Hajiya Rakiya : A comforter goes home

This is what Hajiya Rakiya Isa Abubakar (nee) Gambo was to many people who in one way or the other crossed her path. A dedicated wife who was very submissive and obedient to her husband, who not only knows her responsibility as a wife but has taken the definition of a wife to another level.
According to her husband, Alhaji Abubakar Isa,   “she was a wife who not only knows her duty as wife but also a sister who performed her role to her brother. She was a very caring and loving wife, who I cannot quantify her gentleness and kindness not to me alone, but to all members of my extended family. She will be the first person to remind me of my responsibility as a brother to my family by constantly advising me to do certain things to which are my responsibility to do.
“We have a cook in my house, but Rakiya is the one who prepared my food always reminding people that she is a wife to me, so my food should be cooked by her.
“I cannot quantify the amount of help she has rendered to me in times of need. I cannot also   quantify how many times she has cautioned me to be    careful when planning issues. She was such an organized person that she was always at peace with herself and those around her. Our home is such a Mecca of sort as different people from different walks of life visit because she is a person who accommodates all. Rakiya is such a wonderful giver who always shares what she has with others sometimes to her own disadvantage.
“A good mother and a wonderful home maker to me and her children – Baba Isa, Zainab, Abdulrahman, Hamza and the baby of the house Mansoor – but all these came to an end on   March 12,  2015 when she was called by her creator whom she served with all her heart, her nights prayers were ceaseless and consistent. That was the wife I will miss for the rest of my life. I will miss her care, her love and dedication to me, her children and members of our respective extended families. She has   left a vacuum in our lives that we have to bear till we meet in the hereafter. Because getting a wife like her would be difficult, I have decided to dedicate the rest of my life to the care of our children.”
Her children paid glowing tribute to their departed mother as  they described her as the strength of life, the rock of the family, their gentle heart beat,   joy to her husband and support and love of her friends.
They said their mother is in a better place now, but   wish she was still here. They said she was persistent  in providing for them as a mother. “No farewell words were spoken, no time to say goodbye you were gone before we knew it, I wish we could have said goodbye and  given one big hug before you left  and only God knows why. Our heart still aches in sadness and secret tears still flow. What it meant to lose you, no one will ever know,” the first child  Baba Isah said, adding that “It is hard to accept the death of a loved one; especially when you didn’t have the opportunity to say goodbye; particularly when the deceased was taken so suddenly and so shockingly at the prime of life. The grief and pain can be unbearable; you never really know what it’s like until you are there yourself, but you look up to The Creator because He is the Only One Who can comfort you.”
As a friend of my family, I would feel the pain of her death. This was a woman I together with my wife visited about a week before her   demise, where in her usual kindness handed   two brand new wrapper materials to my wife and some perfume to us.
The text message I read of Hajiya Rakiya’s death after my Subhi (Dawn) prayers came to me as a shock. This was a woman who was full of life, jovial, lovable and gentle. She escorted us to the gate of her house not knowing that, it would be the last time we would see her. She was full of advice to my wife on family matters and how to relate well with the larger family. A woman per excellence. May Allah grant her soul eternal rest in Aljannah Firdaus and give the husband, the children and we other family members the fortitude to bear this monumental loss. Ameen.
Ya Allah, bless us her children she left behind with good health, prosperity and a happy life.  Ya Allah, we beseech You by Your Beautiful Names and the secret of Your Divine Power Grant her Aljannah Firdaus. Ya Allah forgive her shortcomings. Ya Allah, be merciful to the soul of Hajiya Rakiya Gambo Bashir and all our dead ones and grant them Jannatul Firdaus. Aameen!
Na-iddo wrote   from  Gwarinpa, Abuja ([email protected] <mail to: [email protected]>;