Dear family and friends of Baraka Appi (“Appi” is a respectful urdu term for older sisters),

Please do not feel sad about Baraka Appi’s death – she’s in a better place now inshaAllah (if God wills). She fought until the very end, my brother Mohammad told me how she chose to take the 4 chemos in the week before her death, that was her last stand. I aspire to have bravery like hers, courage in the face of death. She had a righteous life, she died as a righteous believer. Her cancer was a very hard test at such a young age. Surely her suffering was a purification inshaAllah, surely her suffering purified her of the few sins that even the best of the righteous believers have, surely she passed the test inshaAllah.

And Paradise awaits those who pass the test! Please do not feel sad about Baraka Appi’s death – surely she’s in a better place now inshaAllah. Her soul has already been to Paradise and returned to her grave inshaAllah. She is in the company of her good deeds inshaAllah, literally. She is looking at Paradise through a window inshaAllah. Then in the Hereafter, by the Mercy of Allah the Most Merciful, she will be rewarded with Paradise inshaAllah – the eternal blissful peaceful reward of Paradise – and surely there is no better reward! So please, do not feel sad about Baraka Appi’s death.

The devil wants the good people to feel sad so that they lose hope in God. Dear family and friends of Baraka Appi, you are good people, mashAllah. So please, don’t feel sad.

Baraka Appi will always have a place in my heart, she was a good sister. I aspire to have courage and intellect like Baraka Appi had.

Salam (Peace),

Abdullah