How would you feel if you were suddenly all alone, you had lost your entire family, you were stranded in a foreign land with no way of going back home, even to mourn?

Well this is the true story of a tsunami victim. His name is Syed Mubarak Akbar. He was raised in a house surrounded by coconut trees in a small village on the shores of the Indian Ocean. His village constituted 2,000 inhabitants that were mostly fishermen. His mother was a teacher and his father was the imam of the local masjid.

From early childhood, Syed’s dad had insisted on raising him according to Islamic teachings. Syed was enrolled in an Islamic kindergarten, and from there onwards, he received full Islamic schooling. Akbar was the eldest of five sons. His was a close-knit family with strong Islamic values. He remembers an incident when he was young and was spanked because he was naughty while he was performing his prayers.

In secondary school, his dream was to join Azhar University in Cairo. Fortunately enough, he was given a scholarship and he traveled to Egypt in 2,000. Living in Egypt, he became accustomed to the new culture and traditions; although one of the things he still misses is eating fish! Fish is the main dish in Indonesia, but in Egypt you have to turn into a carnivore or grain consumer!

Akbar has not been home for four years. He could not afford it. Tickets to the Far East are expensive, and he is barely able to live on his meager scholarship money. In truth, his father had to send him money regularly in order to provide his daily requirements.

On the night of the tsunami, Akbar was in contact with his father through mobile text messages, as his father was supposed to travel the next day to get treatment abroad. Then abruptly they stopped—no messages were sent, no responses were received. Akbar didn't feel alarmed; expecting the service to be malfunctioning.

Next day, an Indonesian friend broke the news of the disaster. An earthquake of 8.9 on the Richter scale had jolted the Indian Ocean bed and resulted in a series of huge waves. The height of each tsunami wave can reach up to ten meters and can cover up to one kilometer inland. Panic overwhelmed Syed! His whole family was at risk. They lived directly by the ocean. The only source of news about the tsunami was through the Internet. He made every effort to contact his father, but regrettably to no avail. Finally, he decided to call his uncle in Jakarta. This is when he found out the bad news. All his family, which consisted of 40 members, had died and his village was wiped out! His only surviving family members were his uncle and his youngest brother. The only building left standing in his village was the local mosque. Syed’s brother had escaped the tsunami because he was away at the time in an Islamic boarding school.

Shock, disbelief, and helplessness hit him hard. At times, he thought he was going insane. He even feared he would start taking drugs to help him overcome the shock. Syed considered the idea of going back home, but the lack of money and the hopelessness of finding survivors overruled the decision. Gradually, with the help of friends, and much praying to Allah, he gained courage and strength. His friends, for instance, would never leave him alone for long enough to brood over the loss. They supported him and always gave words of wisdom and verses of the Qur’an to give him patience and emotional strength. He would pray to Allah for hours and ask His assistance to conquer the feelings of loss and weakness.

[Allah tasketh not a soul beyond its scope.] (Al-Baqarah 2:286)

Eventually, he came to this conclusion: Allah is Great, and there is always a hidden wisdom behind each catastrophe. He began to think sensibly about his brother, as well as his own immediate future. The tragedy had made him think more practically and maturely.

On contacting his uncle again, Akbar found the solution to his dilemma. He did not have to quit college and get a job. With Allah’s mercy, his uncle agreed to support Syed fully until he finished university. He could take on the responsibility of his younger brother after attaining his degree. All he has to do now is to focus on his studies and finish university.

One day he will go back to Aceh to help in the rebuilding and raise his own family. Maybe, he will even be the imam of that lonely mosque standing in his village.