My friend, Hamid Ashkanani

The friend, the sheikh, the reciter, and the memorizer of the Qur’an, Hamid Ashkanani, passed away in 2016, and on that date, I wrote an article mourning him under the name "Sheikh Without a Turban", in which I talked about our good and cheerful moderate friend. I had met Bou Hussein—may Allah Almighty have mercy on him—during my studies at Syracuse University, and we had a common hobby, which was filming with 8 mm cameras. At that time, we shot several joint films. Of course, it was not like the films of the professionals, as it was all the laughter and jokes of young people in a foreign country, and it contained a lot of humor. Bou Hussein may Allah have mercy on him, with his innate creativity, pushed some of these films to the unexpected, as filming in the middle of the night in the cemetery next to our residence was his decision, and we followed him. Of course, on that date, we did not know what the legal consequences could be, but whenever I watch that film, I only laugh. I still keep many of those short films and share them with friends of that era without giving them copies of them, because that requires the approval of Bou Hussain as we were partners in making them, and this has been an agreement since that date. This period represented the enthusiasm of youth and amazing, irreplaceable days. Bou Hussain was one of the characters that cannot be forgotten, and we always find something to remind us of him, especially as he had a social and religious presence. Bou Hussain graduated before we did and joined the Ministry of Communications until his retirement, but he continued to work in the field that he loves, which is the Qur’an, so he memorized the honored Qur’an and was able to recite it well. At that time, he liked the method of Sheikh Mohammad Siddiq Al-Minshawi. Hamid Ashkanani studied at the Dar Al-Qur’an in Kuwait, and his name was mentioned among the certified sheikhs in the book "Fath Rabb Al-Bayt fi Zikr Mashaikh Al-Qur’an." He also founded Ramadan circles in Al-Naqi Mosque, and after that, he devoted Friday to teaching and reciting. Bou Hussain is a pure cleric and sheikh. He is an informant, not a theoretician, and his loss is irreparable. A few days ago, while I was trying to arrange some of my old papers, I found a letter dated 10/18/1978, sent from the late Hamid and addressed to me. I do not know how this letter remained closed among the papers and has not been opened since that date. It seems that I received it, put it inside a book, and forgot about it. It was really a strange feeling when I contemplated that letter, as if it had been sent to me from the past "through a time machine." I hesitated a lot to open it, but it was a message from our friend Hamid. It was really a strange feeling when I read that letter full of wit and humor. At that time, he asked me to book an apartment for him in the summer, and he mentioned to me the news of the Football League, which stopped until the end of December 1978 because the youth team travelled to Bangladesh to participate in the Asian Football Championship. That team beat Bangladesh 2-0. He said that the Kuwaiti national team is training in preparation for Thailand tournament, after which it will participate in the Gulf Cooperation Council tournament in Iraq. Then he continued with a report about our friends, each one separately, and where each one of them worked. He asked me to deliver his greetings to those who were still studying at that time, mentioning them by name. He also asked me what I wanted as a gift. Before concluding his letter, he told me of the weather, saying, "The weather is pleasant, but at night it is damp and there is a disturbing fog." He signed the letter with his thumbprint instead of his signature. Indeed, it was a strange feeling that I felt when I read that letter after 45 years, as if it were a letter sent yesterday, which brought back to me a really distinguished person. May Allah have mercy on you, my dear friend, and make you dwell in His spacious gardens. Your message has arrived, and you have conveyed your greetings to your friends and loved ones, albeit after a while!

Stay safe.