Two women who shared the same hospital ward with my wife have died.
One died today and we attended her funeral this evening.
She was a young girl who delivered her second child that was stillborn. After the birth, she took ill and her blood kept on burning out. It burnt out as soon as it was replaced.
Today, she gave up the ghost and, incidentally, she was buried in the same cemetery as my mother and elder sister were buried.
I nearly broke down when their graves were pointed out to me. I had been unable to visit the cemetery because they were buried while I was on my way from Sokoto to Katsina when they died.
The second woman died on the day she and my wife were operated upon.
She bled to death after a fibroid was surgically removed from her abdomen. Several doctors couldn't stop the bleeding. She was immediately taken back to the operation theatre, but before anything could be done, she had given up the ghost.
These two incidents, more than anything else, shook me to my marrow. They made me realise that it was only by Allah's grace that my wife survived.
And they bring to the fore how transient this life is. They also underscore the futility of the desire to acquire worldly possessions such as wealth and power which humans struggle to acquire.
May Allah have mercy on us and the dead.