65 days after his death, Nizamabad man buried in Madinah; poor family struggles to stay afloat

Chand's decomposed body was found a week after his death, when someone noticed bad odour from an agriculture farm.

Jeddah: The death in the Prophet’s city, Madinah is a dream for many Muslims and the burial is done as early as possible as per religious values. However, the tragic death of Shaikh Chand turned out to be different.

Chand’s decomposed body was found a week after his death, when someone noticed bad odour from an agriculture farm. With the legal process taking time, Chand was buried on November 29, a full 65 days after his death in August.

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39-year-old Chand, a native of Mallaram village near Nizamabad town had landed in the holy city of Madinah on August 13 to work as a cleaning labourer with a municipal maintenance company. According to his relatives, he had struggled to mop up Rs.1.5 lakh to pay agents to get the job. However, his decomposed body was found dead just two weeks later, on August 25.

Back home, unaware of what had happened to him, his family, comprising his aged parents, his wife Jameela, a 12-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son, were waiting for his phone call. Since he was new to Saudi Arabia, they patiently waited. Patience turned into worry and anxiety as weeks passed by. And by then, Jameela got a call, informing her that Chand was found dead in a date farm. Being an illiterate, she was not aware of what to do and the family began running from the proverbial pillar to post. All this while living a tiny single room house.

Help finally came when they were approached by social worker Mohammed Faruq, who hails from Nizamabad and lives in Jeddah. It was after this that the process for Chand’s last rites were initiated, and Chand was finally buried in Madinah on Tuesday, 65 days after his death. An Indian community worker in Madinah, Jamal, also helped in the burial process.
Jameela can be reached on 917659906482 on PhonePe.