PETALING JAYA (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Raja Zarith Sofiah Sultan Idris has penned a touching letter to her son Tunku Abdul Jalil Sultan Ibrahim, who died of cancer on Saturday (Dec 5).

In the letter, the Permaisuri of Johor said that she had a thousand and one memories of the Tunku Laksamana Johor's last days.

"I remember, once, you closed your eyes and tears flowed onto your cheeks, as you fought the pain, and I held your left hand and I wept, trying hard not to make any sounds.

"I thought you could not see me cry because your eyes were closed but you knew, and you put your right hand over mine and you patted it, as if you were saying, 'Don't cry, I am all right'," she said in the letter that was uploaded on Facebook on Tuesday (Dec 8).

Raja Zarith said she remembered all the text messages Tunku Jalil sent her, including one where he said he had asked Allah to let him bear the burden of her worries.

She also said that Allah placed Tunku Jalil in the hospital so that his family would spend as much time with him as possible.

Raja Zarith said that when she looked at his grave, her heart ached.

"I watched your father and your brothers fill it up with earth while Boo and Inah stood near me. I looked at your brothers and counted three sons. Boo was beside me.

"There are five of you. Where was my fifth son? And then I realised it was you who was missing. I had forgotten you were beneath the mounds of earth.

"And I held up my hands and whispered 'From You we come, and to You we return. I return to You, O Allah, my son.' May you be with the righteous, my son," she wrote.