Remembering Sh Shukri al-Luhafi (رحمه الله)

Sh. Shukri al-Luhafi, one of most noted scholars of Damascus, just passed away. Something to remember by someone who preferred to be anonymous:

“I remember trying so hard to meet him during a day in Damascus back in 2010. One of his aides and students was kind enough to take me to his home – but he was with his family in another part of the city, and I coudn’t see him before I left Damascus.

This student doted on Sh. Shukri a great deal, Sh. Shukri being very advanced in age and weak. The student helped him a lot in his old age, and thus had a key to his home – he decided when we went to his home, he ought to just check to see that all was well in the flat.

The student found some ants, and was worried that there was some kind of infestation. So, that evening, then and there, we removed everything from his flat, cleaned the place from top to bottom, and then replaced everything back inside it.

That entire exercise took probably an hour, if that. Because the place where Sh. Shukri lived was probably no larger than 5 by 3 metres. If that. Including a shower, a toilet and a ‘kitchen’. It was one of the simplest abodes I’d ever seen in my life; the very bare necessities.

When he’s described as the ‘pole of humility’, I know that’s not an underestimation, because I saw how he lived. Most of us have bathrooms that are larger than the entire abode of Sh. Shukri.

I didn’t get to see him that day. I was disappointed, until his aide told me,’How fortunate were you, that you were able to do him this khidma (service).’

God’s mercy be upon his soul.”

Amein.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.