In Memory of Mubashar Ahmad

By C. Naseer Ahmad
Washington, DC

On May 9th, 2025, he crossed the horizon of days,
Mubashar Ahmad, into light that has no shadow.
From Irvine’s shores, the finite closed,
And the infinite opened, where measures dissolve.

A man of faith, love, and grace—
Yet faith is not mere belief, but the courage
To walk where reason falters,
And love is not a feeling, but the shape of the soul’s labor.

As a civil engineer, he laid stone upon stone,
But the truest architecture he raised
Was in hearts—foundations of trust,
Bridges of kindness that will outlast steel.

At Bechtel, he labored with craft and care,
Then in Riverside, he poured his strength into the public good.
He was a quiet steward of the earth,
Guided not by applause, but by the compass of duty.

Born to Chaudhry Akbar Ali and Fazal Begum’s light in Kharian,
His roots drank deeply from ancestral soil.
Fazal Begum, touched by Zainab Bibi’s wisdom,
Passed on the Qur’an as one passes on fire—
Not to burn, but to illuminate.

A husband whose constancy was a prayer,
A father whose pride was not in achievement
But in the character of Kamran and Salman,
Standing by him as oaks stand by a river.

His siblings, his grandchildren, nieces, and nephews—
All carry embers of his presence.
For love, once given, does not diminish with death;
It widens, becoming a current in the unseen.

In his final days, he sought the House of God,
Completing Hajj as a soul completes its vow.
He returned with the dust of holy roads upon him,
And in that dust lay the seed of his rest.

Now we do not say he is gone—
Only that he has moved beyond the veil of sight.
In prayer, we keep the thread unbroken;
In memory, we keep the fire bright.

May his legacy—of love, light, and steadfast labor—
Be a lantern for our nights,
And a compass for our days.
Rest now, Mubashar,
In the embrace of the One whose grace
Has no horizon,
And whose welcome is forever.

(The late Mr Mubashar Ahmad was the brother-in-law of C. Naseer Ahmad and the elder brother of Dr Asif Mahmood of California)