Reflections Of A Muslimah

Assalāmu ‘alaykum wa rahmatullāhi Wabarakath,

I realise sometimes we don't truly appreciate what we have and then these 'reminders' pop up from places you don't expect and then you realise, the blessings from Allah subhanna wa ta'ala.

When I'm going in the Car, sometimes I look at the labourers working in the hot sun while I'm cool and cozy in my air-conditioned car. They work hours and hours, sweating and hot for a meager wage. They go back to small bunkers and don't even have proper living conditions while I come home to a house, family, food, animals.

My problems seem so minuscule compared to those labourers. While I worry about my clothes, or my exams or because of a silly reason, which may seem so huge at that time, it is nothing compared to what the Iraqi Women have to go through. Especially those who have to resort to prostitution or sell their girls to get food in their stomachs. Or those Women and Girls who have been raped in Iraq and Afghanistan. The torture, the terror and the horror they have to face, similar to what Abeer Qassim Hamza faced when she was raped, killed and burned. I shudder to think about what her last moments had been like, the terror and the helpless fear she must have faced while they did that to her, subhan'Allah.


Then you have the Palestinians, the terror those people live in and have been living in for so long. The Children are taught since kindergarten how to avoid bullets in School, while I went through a fun and loving schooling. The psychological impact that must have on them is awful. And more than 4000 Palestinians children have been kidnapped, shot to death and imprisoned by Israeli soldiers. In the recent Gaza crisis they were starved to death and had no food or water, while I almost have two to three dishes at home to choose from. I even have a choice in food, while there are those who go hungry and ultimately die.

And, subhan'Allah, how can I forget my brothers' who are imprisoned in the prisons of the Kuffar, especially in Guantanamo Bay? Their torture and horror is indescribable. They are put in small cages, without seeing their families or Parents. They are tortured brutally, their beards shaved off. Some of them have died because of 'harsh interrogation tactics', and it makes me weep. Allahul Musta'an.

Sometimes we have arguments at home among siblings or the family, but who doesn't? At that time they seem to big, but there are families out there who have Fathers who abuse and torture their children, families who don't love each other, who don't eat together or talk among each other. That silly argument which everyone forgets with the passage of time is nothing.

At least I don't go hungry, or have to search in dustbins for pieces of food, like the poor street children of Egypt, Africa or Pakistan do. I have a cupboard full of clothes to choose from, while there are those who stitch and re-stitch garments again and again because they have no other clothes to look through.

I was speaking to someone who went through a divorce, at that time it was very hard. But, recently, we heard a case of a girl who is abused, physically and mentally by her husband and subhan'allah, the divorce this someone I know went through seemed so trivial, because her husband was respectful and so were were his Parents when she was going through that divorce. But this girl we heard about, is beaten and kicked by husband, but she wont ask for a divorce because she has children.

Our lord has blessed us with so much, that no matter how much we try to thank Allah we will never be able to do so.

Sometimes we go through situations which to us, may seem extremely huge and tough, but in reality, they would be nothing compared to some other people around the World.