Rest in Peace, Tayyibah Taylor! Your loss is sorely felt.

Tayyibah Taylor - RIP

I'm so disturbed and overwhelmed to hear about Tayyibah Taylor's passing. I wish nothing more right now than that this were a hoax ... but I don't think it is. It's unbelievable. It's shocking. It's impossible. How can we be expected to accept her loss, and how are we supposed to deal with it? She was an incredible and influential role model to all, not just to Muslim women. I met her twice, (but I wish I'd been around her more) when I was interviewing her for a small project I was doing on Muslim women leaders in the area, and she, of course, was one of the top ones, and the things she shared with me were beautiful. She was such a positive, energetic, and spiritual person that being around her made you reflect on your own self for self-improvement purposes. And that, besides the infinite other things, is how you know her passing is a major loss to our community.


In July this year, I saw an image circulating on Facebook that was asking for support for her as she sought treatment for the cancer she'd been diagnosed with in April. I just ... I didn't think this would happen. How could someone as important, as beautiful, as kind as she leave us? May God give us all, especially her family and close friends, the strength to cope with this in a graceful manner. May God bless her with eternal peace, Jannatul Firdaus, and may all her sins be forgiven. Aameen. The things she did for the Muslim American community, from starting Azizah Magazine to providing for Muslim American women a platform to be heard more widely to mentoring anyone and everyone who knew her to simply existing, must surely aid in her entering Jannah. Not to mention, she was my rock during my late teen years and early 20s, when I needed inspiration most, and I know many who relied on her for that same inspiration. May God reward her for that, may none of her good deeds go unappreciated.

Rest in peace, Tayyibah, rest in peace.

I don't know what else to say ... I can't write about this ... people die all the time, and perhaps the most real thing in this world is death. Why do we still hurt so much when it comes to those who meant something to us? Why are none of us still prepared for it if it were to happen to ourselves or when it happens to those we love and need? Why don't we expect it just any moment, for whatever reason, even as we all shout loudly that "life is short"?

Inna lillahi wa inna ilaihi raaji'oon (To God we belong and to God we return). God help us all, God forgive us all...aameen.