The Federation of Islamic Medical Associations (FIMA), nay the Islamic world, has today lost a scholar of distinction, a pioneer, a pathfinder in the science of Islamic psychological medicine, a world authority on mental health, a researcher in the Islamization of psychology and a prolific thinker and writer.
But to many of us in FIMA and the Islamic Medical Association of Malaysia (IMAM), he was just a guy whom we simply loved being around. He was the father to many us who have los theirs. He was the story-teller, who relived the lives of the Prophet (SAW), his companions and those who strived on His path.
I especially enjoyed his first hand accounts of the righteous leadership of al-marhum Imam Hassan al-Banna (RA). There was one particular narration when the Muslim brothers were trapped in their quest to escape the British army and they were directed out of their quandary by the “karamah and telepathy” of Imam Hassan al-Banna (RA).
It reminded me of the incident when Umar ibn Al-Khattab (RA) was delivering the Friday Khutbah in Medina, and suddenly he called loudly: “Behold, Sarya Al-Gabal mountain, who made the wolf to take care of the sheep was an injustice.”
Sarya one of the Muslim army leaders in the conquest of Persia in 23H, verified that he heard a caller shouting: “Behold, Sarya Ibn Zonaim the mountain” so he climbed the mountain with his soldiers and within an hour Allah (SWT) granted them victory.
Our father’s passion for Islamic work was simply inspirational. In his younger days in Kuwait, his concern for the leadership of the Muslim ummah, drove him to hop into a Volkswagen Beetle and undertook the treacherous overland route all the way to Pakistan to meet the Amir (leader) of the Jamaati Islami, Mawlana Sayyid Abul A’la Maududi (RA).
I was most privileged to share a room with him in Lahore when we attended the Pakistan Islamic Medical Association (PIMA) and FIMA International Conference in 2002.
He personally gave me a guided tour of the previous domicile of al-marhum Maududi (RA), where he wrote and printed his Tafheem al-Quran (The Meaning of the Quran) and his kubr (burial ground).
The PIMA brothers gave each of us a complete set of the latest edition of the Tafheem al-Quran, a gift unprecedented to me because Maududi (RA) was our mentor and guide during our student days in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s.
We also had the rare opportunity to meet al-marhum Mian Tufail Mohammed, then deputy Amir of the Jamaati Islami, who was then past 90 years old.
His love for Maududi led him to write “A tribute to Mawlana Mawdudi from an autobiographical point of view” which was published in 2003.
The Islamic state of Pakistan always had a special place in his heart. He was first at the PIMA conference in Quetta in 1994, and I again joined for him his third trip in Lahore in 2016.
But his first love has always been his home country, the Sudan. He and his distinguished family has contributed unceasingly to the promotion of education, academia, counseling and psychological services, particularly to the fairer gender in the Sudan.
He forfeited the opportunity to be a Malaysian citizen, because that meant losing his Sudanese passport.
I am very sure, his colleagues in the sub-specialty of psychological would be able to sing his praises in his chosen field, but to us in FIMA and IMAM he was simply the fun father figure who had so many jokes to share and whose attention to detail and suspense in his story telling was simply spell bounding.
I remember him dropping into Damansara Specialist Hospital (Malaysia) for a pain bugging his lower spine. Our neurosurgeon, Dr Zurin organized an MRI of his spine and gave him a clean bill of health. Myself, Zurin and our former health minister Dr Dzul, spent the next hour or so in the neurosurgical clinic, mesmerized by his tazkirah (reminders) in an impromptu and spontaneous usrah (study Circle)!
Al-marhum Sheikh Dr Aly Mishal (RA), a dear friend of our father, always enquired of him and reminded me to drop in to see him. My wife, Mimi and I would frequent to his home in Sg Pusu. We would then drive him to meet our dear friends in the Muslim Professionals Forum (MPF), Viva Palestine Malaysia (VPM) and the refugees in Kuala Lumpur among others.
Sister Azra, our MPF and Carefugees co-founder, wrote: “The last I saw him was when Musa brought him to give the Sudanese refugees a pep talk about unity, what a lovely man, so gentle, so kind”
There is so much to tell, so much to share but suffice to say that he has touched the hearts and minds of all those who knew him. We will all miss him so very, very much. There is so much emptiness in our hearts today and so can you imagine the loneliness of his wife, children and loved ones. May Allah bless them with patience and perseverance in these moments of sadness.
May Allah make us his true sons and daughters by carrying on his unfinished business, upholding the pristine message of Iman, Islam and Ihsan, and continuing his medical and humanitarian legacy. This is the only panacea and syifaa’ to our wounded hearts and souls at the loss of our father.
As my prayer for my beloved parents, brother, relatives and all Muslims who have left us, on behalf of my colleagues in FIMA and IMAM, we beseech Allah:
O Allah! Our father al-marhum Sheikh Prof Malik Badri has led a truly blessed life in Your service, and in the service of Your Deen,
O Allah! Accept all our father’s deeds as Amal Saleh and bless him bountifully,
O Allah! Reward our father with Your Highest Gardens of Paradise in Jannatul Firdaus,
O Allah! Bless his beloved wife, children, relatives and friends with patience and forbearance upon their great loss.
“O reassured soul!
Return to Your Lord, well pleased and pleasing
And enter among my righteous servants
And enter My Paradise”
[Al-Quran Al-Fajr 27-30)
Your son and student,
Musa Mohd Nordin
Chairman, FIMA Advisory Council
Past-President IMAM
9 Feb 2021 / 27 Jamadilakhir 1442
