husband, Dr. Latif, and their offspring are now spread out across the globe.
Theirs was however an unassuming beginning and they started their life in the humble surroundings of Sukkur. Life was not easy for a Bahai couple living in a Muslim nation, and the ignorance that had plagued Ammi during her youth did not subside here and this would always be a major hurdle for them to conquer. But through their drive and determination, they did not allow these bigots to subdue them with their pettiness. They raised six children: Adeeb, Nasrin, Shahid, Rehana, Iqbal and Zeenat Latif and instilled within them, their own global vision and Bahai ideals. Most importantly, their unwavering commitment to education meant that all of the children were given the best starts in life.
Indeed it is no small coincidence that they have become successful in their chosen professions around the globe despite hailing from a small town in Pakistan. This is due to the forward looking principles given to them in their childhood by their parents. Ammi was devoted to her children, she gave up her midwifery position to take care of her growing brood and this was her chosen profession right up to the last week
From a personal perspective it is very to understate the formative role Ammi and Dr Latif played in this 'universal education' of love and unity. When surrounded by hatred and ignorance I feel the importance of nurturing a free mind, the role every parent should never forget, letting the children know that we are part of this mother earth, for great mothers understand the pains of mother earth better than anyone else.
The Bahai core principles, such as the continual pursuance of truth and extreme stress on personal education, were actively propagated by Ammi and Dr Latif. Rain or shine the Latif children had to attend school and no excuse was good enough for even a day’s absence. Her own upbringing underscored the immense importance of educating her children and she never lost sight of this belief.
We have on our end tried our level best to pass understand these issues well, we have helped create the training into reality by genuinely practising global unity as part and parcel of or shared dreams, sprung from none but Ammi and Dr Latif. The very reason that we are able to arise from the trivial divisions besetting humanity is because the best of acts and ideas were rammed into our heads.
Her later years were spent with her children and she was lucky enough to witness the arrival of another generation and watch the growth of another era of the Latif family. She was a loving grandmother, who still delivered her lectures of discipline, faith and importance of studying to another batch of children. They in turn tried to teach her English, and despite the best of intentions from both sides it never really got anywhere.
She was proud of this tribe that had grown from one couple in Sukkur. It was reassuring to her to know that as some journeys may come to an end, new journeys are starting, the parents are known by the training they impart to the families they help create, our parents need greatest of appreciation for helping us understand nicety and basic human goodness.. In human cycle constructive beginnings and outlook plays the most dominant role.
The ability to understanding and rationalising tragedies and help these sorrows to become strength are something that our human family needs to understand very subtly. We as a small human group share these very private moments of our grief with friends across the world, the word of prayers from daharamshalas, churches and mosques or synagogues help us to appreciate the way humanity has shrunk, our joys and collective pains keep us totally focused that even when things look the worst one should not loose hope and keep the ideals flowing. I will close this eulogy on this beautiful peace by Clyde Hager.
You are a wonderful mother, dear old Mother of mine.
You'll hold a spot down deep in my heart, 'Till the stars no longer shine.
Your soul shall live on forever, On through the fields of time.
For there'll never be another to me, Like that wonderful Mother of mine. |
