“You don’t get over it, you just get through it. You don’t get by it, because you can’t get around it.
It doesn’t get better it just gets different. Everyday… Grief puts on a new face…

I met Rami at the Wharton Global Alumni Forum in Dubai in 2009 and just now found out that he has passed away. Although our introduction was brief, I remember his good humor and polite nature. He impressed me as a true gentleman and someone who made others feel comfortable simply by his presence and manners. I will say a prayer for him and extend my sincere condolences to his friends and family.

We ll not forget you always in our hearts

(( اللهم اغفر له وارحمه, وعافه واعف عنه, وأكرم نزله ووسع مدخله, واغسله بالماء والثلج والبرد, ونقه من الخطايا كما ينقى الثوب الأبيض من الدنس, وأبدله داراً خيراً من داره, وأهلاً خيراً من أهله, وزوجاً خيراً من زوجه, وأدخله الجنة وأعذه من عذاب القبر ومن عذاب النار ))

Each weekday morning for two years I registered Rami’s form (4T then 5T) and on most of those days I also taught the class English. This amount of contact time, especially at the formative age of 15/16 years, gave us all a strong connection and the sense of being a family unit. They were a boisterous bunch, as you’d imagine, full of vitality and a sense of fun (as well, of course, of intellectual curiosity) and this spirit is captured in a photograph of the form which I took on our last day together. In my last email to Rami, just weeks before his sudden passing, I attached a copy of this photo as a nostalgic memento of happy days some 20 years ago. His reply was a single word, ‘Amazing!’

As a Dulwich school boy, Rami embodied many of the qualities which were so apparent when I had the good fortune to meet up with him by chance many years after he’d left school; modesty and charm, courtesy and wit and above all a sense of ‘still waters running deep’. My chance encounter with Rami around ten years ago was in a street in Beirut; I caught a glimpse of him as his car drove off from outside my hotel and I managed to contact him through another former Dulwich pupil whose family were showing me the city. We met up and drank mint tea, and I was struck by the warmth of his welcome and the wisdom beyond his years which seemed to lie within. I remember the beads which he held, and moved, as we spoke and I recall that, beyond the anecdotes which we shared, a sense emerged of his personal vision.

We kept in touch, exchanging emails from time to time, and we next met in Dubai. Rami spoke with great passion of a leadership programme with which he was involved and of the developments which he’d been able to make in the family business he was now heading up. We also compared notes on our daughters, who are of a similar age, and looked forward to them having the chance to get to know each other. I still hope, one day, they will. As I checked out of the hotel at the end of my stay I was informed that the bill had been taken care of – Rami’s generosity was, true to his style, deftly and discreetly managed.

The photograph which I sent to Rami now forms part of his website, another piece in a jigsaw which, little by little, is coming together to form the portrait of a great man; a credit to his old school, his family and his people.

I am born on March 7th 1977.

Today i was surfing for a suitable job offer in FPI website and noticed Mr. Rami’s individual website.

I dont know something touched my heart, since i a born on the same year as Mr. Rami and we are of the same age.

Its very upsetting to know that he passed away in this young age.

Maybe God has called Mr. Rami to be with him to do more achievements and wonders as he had done on earth.

SS.Raj – Chennai, India.

May his Soul Rest in peace w allah yer7amou ya rab.

وَبَشِّرِ الصَّابِرِينَ الَّذِينَ إِذَا أَصَابَتْهُم مُّصِيبَةٌ قَالُواْ إِنَّا لِلّهِ وَإِنَّـا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعونَ أُولَـئِكَ عَلَيْهِمْ صَلَوَاتٌ مِّن رَّبِّهِمْ وَرَحْمَةٌ وَأُولَـئِكَ هُمُ الْمُهْتَدُونَ

Although I had never met Hajj Rami in person, I feel I knew him for long now after walking though each and every word written about him. His departure is an enormous loss not only to his family and friends but to all human-kind. I cannot find the suitable words to express my great sorrow but I think after looking into his daughters’ eyes … he is still there .. each one is carrying part of him (الله يحميهم ويبارك فيهم). Please accept my sincere condolence may almighty Allah rest his soul in peace in shaa Allah.

وجاء في حديث أبي موسى الأشعري رضي الله عنه أن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم قال:(إذا مات ولد العبد، قال الله عز وجل لملائكته: “أقبضتم ولد عبدي؟” فيقولون: نعم؛ فيقول وهو أعلم: “أقبضتم ثمرة فؤاده؟” فيقولون: نعم.فيقول:”ماذا قال عبدي؟” فيقولون: حمدك واسترجع، فيقول الله عز وجل: “ابنوا لعبدي بيتاً في الجنة وسمّوه بيت الحمد”

{إِنَّا لِلّهِ وَإِنَّـا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعونَ}

How to begin writing you a message when I know you only through the closest people you had in life… I have thought and though and rethought how to put into words the overcoming emotions I feel from everyone’s life that you were part of. You have made such an impact on so many people that I feel cheated of never having been able to meet you. How can someone who is spoken of so highly have been taken so young…some things I will never understand.

I get to see a part of you every day through your beautiful daughters and family: a smile, a memory, a picture, a story. One always feels compassion for others that lose a beloved person but once you actually integrate their lives, it all of a sudden hits you. I have been totally taken back by emotions of what you have left and there are times when it is too much.

I can only hope to be able to ease May, Yasmeena and Nour through this difficult time in any little way I can. I needed to write to you, to tell you that I try and make them smile every day, to make them look ahead, to keep their heads up high and to give them overbearing attention, love and care.

Rami, you were so kind, so humble, always a nice word to everyone! We all miss you!

أخي الحاج رامي ، ما بقى فينا نقول لك ميلاد سعيد ، بس سنقول السّلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته ، أنا طارق بادي صديق عمّك محمّد ، وعندما رافقناك إلى مثواك الأخير كانت الأحزان قد حزّت قلوبنا ، والله يا أخي رأيت بأنّ كلّ من شارك في توديعك كان صادقا في مشاعره ، لكنّ الشخص الوحيد الذي كان خارج المشاعر هو والدك فؤاد ، لأنه لم يكن يدري ما قد أصابك ولم يكن مستعدا لهذا الحدث ، والكلّ يعلم بأنّ أبو رامي مؤمن بالله وبقضائه وقدره ، لكنّ المفاجأة صعقته فألغته ثمّ أعادته .
فؤاد ومي أنت من جعلهما أبو رامي وأمّ رامي لكنّ رحيلك عنهما لم يبقي لهما إلاّ الإسم وذكراك ، لا بل وحرقة القلب ، الكلّ قد ينسى ويستعيد ذكراك، لكنّ فؤاد وميّ لن ينسوا كي يستعيدو ، ولطالما إجتمع هذان الشخصان لإفراحك، وها هما مجتمعان أيضا لإفراحك في غيابك ،فإذا بهما يهدونك كلّ يوم هديّة وهي رضاهم عليك الذّي هو من رضاء الله ، فلا تسألنا يا رامي عن هديانا إلاّ إذا كانت سورة من القرآن الكريم مهداة لروحك .
أخي رامي
رحمك الله وجعل مثواك الجنّة ، وجمعنا وإياك باليوم الآخر مع أوليائه الصالحين ، وإنّا على فراقك لمحزونون .
السّلام عليك يا أخي .

When someone you love becomes a memory, the memory becomes a treasure. RIP