Muhammad Zafar Iqbal, along with his younger brother cartoonist Ahsan Habib, was beside his mother Ayesha Foyez when she took her last breath at a hospital in Dhaka at 7:20am Saturday.
She had kidney infection and was admitted to the hospital in a critical condition early this month.
Their elder brother, prolific writer Humayun Ahmed, died in 2012 after a long battle with colon cancer.
Iqbal, also an author and computer science professor, recollected the painful struggle that followed after their policeman father Foyez Rahman Ahmed was killed by the Pakistan Army with the help of local collaborators during the war in 1971.
“It was she who struggled to provide us education… without her we would not have been where we are today,” the famed author told bdnews24.com after his mother’s first Namaz-e-Janaza was held at a Pallabi mosque at noon.
Ayesha has also left behind her daughters -Sufia Haider, Momtaz Shahid and Rukhsana Ahmed.
“We just cannot imagine how much she loved the people of this country. Please pray for her.”
Born on Mar 23, 1930 at Barhatta's Koitali village to Abul Hossain and Khairun Nesa, she was married to Foyezur Rahman Ahmed in 1944.
Ayesha was often referred as ‘Ratnagarbha’ – meaning a woman who has given birth to gems. Her sons have lovingly depicted her in their writings.
The 84 year-old matriarch has herself penned memories of her childhood, marriage, motherhood, the painful disappearance of her life partner during the war and their collective struggle that followed in the autobiography - ‘Jiban Je Rakam’.
Iqbal said she would be laid to rest at her parent’s home in Netrakona’s Mohanganj.
“She will be buried next to our grandmother at 10am tomorrow (Sunday). There will be another Janaza before it.”
