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 “Khuda ke liye chor do ap ye parda” - Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan I was standing in a beachside resort just off the coast of the Bay of Bengal overcome with grief at what I was witnessing: scores of lovely Koi fish packed tightly in a decorative fountain.  The overcrowding of fish in any aquatic space breaks my heart, but this particular fountain was not only stuffed but also incredibly shallow.  The Koi fish however (as Koi do) did not seem distressed. Instead they paced gracefully from one end of the enclosure to the other, not aware that even half an inch less of water would seal their fates forever. In Islam we believe there are seventy-thousand veils between us and God, but there is only one between us and death. I’ve often thought about how easily the veil of death can slip and cause us to tumble forward into our enternal realities. The veil looms over us but we cannot physically see it, and, like the koi we swim unaware of the half inch that separates is from this life and the next.