In 2018, my good friend Sarah lost her husband, Ahmed, in a car accident.
By Author Mariam Hussein
At the time of the crash, she and her husband lived in the same house as my husband and me but in separate apartments.
Ahmed’s death occurred on the second day of the month of Ramadhan.
It happened on the main highway between Jeddah and Rabigh (170 km), Saudi Arabia, a 2-hour drive.
Ahmed frequently travelled to Rabigh for his job and was a passenger, sitting in the back of the car with another colleague.
No one saw how the accident happened, but the high speed impact caused Ahmed to fly out of the back window resulting in his death.
That day, I received a call from my father to tell me about the crash and that this young man had died at the crash site.
My first thought was his wife, Sarah, and I ran upstairs to her apartment.
The sound of her tormented cries still haunts me.
At that time, Sarah‘s son was one year old, and she was also three months pregnant!
I hugged her and cried and cried and cried.
I felt powerless to do anything and just froze and had no idea what to say or how to react.
I was at a loss about how to console her.
Soon, family and friends arrived at Sarah‘s house, and everyone started to cry, wail, and howl, mourning Ahmed’s passing.
The sound of despair was deafening, and I could not bear it any more.
So, I ran home, made ablution (Wudhu), and prayed two prayers (Rakah), finished, and I began to cry and wail as well.
I was desperately sad and called out to Allah (SWT) to comfort Sarah, her young child, and her unborn baby.
That day, I sobbed and cried, stunned that Ahmed had passed away.
I have never shed so many tears as I did that day.
It still causes me pain and upset today.
Three years later, Sarah still had not remarried because she felt very concerned that if she did, she would not be able to reunite with Ahmed in the afterlife.
Knowing this, I prayed (dua) for her constantly.
She has two small children and is still young at 28 years of age. I sincerely believe she should pick up her life again with another husband.
So, in late 2022, I learned that she had remarried. Sarah told me that moving on had been very difficult for her.
She made me promise not to raise the issue of marriage with her. So I complied. For her sake, I kept praying in secret. Alhamdulillah, it eased my heart to know she had settled down once more.
After Sarah remarried, I researched whether a widow could reunite with her deceased husband in the afterlife.
Some scholars say a woman can only have one husband in heaven (Jannah). He would be her last husband before her death.
Other scholars maintain that a woman will reunite with the husband that treated her the best.
However, I believe that women choose to remain widows after the death of their husbands for other reasons.
Unlike men, it is not easy for women to move on because they are emotional and find it hard to make such lifestyle changes.