Maviyah Jigar, Our Princess Our Life:

Her Transition to the Afterlife: The Last Seven Weeks

Beautiful and in her prime, at the tender age of 18, there she was lying on a hospital gurney at Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), Srinagar. While the city outside the window was radiating a faint excitement of the short-lived green summer, the ER with its gloom made our hearts heavy seeing her in such a state. Surrounded by her mother and relatives at the ER, the duty doctor had finished examining her and was penning down some investigations. Monitors were displaying favourable numbers. She would be kept under observation till lab results would come after which further treatment would be given. Her mother felt a bit comforted on seeing her husband back to take care of their daughter Maviyah.

When she saw me arriving in the ER, her eyes brightened, and a faint smile creeped on her parched, dehydrated lips. Soon she was smiling, talking, feeling and looking fine with just some mild on and off headache, perturbed and upset by the manic buzz of the ER, and tuberculosis-suffering patients admitted close-by.

All the lab results came and were satisfactory, finally ending up with a CT Scan of her Brain at the end of the day. Apparently, it didn’t look as promising as it should have, and we went in search of the neurosurgeon who had a look and advised some medications to decrease brain oedema followed by an MRI Scan next morning.

“What is the update regarding my CT Scan, papa? Can I see the report?”, asked Maviyah to her father who is a physician as well. “It hasn’t been formally written but I was told there is some swelling in the brain which is the cause of these headaches and an MRI Scan has been ordered”, said her father pacifying her concerns. During the same night she had a bout of severe headache and vomiting but responded well enough to management.

The following morning, she had her breakfast and was like her old self again. The MRI Scan was done on priority basis with the help of her father’s friends who later on arranged a special room for her, close to the Intensive Care Unit where she stayed for the next 4 days. Neurosurgeons had a look at her Scan and were distressed to see a recurrence of Brain Tumour which they communicated to her father, further stating that this recurrence could not be surgically managed except with some palliation with radio or chemotherapy.

On hearing this devastating news from the neurosurgeons, her father felt as though the Earth underneath had slipped away from his feet. His head started spinning, refusing to accept this result for his daughter. It was a bolt from the blue for him as it wasn’t expected because she had been doing fine after her surgery 18 months back followed by radio and chemotherapy. He couldn’t discuss this finding openly with Maviyah or even with her mother, so he did what he first could conjure, with the heavy words of the neurosurgeon still resonating in his ears. He went to his daughter, not knowing what to do and say to her, and so he said, “the most beautiful moment in one’s entire life is when a person meets his/her creator, Allah.” This spontaneous topic came up as though it was the most important thing destined to be discussed and said out loud at that time. “Papa?”, she asked with a surprising twinkle in her eyes. “Yes, my Jigar (colloquial term for heart).” She was a girl of modern thinking who expected the most beautiful moment for one to be something that associates with this world, like achieving professional excellence one day.

But suddenly her eyes dimmed with sadness, and she enquired, “but papa, how will this moment be beautiful if we haven’t done good enough to be able to meet Him?” It was a genuine question from an enthusiastic student as she had always been. Her father replied, “my dear it is very easy to get close to Allah as a Muslim should always be prepared to meet his/her Lord.” Suddenly a nice explanation struck him, and he continued, “A person can take care of his past, present and future at one single point of time.” “how Papa?”, she asked curiously. “See my dear, one can ask forgiveness for past sins by repenting and reciting Istighfaar, for the present by doing good deeds and remembering Allah all the time, and for the future, by making fruitful plans to make one’s Allah happy, eventually opening the account of good deeds for the future.”

She was so happy to hear that and thought it was an easy task to accomplish. Her father encouraged and moved his head in affirmative. From then onwards she could be seen making dhikr on her fingers constantly, day in and day out.

Different groups of physicians kept on visiting her suggesting their probable diagnosis and trying to pacify the family. She was symptomatically getting better and insisting to go back home.

After five days of hospital stay and doing much better health-wise, she was discharged on some medications and left for her maternal grandpa’s place with her mother and a plan to wait till the day of her departure to Riyadh, the place she lived most of her life. After about 4 days post discharge, she left for Riyadh and reached her home place comfortably.

On 31st of August her parents arranged a small get together to celebrate Maviyah’s birthday at their place which included her Adil mamu’s and Mushtaq uncle’s family. She loved her cake that her papa had bought.

In those last few weeks, she would be undeterred, full of energy with positive thoughts, and always smiling yet thoughtful. She would regularly discuss with her papa and mama about her plans to go back to her school which she so much loved. She would keep revising her school stuff many a time whenever she felt comfortable.

For a young girl her age, her prayer schedule was close to perfection - all five prayers on time, as soon as adhaan was called. She would enjoy her ibadaat and keep supplicating for the whole family especially for the three of them.

Her night prayer (Tahajjud) would be exactly at 3:30 AM, whether any of her parents wake up on time or not, which would be followed by a very long sujood (prostration).

One day her father was passing by her while she was in sujood and entered the other room for his night prayers. He finished his prayers and stood up to go to Maviyah and surprisingly found her still in prostration. He was scared to death to see her in this position for such a long time. He exclaimed and touched her shoulders to see what was going on. On feeling the touch of her father, she stood up from the prostration and enquired why he was worried. Her father wondered if all was well with her.

One day after fajar prayers her father was talking to his family regarding the divine benefits of staying on the prayer mat after fajar prayer till sunrise followed by Ishraq (sunrise) prayer. As the hadith goes, this gesture will be rewarded by Allah (SWT) equivalent to a Maqbool Hajj and Umrah. She was so happy to hear that and from that day her father never saw her sleeping after fajar prayers till completion of Ishraq. One day her father after completing his prayers and azkaar saw her on the prayer mat and enquired as to why she didn’t sleep after praying her fajar prayers. She replied, “Papa I am waiting for Ishraq (sunrise prayer).” Her father cried and kissed her, begging her to take some rest as he knew that day she was not well and too weak to keep awake. But she replied, “No papa, I am fine, I can stay, I am feeling strong.” Her father knew she was just trying to fight it bravely, otherwise she was clearly tired. Such was her resolve.

Just after a few days after coming from Kashmir she developed severe headache along with bouts of vomiting while her father was just about to start my heart operation list. He quickly handed over his case to another colleague of mine and rushed to their villa. He found her struggling with her headache, quickly called the EMS and shifted her to the Emergency Room where her headache was temporarily managed, and a fresh CT scan of the brain was done. CT brain showed increase in the brain oedema and some uncal herniation which was a grave sign.

Neurosurgeons visited her and did some changes in her medications; steroid dose was increased, and she started feeling better again. We came back in the evening from the ER.

She started being herself again as if nothing had happened to her. she started developing food cravings too as it would routinely happen because of steroids. To avoid any weight gain she was following a calculated diet plan and was very particular about the calories she would consume on a daily basis. She was using a dedicated app on her phone to calculate what she would eat. She would keep discussing the number of calories taken in a particular meal with her parents who would gladly be a part of this religiously serious exercise, honestly 4-5 times a day.

We would routinely have our breakfast on the table that was set in the doorway where lots of natural light would come inside. Breakfast would be a different variety in the different days of the week. She would really enjoy having breakfast together with her parents and wouldn’t want any disturbance in it. Her parents would always be by her side ready for anything she asked without hesitating. She recounted multiple times how she was not able to do anything for them. Her parents would console her and advise her not to think in such a way as it was their duty to help her out. Sometimes she would tell mom, “See mama I would sometimes massage your feet but never my papa’s. I always took him for granted. I always discuss things with him but never any foot massage. I really regret it mama.” Her mom would try to console her and make her as comfortable as possible.

Although she had been always very close to her parents especially her mom, during these seven weeks