Good bye my friend Cikgu Yusof Ali

On the third of may I lost my friend Cikgu Yusof who passed away in the aftenoon on my day off after three months or so of non stop coughing. His departure was a great loss to me as I have become very close to him as a friend and a mentor. He has seen me through many difficult times and through his compassion has delivered me from many a despairing moment since I setteld down in Penang. Cikgu was a character in his own right with a great sense of humor and a sharp tounge when it comes to defending his thoughts and ideas against those who are skeptics. He was a scholar and may be considered even a teu Sufi adept if not a teacher for most of his life he has been a spiritual seeker and travled to many places in search for answers to the myteries of the Lord of Creation. He introduced me to the path towards the Lord of Power through long discussions often taking us into the wee mornings hours. He introduced me to books that I would not have studied had I not met him books of great Sufi Masters such as Ibni Arabi and Sheikh Kadir Al Jilani and today's contemporary Islamic writer Ahmed Hulusi.
All his life Cikgu has been a school teacher among other odd jobs that he had mentioned, but it is as a school teacher that the community here will remember him and a s an incorigible social critic when the need arise. I had traveled with him all over the State of Kedah sometimes in the middle of the night just visiting friends or getting a massage. Meeting another spiritual seeker or simply enjoying the best Tom Yam soup in the Northern states of Malaysia. Wherever we went he was well respected by those who knows him and people seek his advice which he freely offers over matters they cannot find solutions to.
Well here's to you me good friend and brother I hope your find what you have been seeking after all your life and how i wish you could let me in on the secret sometime whatever it is that you have discovered on the other side of the veil. May you find the crossing of the Sirat'l Mustaqin an easy breeze and may the Lord of Truth receive you to be among his favourites for you in your own ways have surely deserved it. I will miss you.