Lessons I’ve learned from my father..

Today marks the 19th anniversary of the passing of my late father, Salman Mohamed Al-Slaise. I was seven at the time and only remember bits and pieces of  that day. It was a Friday morning and it was raining heavily. I took a raincoat and boots and played in the puddles running and sliding on my stomach covering the raincoat full of mud.

I hung the coat outside the back entrance of the house by the kitchen and went back into the house. Not knowing what was going on, our neighbour Mrs Latifa, who was also my Arabic teacher in Awali school, took me and my younger brother Yousif to her house where we sat down and watched “al7o9on” on TV. We didn’t go to Friday Prayer and I kept wondering why.

Later that day, I was brought back home, my mother covered in black and my elder brothers clearly had been crying while we were away and we stood in line to console our mother on our loss, she hugged me tightly and wept.

I didn’t shed a tear.

As life changing an event it was, I never truly felt that I was missing a father nor a father figure. I remember one time in Awali School, we were asked to draw Father’s Day cards and I sobbed, Ms Mellor, our teacher at the time, felt very sorry and asked me to draw anything that made me happy. I went on to draw bumper cars in (the old) Adhari Park, remembering my birthday party there when my elder brother took me and my friends..

alhamdulillah I’ve been blessed with a mother who truly sacrificed her time and happiness to raise five boys and being their mother, father, uncles and aunts, confidant and friend all at once.

As I grew older, especially after I started working and attending my Uncle Ali’s Majlis every two weeks, I started to learn more about my father through his cousins, his work mates and even from people who’ve had brief encounters with him but left an everlasting impression on them.

I learned about his never dying love to his hometown Muharraq, to the point he would roll down the window just to smell its air as he crossed the old Sh. Hamad bridge..

I learned about his work ethic and how he worked hard from being a young teenage office boy, to studying in the UK and being a pioneer in the Health and Safety sector in the Gulf..

I learned how much a great public speaker he was, and has a conference room named after him somewhere in Iraq..

I learned how much he loved his country and countrymen as JFK’s infamous quote “Ask  not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country” was one of his favourites, and how he never saw people as Sunni or Shia, but all as countrymen and friends.

Most touching of all, I learned how much he was loved and respected simply by the way people’s faces light up and eyes sparkle whenever I mention I am his son. Every “Allah yiri7meh” I hear sounds sincere and full of yearning of meeting a much missed relative, friend and colleague.

One of the obvious lessons is that Life is short, and not taking care of your health only makes it shorter. I’ve taken the conscious decision never to smoke nor drink coffee (excessively) and watch my diet so that I can enjoy my life and stay longer with my loved ones.

I aspire to be like my father in his work ethic and positive attitude and influence in the lives of the people around him..

His name is carried on through his grandsons, three young beautiful Salmans, each born in different countries and different backgrounds.

I just want to wish you all a lovely day between friends and loved ones, and take a few moments to remember those who have passed may Allah have mercy on our souls inshalla