Obituary: Mrs Louise Zubaida Drew
Wife of Dr. Mirza Aziz-ur-Rahman
by Mr. Nasir Ahmad
The Light (UK), July 2006 Issue (pp. 6–7)
Editor’s Note: Mrs Louise Zubaida Drew, wife of the late Dr Mirza Aziz-ur-Rahman (d. 1937), former Imam of the Berlin Mosque, Germany, died in Woking, England, on 25 May 2006 and her funeral prayers were led by Mr Nasir Ahmad on 31 May at Brookwood Cemetery, Woking. The following address was presented in her memory by Mr Nasir Ahmad.
My dear Brothers and Sisters, I greet you with the Islamic salutation, Assalamu alaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh (May the peace, mercy and blessings of Allah be on you all).
This is the same greeting which Prophet Jesus (AS) offered to his disciples, as quoted in Luke (24:36) and John (20:19).
Today we have gathered here to offer our last respects and to seek Allah’s forgiveness and mercy for the departed sister, Mrs Louise Zubaida Drew, generally known among her relations and old friends as Tente Liza. It was only recently that Brother Khalid Abdullah told me that tente in German means “aunt.” We thought it was her pet name.
It was at the Mosque in Berlin that Tente Liza entered the fold of Islam at the hand of the late Dr Shaikh Muhammad Abdullah, who was at that time the Imam of the Islamic Centre there. Later, her sister, Sussane Saeeda, also became a Muslim. Incidentally, the latter taught German to Dr S. M. Abdullah in the initial stages. Both sisters and their mother, Amelia Amina, became so close to this saintly Imam of the Mosque, who held a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Berlin, and his noble wife, the late Mahmuda Abdullah, that they were just like members of the Abdullah family. Both sisters were regular visitors to the Mosque in Berlin. Later on, Tente Liza started assisting the Imam, as well.
It was during this period that Tente Liza became acquainted with a talented young man, Mirza Aziz-ur-Rahman, who had completed his Ph.D. in Chemistry at Berlin University in 1927. He had also acted as Imam of the Mosque in Berlin for some months in the absence of Dr Shaikh Muhammad Abdullah, who had gone to Makkah to perform Umrah. Dr Mirza Aziz-ur-Rahman belonged to an educated family of Lahore. His father, the late Mirza Khuda Bakhsh, was a well-known religious scholar, highly proficient in Arabic and Urdu. He wrote a well-known and scholarly work, Asl-i Musaffa, in two volumes. Dr Aziz-ur-Rahman’s second brother, Mirza Khalil-ur-Rahman, retired as the Headmaster of a High School in Lahore. His youngest brother, Mirza Hameed-ur-Rahman, retired as Secretary of the Institute of Hygiene in Lahore. And today we have his daughter, Farah, attending the funeral of her aunt.
Soon after their marriage, sometime in 1937, the happy couple left by ship for India, and on the way visited various European countries. They stayed in Sarajevo for some time and that proved to be their last moments of happiness spent together. After staying for some time in Lahore, Dr Aziz-ur-Rahman had an attack of acute appendicitis, which caused his death. It was devastating for the young Louisa. Her bond of love and affection for Dr Aziz-ur-Rahman remained alive and the happy memories of his companionship lay buried in her heart all these years. Thus, it was her last wish that Dr Aziz-ur-Rahman’s photograph be buried with her body.
After some time, she was married to my late wife’s uncle, Shaikh Nazir Ahmad. Sister Louisa, with her son, Suhail Ahmad, came to England for a short while in 1954 to look after her ailing mother, who later died in a German nursing home in September 1954. Shaikh Nazir Ahmad died in 1961.
At the start of World War II, the Abdullah family had to leave Berlin for India but their contacts with friends and particularly with this family continued and relationships grew over the years. It was in 1947 when the late Dr Abdullah became Imam of the Shah Jehan Mosque at Woking that he helped the family to come over to England in 1948. Sister Sussane Saeeda died only last year. And today we have sister Aneesa, her daughter, to say farewell to her dear aunt, Sister Louisa, who celebrated her 98th birthday on 18May, 2006.
Sister Louisa was a gifted artist in watercolour and oil and she loved music and singing. She also loved travelling. In her collection of photographs one can see that while passing through Europe and the Middle East, and even in India accompanying her husband, she visited almost every scenic and historical place and kept a record of them in photographs with beautiful descriptions written in her handwriting.
The only male member of this small family who migrated from Germany to England is brother Suhail Ahmad. Our heartfelt sympathies and prayers are with him, his cousin Aneesa, and his nephews and nieces on this very sad demise and departure of a very noble and kind lady. May the soul of our sister Louisa rest in peace and may Allah in His grace forgive her failings and grant her peace and comfort in the next life.
Brothers and Sisters, death is inevitable. This body of flesh created out of dust returns to dust. As the Bible says:
“For dust you are, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis, 3: 19).
When a Muslim receives news about some bereavement, he is enjoined in the Quran, to say:
اِنَّا لِلّٰہِ وَ اِنَّاۤ اِلَیۡہِ رٰجِعُوۡنَ ﴿۱۵۶﴾ؕ
“Surely we are from Allah, and to Him we must eventually return” (The Holy Quran, 2:156).
The Quran also says:
کُلُّ مَنۡ عَلَیۡہَا فَانٍ ۔ وَّ یَبۡقٰی وَجۡہُ رَبِّکَ
“Everyone on this earth passes, and there endures forever the person of thy Lord” (The Holy Quran, 55:26–27).
It says elsewhere:
اَیۡنَ مَا تَکُوۡنُوۡا یُدۡرِکۡکُّمُ الۡمَوۡتُ وَ لَوۡ کُنۡتُمۡ فِیۡ بُرُوۡجٍ مُّشَیَّدَۃٍ ؕ
“Wherever you are, death will over take you, though you are in towers, raised high” (The Holy Quran, 4:78).
Hundreds and thousands of people die every day in the world, but when someone who is near and dear to us dies, we feel the pang, and our hearts bleed at the departure of such a loved one. But when the soul of a person, with whom we had spent days and nights and shared so many happy moments, leaves the body, it has to be buried under heaps of earth. Time passes by and the warmth of the physical relationship starts to fade away, but the memory of that dear one lives in our hearts, and suddenly when we need words of sympathy, some sincere advice or cheerful company, memories of that dear and near one flash upon our minds, and tears trickle down from our eyes and we start recalling their kind words, caring gestures, warm company and sincere advice.
Brothers and Sisters, it is the departed person’s good deeds which remain a source of inspiration and strength for us; it is the soul that survives after the body of dust disappears. Triumph over death is indeed through righteousness. Prophet Jesus is quoted as having said:
“Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew, 26:41).
The Holy Bible says elsewhere:
“The truly righteous man attains life, but he who pursues evil goes to his death” (Proverbs 11:19).
The Holy Quran says:
اَلۡمَالُ وَ الۡبَنُوۡنَ زِیۡنَۃُ الۡحَیٰوۃِ الدُّنۡیَا ۚ وَ الۡبٰقِیٰتُ الصّٰلِحٰتُ خَیۡرٌ عِنۡدَ رَبِّکَ ثَوَابًا وَّ خَیۡرٌ اَمَلًا ﴿۴۶﴾
“Wealth and children are an adornment of life in this world; but the ever-abiding, the good works, are better with thy Lord in reward and better in hope” (The Holy Quran, 18:46).
May Allah enable us to follow the path of righteousness and earn His peace and blessings.