Assalamu Alaikum, I'm writing this email over the skies of Dubai with a heavy heart and eyes full of tears, on the way to the UK for what would have been a reunion with one of the best people I ever knew. Yet, Qadr Allah, 4 hours after booking my flight I got a message to inform me that he had returned to the One he spent most of his life serving and to the One who loves him more than I. Even before I stepped foot on the plane, he was being buried. The one who was always there for me whenever I needed him, I could not even fulfill his right of me reading janazah for him... and that is a regret I will live with for the rest of my life until we are inshaAllah once again reunited in a better place.
Tehseen Khan, the Ummah has lost a giant. Wallahi what he has done for dawah not only in the UK, but the world, is nothing short of remarkable. Be it with projects he was directly involved in: Little Explorers, IslamBradford or AlKauthar or via people Allah (swt) inspired through him, for example, his best friend who has traveled the world and initiated or been involved in projects literally affecting millions of people. And this is just 1 of many many people he inspired. Yet, not many people know him because he was always the one in the background, the worker, the one afraid of fame.
He faced his toughest battle around 9 months a go when he was admitted to hospital with severe headaches, tests showed it was a tumor and emergency life saving surgery was carried out. He then went through a further 4/5 operations on his brain. But through all this, in the words of sheikh Sajid: Through his dying, he taught us how to live. Not once did he moan or complain. On the contrary, on his way to the scan, all he was heard doing was making dhikr, reciting the Qur'an and reading the shahadah. After his operation, when he finally got some movement in his arms, he heard his brother reciting the shahada and lifted his shahada finger to testify. He was more concerned about the people that came to see him than he was about his own situation. People who'd never met him before, went to see him once and were instantly touched.
He never stopped giving naseeha, he never stopped giving dawah, to the extent that he would even give dawah to the nurses and patients around him. His story and his struggle touched thousands around the world.
As they say, Allah tests those whom He loves, and for 9 months he went through tests and trials most of us cannot even imagine. And so it was that after 9 long months, Allah (swt) took back His slave. However, he leaves behind projects and people who will inshaAllah continue to benefit millions for years to come and thus in turn benefiting him.
To me personally, he was a dear friend, my elder brother, a selfless individual and somebody extremely dear... I'm not sure whether I'll ever come across another Tehseen Khan in this life.
But the question I end with, and this is something I always ask myself, what are WE going to leave behind? This phenomenal individual touched the hearts and minds of countless people, what have me and you done? When we depart, what are WE going to leave behind?
Please take out a few seconds to make dua for him and his family, especially his wife and young kids he leaves behind.
Ina Lilahi Wa Ina Ilaihi Rajioon
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