The Passing of our Teachers

November 3, 2026

Bismi Llāhir Raḥmānir Raḥīm Meaning: ‘In the name of Allāh, the Most Merciful, the Especially Merciful’. Allāh is the name of God Almighty.

Prof. Dr. MA Islam sir returned to Allāh subḥanahu taʿālā today at 05 AM UTC. May Allāh enshroud him in peace, mercy and blessings, and grant him the highest Paradise with His Beloved Messenger, ṣalla Llāhu ʿalaihi wa sallam. He is the second of my direct teachers in university to pass away. In fact, he passed away just three days after the second anniversary of the passing of the first, Marḥūm Prof. Dr. MQ Islam sirProf. Dr. MQ Islam was a Professor Emeritus of my department at my alma mater. He passed away on 21 January 2024.. There are some surprising similarities between the two despite the clear difference in age, field of research, etc. I have not yet typed up my thoughts and memories of the first, whom I love and respect immensely, not intentionally but due to the toll of daily life commitments - which I regret. And it is this regret that has driven me to type this up quickly todayBecause our thoughts and memories are like leaves on a tree, which wither away with time and are replaced with newer ones yet….

Dr. MA Islam sir was the Head of my department when I was a newcomer to it. Everyone will remember sir as a tasteful and careful man, always dressed and groomed neatly. Everyone will remember his distinctive voice. Everyone will remember his light-hearted humour, often laced with sarcasmI must confess that it was difficult for obtuse persons such as myself to catch onto it quickly. Sir spoke articulately and his voice had a charm and a melody to it. I remember being impressed by this even as a first-year student and I still remember the last time sir spoke to me when he enquired about my employment status and such. He encouraged me to be active and learn new things (such as cooking). While passing by the corridor and the veranda between his office room (in one wing) and the departmental office (in the other wing): when sir recognised familiar faces, he would stop to ask graduating students and graduates about their endeavours and to encourage them in it (witnessed personally). I still remember the time sir stopped by my group’s stand at the Project Show for a sessional (in the first semester of the third undergraduate year). He was kind enough ask us a few questions and taught us the right terms to use when answering such questions. I am still benefiting from sir’s lessons on Heat Transfer in the class and in the lab (taught in that same term), Alḥamduli Llāhi taʿālā. He loved the nice structure of the worked examples in Dr. Yunus Çengel’s work on Heat TransferKnown, Find, Schematic Diagram, Assumptions, Laws, Properties, Analysis, Commentary (KFS ALPAC, as I like to put it for use as a memory aid). It may be easier to simplify this down to Known, Schematic Diagram, Find, Assumptions, Analysis and Commentary – in which the laws and properties are just used on the go in the analysis. To be fair, I actually came to benefit from it through Prof. Dr. MQ Islam sir’s way of teaching/training us to present our working (by working out problems on the whiteboard). A similar approach can also be found in Fox and McDonald’s book on Fluid Mechanics., which was a requirement for his assignments. Sir also placed great importance on mentioning the units of a quantity after the numerical value. Furthermore, sir always prefixed the names of his lecture presentation files with the date in YY-MM-DD format with no delimiting so that the files are in sequence when we view those in the file manager on our devices. He was also distinguished in his veneration for justice in that he expressed disdain for strongmen who abuse their ‘muscle power’ to have things their way. The last course I had with him was in the second semester of my fourth undergraduate year on a topic of critical importance to the human civilisation of today – Power Plant Engineering – in which I learnt a lot about Thermal, Nuclear and Hydroelectric Power Plants, its safety and environmental impacts. I believe that sir put his level-best effort into his lessons – so as to impart his carefulness in engineering to us. It may not have been easy for me to maintain those standards then as a student but, Alḥamdu liLlāhi taʿālā, I am now reaping the benefits of his tutelage and am eternally grateful for it. May Allāh subḥanahu wa taʿālā reward him with the best of rewards for his efforts. ʾÃmīn.

I am not privy to the details of sir’s personal life but sir would travel between our country and Canada because sir’s immediate family members resided in Canada – which I heard from my classmates during my undergraduate. If I’m not mistaken, sir would remain at our university for one academic term and then at Canada for a similar amount of time because sir was also a guest/visiting faculty at a Canadian university. This shows sir’s love and dedication to his family as well as his profession and his sacrifice for his students. I also remember seeing him regularly at the departmental muṣallaMeaning: Prayer Space during the congregation for the obligatory prayersThis is after I enrolled in the Master’s program since the space did not exist during my time as a Bachelor’s student. – excluding the past few weeks (little did I know why). In fact, the last time I met sir was just at the entrance of that space (little did I know that it would be the last). I did not learn from sir only in the classrooms and labs but also in the muṣalla – as I saw him practising the Prophetic tradition of reciting the Ayat al-Kursi (Verse of the Throne) upon himself after the obligatory prayer and passing his hands over himself seeking protection with Allāh taʿālā.

I recall hearing that sir suffered from cardiac diseaseAs I rediscovered (yes, I’m sure) later, sir was probably the only professor to have a negative blood group (A-) in my department at my alma mater. This can be verified from from the list of the blood groups of the faculty members on the department’s website. I also vaguely recall sir asking about blood groups in the classroom back when he was one of our course teachers, mentioning how it may be necessary for operations and whatnot at times. I am sure my illustrious classmates will be able to corroborate this and even recount their memory of it.. Also, I heard today that he fell sick from a stroke on the 25th of December the past year. Presumably, it was this ailment that led sir to the ultimate destination for all living beings in this realm, in the early hours today. He was hospitalised at the time of his demise (in BSH). I was too late in learning of sir’s demise. So late that I could not even attend the JanazahMeaning: Funeral prayer at the university field because it was half-an-hour away from me with only ten to fifteen minutes remainingHe was buried in his ancestral home area in a district which has a name starting with T - which I learnt from the staff of my department. Bāraka Llāhu Fīhum.. I learned of his ailment after his passing! How I wish now that someone would have let me know that sir was absent from the department and why so, as I attended my Master’s classes regularly… How I wish that someone would have called me earlier in the day and let me know what had happened! I was so engrossed in my preparation for an exam that I had forgotten to go online and check my messages because someone had sent the message hours before I had learnt of the event. I supplicated for my deceased family members yesterday, with the rest of my family at home, and now I’m doing the same for my teacher today. Such is the life of man.

All of my regrets are for naught. It is time to supplicate to God. May Allāh taʿālā bless all of our teachers and allow us to benefit from their teachings and to propagate it in the best way feasible. Bāraka Llāhu Fīhum. Ṣalla Llāhu ʿalā Muḥammad ṣalla Llāhu ʿalaihi wa sallam. ʾÃmīn bi raḥmatika Yā Arḥamar-Rāḥimīn.

Note: This article was originally written on 24 January 2026. It was edited afterwards.