Saudi father’s emotional message to school on son’s death goes viral

NT Bureau

DOHA: A Saudi father’s response to a school which warned him about his son’s long absence and ‘disappearance’ from the school has gone viral in Saudi Arabia and the region.

“I inform you that my son has disappeared from the entire world,” an emotional father said, referring to his son’s death. He shared his letter with the social media which soon picked it up.

According to Saudi media, a secondary school in the Qena Center, west of Asir, had notified the guardian of his son’s absence from school, stressing that he must bring an official reply so that the grades of the student, due to the absence, will not be affected.

The father responded to the message: “The honourable Director of Hakim Bin Hizam Secondary School in Qena, the distinguished faculty members of the school… a kind greeting filled with love and respect. I inform you that my son and beloved student, Muhammad Abd al-Rahman Ahmad, has left the entire world, and has joined the Supreme Lord, the Most Merciful of the Merciful.”

The father added, in his letter that was widely shared: “How I wished he was sleeping on his bed so that I could wake him up and force him to go to school as I used to do, and I, like you, still see him alive. May God pardon him and us, and admit him to the highest paradise. If you downgrade his grades due to his absence, then raise his degrees in the hereafter with your sincere supplications, and do not forget that he is still my son and your son, even if he has departed from us.”

He added: “I know that your message was in error, but it stirred my grief and sadness for him, so I found some advice to you… Give my greetings to his friends and teachers, to his chair and table, greet on my behalf to the walls of his school and the corners of his place, and accept his excuse and shortcomings, and do not forget him in your sincere prayers. And ask forgiveness from all his friends and teachers, and may God gather us with him in a seat of truth.”

Then he attached the name of his son, writing: “Guardian of the deceased Muhammad Abd al-Rahman Ahmad.”

The student Muhammad died in a traffic accident on the 18th of Ramadan, at the age of 17.