Chapter

20

THE
HEART OF FAITH

By Skye Edrees

“Those who faithfully observe their trusts and covenants

and who (strictly) guard their prayers—
these will be the heirs,
who will inherit Paradise:
they will dwell therein (forever).”
HOLY QURAN 23:8-11

♦ 

I WAS BORN TO AN AMERICAN MUSLIM FAMILY

on October 9, 1962. My father accepted ISLAM during one of his visits to
Saudi Arabia as visiting diplomat in 1962. Every year thereafter he visited
the Kaba and made his Hajj. My father owed his notably accomplished
professional success to his devote faith in the new religion he had embraced
with all his heart. Never doubting, never questioning and ever faithful, he
believed all his good fortune came from his living a Muslim life. He married
good and was blessed with two beautiful children. During one of his visits
overseas he became acquainted with a Muslim family of good standing in
Cairo, Egypt. The head of this family became my father's best friend and
was transferred to the United States Government where he still works with
my father. It has been a long-term friendship with his youngest daughter,
myself, marrying his son Sami on Mother's Day 17 years ago. My husband
Sami was killed in a terrorist bombing, June 21, 1996. I have so many
memories, so much laughter, so many tears, I could write a book. My
husband was my King. This story is about faith. Where and when does
faith begin? Who has the most faith? Who is the most devote in ISLAM?

♦ 

CAIRO, EGYPT HAS BEEN MY HOME FOR FIVE WONDERFUL YEARS.

All my friends and some family are here. My husband is a doctor of
computer science and works in the region. He is a very well respected man
in the community and in his religious faith, ISLAM. I am his American wife,
also raised in ISLAM, and was married to my husband in an arranged
agreement between my father and my husband's father. They have been
best friends for years.

I have only kindness and good words for everyone, even if I don't like
you, I'll never let you know. I am very polite and have never raised my
voice in anger. I love to cook and raise my children, a boy of 3 and a girl of
4. I love children and take great joy in my family.

I was very happy that my husband's father and mother came to live
with us, for three months out of every year. The rest of the time they stay at
the homes of my husband’s other brothers and sisters. My husband's
mother told me, she likes to stay with us best because my husband is her
oldest son and I do not try to impress her with our riches but make her feel
comfortable and loved. She is a wonderful woman.

We go everywhere together. Like the day we went to the Woman's

Islamic Society. I can't believe that my name came up for the election of
madam president for the Islamic society. This is a great honor and coveted
by all. The person elected will represent the society at all religious and
political functions and will get to socialize with President Sadat and his
wife. My mother-in-law, Sallawa, was impressed. She was happy that all of
her children had become professional doctors, lawyers and teachers, like
myself. I am a professor at a local university. I teach Criminal Psychology
and two classes outside of the university at a private Muslim school—
Criminal Psychology and English as a Second Language. I love my work. My
husband comes home to Cairo, only one week out of every month so I am
grateful for the friendship of Sallawa. She is great company and knows so
much about life in Egypt. We do everything together.

Fawaha is a beautiful woman who has been the secretary of the

Woman's Islamic Society for the last nine years. She tells all women who
will listen how talented she is and how this year she will become madam
president. I am surprised to say the least. I hardly ever see her and her
family at the mosque on Fridays. Our family usually go to the mosque with
our neighbors.

Today Fawaha is being unusually nasty about appropriate dress and

deportment of Muslim women and she always looks directly at me? Why?
Ok, so I dress in the western clothes but I am covered and I am well
dressed in sophisticated clothing. I do not reveal myself, nor do I prance
around to get attention. Fawaha is covered from her head to her toe, as
prescribed by the QUR’AN. I feel that this does not make her holier nor a
more devote daughter of ISLAMany more than I am. But every day we see
each other she has to talk into my face and condemn me for my dress and
habits. I am not trying to be Egyptian, I am an American Muslim woman
living in Egypt. I feel a person should be honest and should not pretend to
be something they are not. On and off for the last three years I have known
her. She talks down to me as if I am a servant, dirt, not good enough to be
in the company of the righteous Women’s Islamic Society.

So against my better judgment and that of my mother-in laws', I had

had enough. I told Fawaha that at least I attend mosque regularly and my
children are best in their grades at school and that my three year old son
can at least pray by himself. Fawaha's son, Hamid, cannot do that. That if
she would stay home sometime with her three children instead of letting
her husband do all the cooking and babysitting while she runs around Cairo,
she too would have a good life. I am not trying to impress anyone with my
dress and I give 100% to my family and they know where I go. It took me
three years to get up the courage to quietly tell her this.

Fawaha already hated me. She said it was because I was foreign. Then
she said it was because my family was rich. Then this year it was because of
the way I dress and because I am a happy womansomething she is not. I
told her to pray to ALLAH for insight to how she can become happy and to
read her QUR’AN. Of course she could not help but explode in my face with
name calling, screaming and throwing dust at me. So I just walked away
with my mother-in-law. We could not believe she would demonstrate what
everyone already knewthat Fawaha was having a problem. We just didn't
know what.

Well, that night I had several things to do. The first was to send some
sweet bakery bakalava to Fawaha's house and apologize for being so
opinionated and verbal. How she runs her life is no business of mine. The
second thing was to hurry and get dressed for a special dinner at the Shoot
Club in Giza. It is a romantic, beautiful place, overlooking the Nile River in
the moonlight with my wonderful husband. I was dressed in a royal blue
Channel suit with a white collar, small blue hat and matching handbag and
shoes. Our driver drove me and we sat in the car until my husband arrived.
I had some paperwork from the university to complete in the meantime.
Jamal, our driver, interrupted my work asking if a car looked familiar? Yes,
it looked like a neighbor's car, but I couldn't be sure whose it was? I had
seen it around the neighborhood several times. When the man got out and
went around to help the lady out, I thought she looked familiar, but I
couldn't be sure. She was dressed in a western style evening gown, off the
shoulder, very elegant. What a beautiful woman. Something about her.

Oh well, by then my husband came and we went in to eat. The Shoot

Club has the most delicious fish dinners. We were so happy enjoying
conversation with our friends and the night was so beautifuleverything
was perfect. In the background of the restaurant's noises, someone was
talking very loud. It sounded like someone I knew. I thought I would look,
you know just take a peek on my way to the bathroom. The voice got more
shrill and loud. I looked from behind a palm and I could not believe my
eyes. There sitting next to a strange man, not her husband, was Fawaha.
The great one, the religious one, the perfect one? I could not believe my
eyes. I went to the bathroom. On the way back to my table, I looked again.
Yes, it was her.

The rest of the night, I thought about what had happened. I have never
thought about cheating on my husband. I do not even let anyone (friend,
brothers, or repairmen) in the home when my husband is not home. I
would never be disloyal to the man I am married to. I told my mother-in-
law what I saw. She could not believe it either. Maybe I was mistaken.
You know in criminal justice (the subject I teach) the criminal always gets
caught eventually. Usually, (1) Someone sees you, (2) You always repeat
the same crime, because you got away with it for so long, and (3) You
always leave some kind of evidence. I saw Fawaha again that week at the
Woman's Islamic Society. Again, she was covered from head to toe. She was
preaching about how women in the United States were ruining the women
of ISLAM? I could not help but to questionif a woman is secure in ISLAM,
how could she consider not portraying herself, in actions and deeds,
befitting a Muslim woman? A woman would not stray because she would
not even think about betraying her beliefs, right? I saw it coming. Fawaha,
wanted an argument. This time she came down from the podium and got
right in my face. She told me to shut up that I was nothing but a stupid
foreigner, in a very shrill, loud voice, exactly like the woman at the
restaurant. I made instant recognition. I knew! It was her! And that was
not her husband or family member she was with that night. I couldn't wait
to tell Sallawa. She wouldn't believe it.

The next week was the election for the society's president. Everyone
was anxious to see who would win. It was down to two entries, Fawaha
and myself. That afternoon my mother-in-law had planned a small party of
women to enjoy a small lunch in the park. She wanted to invite everyone,
even Fawaha, but Sallawa didn't see her to invite her.

What a beautiful day. Swans on the lake. Children in the paddle boats,
laughing and playing. All my friends were here and we were having a great
time. I saw a man having lunch alone at a small table. Yes, it was Fawaha's
husband. We told the waiter to ask him to come over to our table. We asked
him where Fawaha was, if she was ill? No, he told us she had gone to the
doctors and his sister had showed up at their house and offered to let him
get away for a little rest in the park. He was a very nice man and dedicated
to his family. Fawaha's husband works very hard as a design engineer. So
while we were talking to him, he looks over across the lake and excuses
himself. We all thought we had said something wrong or maybe he thought
we were being nosey. We watched him as he made his way around the lake
to a table under the trees.

What happened next could only be seen in the movies I'm sure.
Fawaha's very shy, quiet husband, grabbed a lady in western dress by the
arm, and threw her in the lake and then walked off. Everyone was rushing
to look. I too was guilty of curiosity. I went with my friends to look. It was
a very muddy, wet Fawaha. A strange man was helping her out of the lake.
Fawaha had on a very tight, short suit, with very high heels. She was
dressed like a low class western woman the kind she is always preaching
about. And, who was this man?

We all gathered around the couple and questions flew fast and hot. All
of us women just could not believe it was Fawaha. The man turned out to
be a businessman from Lybia who also was married with 4 children. He told
us he had met Fawaha at an American style night club near the pyramids.
He thought she was a prostitute.

The next week at the Women’s Islamic Society meeting I won the
election. Fawaha never came back and her house was closed. They moved
away. I find it hard to trust people who present one face to you and act
another way to someone else. My first speech as Madam President of the
Women’s Islamic Society was: “The QUR’AN is a Modern/Ancient Book For
All Time” with emphasis on the code of dress. That it is important that a
woman is respectful in dress as well as manner, benefiting her family and
station in life as a good Muslim woman. She must honor her husband, family
and self. The issue is what is in the heart. You are Muslim in faith, in your
heart, as well as in your dress. Above all, ALLAH.

“O ye Children of Adam!
We have bestowed raiment upon you to cover your shame,
as well as to be an adornment to you.
But the raiment of righteousnessthat is the best.
Such are among the Signs of ALLAH,
that they may receive admonition!”
HOLY QUR’AN 7:26

Chapter
14
WHY
I AM MUSLIM NOW

Abdul-Kareem Al-Aadami By Muhammad

“For ALLAH,
He is my Lord and your Lord,
so worship ye Him:
this is the Straight Way.”
HOLY QUR’AN 43:64
♦ 

ONE ASPECT OF ISLAM THAT I LOVE

is that it is not a compartmentalized religion: if you are a Muslim, you have
to strive to be a Muslim 24 hours a day, seven days a week in what you say,
do and think. ISLAM is not something secondary in life, but primary and
central to the believers, the only reason for living.

“We have indeed created man in the best of molds,

then do We abase him (to be) the lowest of the low—
except such as believe and do righteous deeds:
for they shall have a reward unfailing.”
HOLY QURAN 95:4-6

I have found in ISLAM a certain optimism I lovemankind is not doomed to

be “terrible sinners”. ALLAH has created us so that we are able with His
help to make ISLAM the reason behind almost all of our actions. The
examples of Muhammad, Jesus, Abraham, Moses, and the rest of the
Prophets (peace be upon them all), are sufficient to demonstrate this.
 “Truly man is to his Lord, ungrateful;
and to that (fact) He bears witness (By his deeds).”
HOLY QURAN 100:6-7

Mankind on a whole may be ungrateful, but with the examples Muslims have
of Muhammad (may the blessings and peace of ALLAH be upon him):
praying at night until his feet cracked, suffering the indignities and insults
of some of the Makkans, rejecting the Makkans’ offer of worldly items for
him to stop preaching ISLAMMuslims have the best example.

“Ye have indeed in the Messenger of ALLAH

a beautiful pattern (of conduct)
for any one whose hope is in ALLAH and the Final Day,
and who engages much in the praise of ALLAH.”
HOLY QURAN 33:21

ISLAM is about bearing witness that there is no God except ALLAH alone in
all of your actions and stopping bearing witness against yourself by your
deeds that you are ungrateful to your Creator.

I made Shahada (if I recall correctly since dates are of little importance)
in March of 1996, but I made Shahada today as I do every day. Except today
the only witnesses are ALLAH and some of the Angels to my Salat (prayer).
Each day, as my experience and knowledge of ISLAM grows I find that my
appreciation of what:

“La illaha illALLAH, Muhammadur rasulALLAH.”

“There is no God but ALLAH

Muhammad is the Messenger of ALLAH.”

means increases. Today as I am writing this, my first Ramadan has begun,

this being the first day. May ALLAH forgive me, but today I also damaged
the exterior of my parent’s car accidentally. This was my first test of
Ramadan since I had to, of course, tell them the truth, however painful that
was. Another of aspect of ISLAM which I am fond of is the ability in such
situations to be able to keep life in perspective.

“‘. . . To ALLAH we belong, and to Him is our return’”

HOLY QURAN 2:156

Lose a job, wreck a car, get a “B” in physics, the ultimate reality is that all
of those are insignificant in comparison to how we try to serve ALLAH in our
lives. We must always know that
is the highest knowledge.

On the Sunday when I made my Shahada I would have to say that the
most overwhelming emotion I had was nervousness. Whenever I have a
completely new and different experience I feel this way, even though I
rationally know that in all likelihood everything is going to inshaALLAH work
out fine. I made my Shahada in front of a class being taught about the
QUR’AN and in front of a Muslim from my school. I remember asking two
questions to the shayk teaching the class before saying Shahada. One of
them was about why Muslims have to eat only halal meat, because I did not
understand why the animal had to have ALLAH’S name pronounced on it at
slaughterthis was a question which I had been wondering about the whole
14 months previous that I had been studying ISLAM. The other question
was about free will and predestination in ISLAM. As far as the free will and
predestination question, right now I resolve not to give myself a headache,
ALLAH knows the reality of that situation, and I cannot change the laws of
the Universe either way even if I did know how it functioned. Right now, I
see it more that ALLAH has power over all things, but if He delegates some
authority to human beings he still has power over their authorityif He did
not want them to make decisions He could make it so, and thus in this He
really has power over all they do. The keyword is “over”. ALLAH’S authority
supersedes any we might have. ALLAH knows best.

When I made my Shahada I would have to admit that it was not too
emotional for me. I accepted ISLAM based more on reason rather than
emotion, for I had studied it by getting several books from the library,
reading the QUR’AN, and lots of Hadith. When I accepted ISLAM my
attitude was more like the following: “La ilaha ilALLAH, E=mc2, George
Washington was the first President of the United States, and Tokyo is the
capital of Japan.” To me it was another fact, another knowledge gained. Of
course, at that time I realized that “La ilaha ilALLAH” was by far the most
important piece of knowledge, but ALLAH knows that for me I am usually
stoic in personality. Once in a while there being something which causes
me to go emotional extremes, e.g. if I am angry I am furious, if I am happy
I am completely overjoyed, etc. It was when I am a witness at other
Muslims’ Shahada(s) that I actually feel the emotional aspect to what it
means to know la ilaha ilALLAH.

As a general rule, it seems to me that some of those who have the most
emotional Shahada(s) are those who have messed up the most in the
previous part of their lives. Shahada is a time of repentance and
forgiveness from ALLAH. When I made Shahada I do not recall having too
heavy of a conscience, which might partially explain my attitude towards it
(ALLAH best knows if I should have had a heavy conscience for how I had
sinned). In many ways I admire those Muslims the most, who in their non-
Muslim lives had lived the farthest away from ISLAM. When they know that
which is in direct antithesis to ISLAM from direct experience, it seems to
make them appreciate the guidance of ALLAH a lot more. It causes them to
be even more grateful. The stories I hear about people from many different
walks of life embracing ISLAMan 86 year old grandmother, a 17 year old
with a troubled history, prison inmates, former atheists, Muslims who came
to the U.S. and went apostate but came back to the ummah, athletes,
writers, former
Nation of ISLAM members. This is some of what puts into me heartfelt
devotion to ISLAM, and the feeling that ALLAH can put light into my heart as
well as into the hearts of all who seek reality.

From ISLAM I have learned that God can easily judge between the
differing parties: those who claim that what they believe is the truthfor
God being the Truth is the best Knower of Truth, the best Judge of those
who claim to know some of truth.

“Or do they say, ‘He is possessed’?

Nay, he (Muhammad) has brought them the Truth,
but most of them hate the Truth.
If the Truth had been in accord with their desires,
truly the heavens and the earth,
and all beings therein would have been in ruin Nay.
We have sent them their admonition,
but they turn away from their admonition”
HOLY QUR’AN 23:70-71

I have read books critical of ISLAM, visited world wide web pages claiming
problems with ISLAM. In the ones I have read, I have found that they can
take things out of context, play translation gymnastics, or do not know
enough about ISLAM to realize that there is information which demolishes
their claims. Even reading the morning newspaper I can find
misinformation about ISLAM (e.g. that it says in the QUR’AN not to shave
one's beardwhen in actually it is in ahadith). When I was learning about
ISLAM I looked at what people were saying about ISLAM in the media, and
what my acquaintances were saying about it. Then I read from the QUR’AN
and Ahadith, both sufficiently explained to me the psychology of why people
were acting in such a manner and sufficiently refuted their claimsat least
to me. If people had to misinform about a religion, it was in my thoughts
that perhaps they had to do so in order to prevent people from actually
giving a true glance at it, in fear that perhaps they would embrace it.

Some of the main attributes of ISLAM which caused and cause me to

see it as truth, have to do with the descriptions of embryology and other
scientific phenomenon in the QUR’AN, the Shari'ah, and the many
statements in the QUR’AN and Hadith which seem a little too rational to be
coming from some illiterate in seventh century Arabialike I had been
taught at school. When I was first reading the QUR’AN one of the
statements which particularly hit me was as follows:

“It is not their meat (of the sacrificed animals)

nor their blood, that reaches ALLAH:
it is your piety that reaches Him:
He has thus made them subject to you,
that ye may glorify ALLAH for His guidance to you:
and proclaim the Good News to all who do good.”
HOLY QUR’AN 22:37.

If the QUR’AN was from any other than ALLAH I would not expect such
a statement since the religion of Arabia, if it was like many pagan religions,
might believe that their gods could be sustained by meat and blood. I had
trouble thinking it could be a concept from the Jews of Arabia since when I
read the Pentateuch I do not recall reading a single statement in regards to
animal sacrifice which says something to that effect. Since many non-
Muslims have tried to argue that the Pilgrimage merely comes from what
the pagans did, I did and do not see why they think that the influence would
not be greater and come into effect in all areas of ISLAM such as sacrifice
(i.e. why does it not say that ALLAH drinks the blood, and devours the
meat?). They were discredited in my eyes since they seemed to ignore the
aspect of ISLAM which minimizes the importance of rituals, which are what
I would guess would be the integral part of the pre-Islamic pagan religion.

“To ALLAH belong the East and the West:

whithersoever ye turn,
there is ALLAH’S Countenance.
For ALLAH is All-Embracing, All-Knowing.”
HOLY QUR’AN 2:115

When I read a little about Zoroastrianism and other religions I began to

identify with the Muslim idea that some religions throughout history have
been in a constant battle with monotheism versus polytheism. Many times
the polytheist religion destroying the previous order, e.g. Paganism
destroyed the monotheistic order that Ishmael (peace be upon him) had set
up in Arabia with his father (peace be upon him) and enveloped some of the
monotheist rituals in relation to the Kaba. When I started reading the Bible
in regards to how the Israelite prophets worshipped, ISLAM being a
continuation of the religion of the Israelite prophets, rather than a different
tradition, became apparent (e.g., Exodus 40:31-32, Genesis 17:3, Exodus
3:5, etc.). The story about Abraham (peace be upon him) almost sacrificing
his son, and the Muslim view that it was Ishmael (peace be upon him) who
was to be sacrificed, was something which also convinced me that ISLAM
was right in certain matters where the Bible was contradictory, i.e. “take
thine only son...,” when Abraham's only son at that time was Ishmael
(peace be upon him) who could have been sacrificed.

Another aspect of ISLAM that I saw as wonderful was how it dealt with
issues like racism:

“O mankind!
We created you from a single (pair)
of a male and a female,
and made you into nations and tribes,
that ye may know each other
(Not that ye may despise each other).
Verily the most honoured of you in the sight of ALLAH
is (he who is) the most righteous of you.
And ALLAH has full knowledge
and is well-acquainted (with all things).
HOLY QUR’AN 49:13

Also:

“All mankind is from Adam and Eve,

 an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab
nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab;
also a white has no superiority over black
nor a black has any superiority over white
except by piety and good action.”

The Last Sermon of Prophet Muhammad

(May the peace and blessings of ALLAH be upon him).

(See Appendix)

I guess one could say that from an early age I was very prejudiced
against prejudice. I recall that even when I was eight years old I couldn't
stand it if someone mentioned a person and said in connotation with them
something like, “that black kid” I wondered why any one even has to
mention what the color of someone's skin was at all. When I heard adults
mention the color of someone's skin, or heard on television someone doing
the same I was annoyedI thought it was stupid.

“Thanks to spectacular advances in molecular biology and genetics,

most scientists now reject the concept of race as a valid way to
divide
human beings into separate groups.”

“Biologists Reject Notion of Race,” The Denver Post,

October 20, 1996, Page 37A.

The Prophet (may the peace and blessings of ALLAH be upon him) knew
that the only division between people was between those with piety and
those without—something I think that I knew from before my reversion to
ISLAM. It was another evidence for ISLAM in my view, since it was really
only human beings who could invent divisions based on race, not God.

Chapter
19
VEILING UNVEILED MY VISION

By Majida Amat’Al-Quddus

“O ye who believe!
Give your response to ALLAH and His Messenger,
when He calleth you to that which will give you life;

And know that ALLAH cometh in between a man and his heart,
and that it is He to Whom ye shall be gathered.”

HOLY QUR’AN 8:24

 ♦ 

I HAVE WORN NIQAB AND HIJAB

for 14 of the 15 years I have been Muslim and I pray ALLAH continues
opening my heart to its blessings. I consider myself no better, nor less than
my Muslim sisters. Though there seems much controversy about this
matter, InshaALLAH we are all striving to attain jennah and we must
embrace the commands ALLAH has specifically inspired us to do. His
Guidance must be acknowledged with obedience.

My Guidance to hijab and niqab came shortly after becoming Muslim. I

was so excited and happy to find the “Truth” after searching most of my
life, all of my childhood and most of my adult lifethat the light of ISLAM
found me humbly appreciative and thirsty for more.

Upon opening ALLAH'S Most HOLY QUR’AN, one of the first ayah’s I
was drawn to:

“And say to the Believing women

that they should lower their gaze and
guard their modesty;
that they should not display their
beauty and ornaments except what appear thereof;
that they should draw their veils over their bosoms
and not display their beauty except to their husbands,
their fathers, their husbands' fathers, their sons,
their husbands' sons, their brothers or their brothers' sons,
or their sisters' sons, or their women,
or the slaves whom their right hands possess,
or male servants free of physical needs, or small children
who have no sense of the shame of sex;
and that they should not strike their feet
in order to draw attention to their hidden ornaments.
And O ye Believers!
Turn ye all together towards ALLAH,
that ye may attain Bliss.”

HOLY QUR’AN 24:31

Then ALLAH would bring me back, notably, again and again to that
particular ayah using various avenues of Guidance that were undeniably so.
Then 33:59 reinforced 24:31:

“O Prophet!
Tell Thy wives and daughters, and the Believing women,
that they should cast their outer garments over their persons:
that is most convenient,
that they should be known and not molested.
 And ALLAH is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.”
HOLY QUR’AN 33:59

And so the seed was planted and I made the change to hijab knowing full
well ALLAH had made these ayats “real” in my heart and I wanted to be
obedient in every way.

For me, wearing niqab marked my entrance into a much closer

relationship with our Lord. ALLAH certainly knows best and the command
to hijab and veil was made very clear to me. I knew I must submit and in
the submission free myself of any fears I had of any form of rejection.
Acceptance by ALLAH through obedience was my only aim and with ALLAH
on my sidewhom else do I need?

I was and am so grateful to ALLAH for His Guidance and felt that this
so-called “sacrifice” was little payment in return for finding the truth that is
ISLAM. Little did I knowthis “sacrifice” was an immense blessing, the
benefits of which I cannot begin to innumerate. So little by little I began to
see the wisdom of ALLAH'S commands to cover.

Initially I received the taunts and tests that accompany first hijab, then
veiling. It was not easy, but it did make me focus more and more on ALLAH.
The more I focused, the stronger I became, Alhamdulillah. At one point I
felt a weariness at dispelling the ignorance to ALLAH, Subhanahu wa
ta’ala’s, Most HOLY QUR’AN. It was then I made du'ah to ALLAH: “Ya,
ALLAH. Please help people understand ISLAM so that others may share its
joy and so that we will not be so abused and taunted.” That was about the
time “Malcolm X” the movie was made. Alhamdulillah. The atmosphere
changed from one of complete misunderstanding to an acceptable tolerance,
if not respect for ISLAMonly by the Grace of ALLAH.

A true transformation was also taking place inside of me. I had always
felt the reaction to my appearance must only be the surface of what ALLAH
intends when He says: “. . . draw your veils over your bosoms. . . .” So I
prayed that ALLAH would help me see the true beauty of hijab and niqab.
From that point of prayer on I could see ALLAH'S help in relation to my
“purdah” in day to day activities. I was opening myself more and more to
ALLAH'S Guidance and He, Mercifully, was showing me the way. I then
realized that there must have been an element of me that was fighting this
“purdah” if I was not seeing the real beauty of it. I finally surrendered
myself completely.

This is when ALLAH opened my eyes more to the peacefully spiritual

nature of hijab and niqab. Without hijab and niqabthere are no barriers
between me and the physical world and my attention, therefore is diverted
to the physical and cannot be as well focused on serving ALLAH. With hijab
and niqabbecause there is less accessibility to the outside world, I can
choose to be in constant prayer/communication with our Creator,
inshaALLAH, and therefore more accessible to His Guidance.

When ALLAH speaks to us through His Most HOLY QUR’ANHe takes us

as far as we are willing to go. We set our own limits. ALLAH is certainly
Most Gracious and Patient with us.
 If there is doubt to the meaning of specific ayats of ALLAH'S QUR’AN, I
believe it is better to show ALLAH the benefit of the doubt and err on the
side of right than wrong.

There is no compulsion in this beautiful ISLAM of ours. Once we

become Muslim, Insh ALLAH, we must realize that in order to become closer
to ALLAH we must demand from ourselves beyond limitationobedienceto
that which ALLAH has been Merciful enough to reveal to us through His Most
Glorious QUR’AN as perfect Guidance. Once we have read an ayah of
QUR’AN and we digest its meaning in our soulswe have no choice but to
try to adhere to what ALLAH has placed so deeply within our being. There is
no turning back. Nothing else in this life matters. Our purpose is to serve
ALLAH.

I was recently asked by a non-Muslim whether or not I fear the

reactions of others to my covering. My only fear is the reaction of ALLAH to
me denying something He has placed so deeply in my heart to do. I fear
ALLAH.

My veiling was one way ALLAH used to give me the opportunity to come
closer to Him in a way I could have never imagined. He opened the door to
the beauty of wrapping myself in ISLAM and in the wrapping I found
protection, freedom, peace and most of all a closer relationship with our
Lord. I am most grateful ALLAH Subhanahu wa ta’ala saw past my
shortcomings and allowed me the vision to see that veiling opened my eyes
that I may better hold onto His rope.

“O ye Children of Adam!
We have bestowed raiment upon you to cover your shame,
as well as to be an adornment to you.
But the raiment of righteousnessthat is the best.
Such are among the Signs of ALLAH,
that they may receive admonition!”
HOLY QUR’AN 7:26

Chapter
21
THE DOG

By Skye Eedres

“He that doeth good shall have

ten times as much to his credit:
He that doeth evil shall only
be recompensed according to his evil:
No wrong shall be done unto (any of) them.”
HOLY QURAN 6:160
♦ 
 THE SKY LIGHTENS.
The gradual color of an artist’s brush dripping watered, white, drops of
liquid in the corner of the eastern sky. Quickly it spreads. Leaking into all
the cracks of black to gray to light.

An old man with a long beard, gray and stooped slowly climbs the
stairs to the tower. He looks out over the sleeping city. The wind picks up
and whips his jilbab (covering garment) around his thin body as he raises
his arms to the sky. He calls the faithful to prayerthe athan. He has
dedicated his life to ALLAH.

Everything wakes up to pray. The president of the country, after all, is

only a man. He wakes up and starts to wash his body the same as everyone
else. The businessman is awakened by the call to the faithful, and his two
boys come running into his bedroom and place their prayer rugs on the floor
in the correct position and then go to wash. The teacher rises up from his
bed, starts his washing ritual and places his rug on his balcony floor. The
man in the street below the teacher’s house, sells food (beans), tamaya (a
blend of spices and beans in a small patty), and be laya, (the hot, sweet
cereal children eat every morning). He stops, goes to the dry pavement,
places his prayer rug down, takes his jug of water out of his bag and starts
to wash. An old, very thin, dry stick of a man in ragged clothes with no
shoes removes his tattered jacket that hides his ripped and torn jilbab. He
reaches a doorway, a goat is tethered to a hook in the ground. The old man
reaches over and scoops water up to his face and hands:

Ash hadu al-la ilaha illALLAH,

wa Ashadu anna Muhammadar-Rasulu llah.

“I bear witness that there is no God but ALLAH,

I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of ALLAH.”

He is the street sweeper in a poor, small village. A village so small that

there is no running water or electricity in some areas. El Hesi naya is a farm
community in Zag A Zig, Egypt.

One billion Islamic people all over the earth face Mecca the
KABBAand fall to their knees in worship of ALLAH.

Is a rich man closer to ALLAH than a poor man? When we remove our
clothes don't we look the same? Can we tell rich from poor in Paradise? Is
it the things we accomplished in our lifetimes that are important? Or
perhaps it is not what we are, but who we are? How have we lived our
lives? How have we touched others? How have we treated our fellow man?

FAITH, only FAITH, unwavering, steadyeven in the worst of times,

FAITH. FAITH that ALLAH is The Beneficent, The Merciful. That's it, that one
simple recipe for success in lifeFAITH.
• 

TODAY STARTED JUST LIKE ANY OTHER DAY FOR HAMID.

He prayed, searched for food and tried to just survive. In the small poor
villages, there are no welfare programs as there are in the rich United
States. Here in Egypt everyone must work to live or they will die. So every
day Hamid goes from door to door cleaning up in front of businesses,
homes, schools and mosques. Hoping someone will give him a coin, a crust
of bread, a drink of water, or sometimes old clothes, to cover his body. He
bathes every evening before prayer in the canal that leads to the Nile River.
Hamid washes five times a day and prays five times a day. He has never
said an unkind word to anyone. He does not blame anyone for his
misfortune in his life. It just is. As bad as his life is, he takes the time to
smile at the children and listen to their stories. The children talk to Hamid
when their mothers and fathers are not watching. Because Hamid is very
poor they do not want their family members talking to him. It looks bad for
the family to be seen in his company.

Today Hamid sees up ahead a small boy and girl walking to school.
They go to the French school and must walk a distance to catch the bus.
Their family is not rich, yet not poor. No one in this family wants to help
much because their oldest son married a foreigner. A very beautiful and
kind woman. She is also Muslim. That has puzzled Hamid. This lady has
always left on her doorsteps clothes, food, and sometimes shoes in the cold
months. She has never spoken to Hamid because the lady's neighbors were
always watching her waiting for her to make a mistake, so they could
criticize and report her to her husband. This is a small village. Nothing ever
happens here. Sometimes the women look for excitement and something to
gossip about. They are just waiting and watching. Not bad women and
neighbors, just bored. Still this foreign woman always was polite and kind,
even though she knew that her neighbors were watching her. She always
had a kind word for everyone, smiled, and never went out alone, or dressed
disrespectful to her family. She was just a nice lady.

When they were out of sight of their street, Hamid walked with the
foreign lady's children to the bus stop. Hamid liked these children and
didn't want any misfortune to happen to them. On the way back from the
bus stop Hamid heard a small pitiful sound from the ditch on the side of the
road. He searched and searched to find the origin of the small crying
sounds. There, in the weeds, a large female dog a car had hit. Still clinging
to its side was a litter of puppies, all dead. No, there was a movement. One
small tough pup, still moved, still clung to life. Hamid scooped the small,
pitiful body up in his hands and put the cold body inside his jacket. What
would he do with this small life? He could hardly support himself much less
an additional mouth to feed, a puppy. Hamid had never gone to school and
he had no family. His family had lived in Ismallia near the Suez. The Jews
had come one afternoon across the canal murdering, raping and looting his
small village. The Jews killed everyone. They even killed the animals and
burned the houses and the crops in the fields. It wasn't a war, it was a
massacre, a hateful incident. Pointless. Why did they do this? That was why
no one wanted peace with Israel. And President Sadat was trying to force
this peace with Israel on the Egyptian people simply because the United
States wanted it and Sadat wanted money. He maintained it was for the
people of Egypt's benefit. Always, as usual, in the end it all comes down to
money. So Hamid escaped the violence. He ran away. He lived in the
streets of many different villages. He never went to school and never had a
home. However, he wasn't stupid. He understood life. He believed in the
QUR’AN. He had his faith in ALLAH. No one could take that away from him.
Hamid had lived in Zag a Zig, for the past ten years. His work was sweeping
the streets. He had no boss and no one to answer to. He worked when and
where he wanted to.

So here he sat with this cold little thing clinging to life. What was he to
do with the puppy? He started walking towards the street the foreign
children lived on hoping to discover some insight to his problem. There, a
figure in the doorway, a woman. Hamid approached the woman and as she
turned around he asked in a humble, polite voice if he could sweep her
doorstep. The neighbor ladies called out to the foreign lady not to talk to
him. He is a street sweeper, a low person, of no quality. He will steal from
you. The lady looked at Hamid. It was the foreign lady. She told Hamid she
was sorry but she had already swept her doorstep and that maybe
tomorrow he could do it and she then made ready to return inside.

Hamid held out the pathetic, whimpering, little body of the puppy. The
foreign lady looked at it and took it from Hamid's hands. Hamid told her he
found the puppy and that the mother had been hit by a car. He also said he
could not keep the puppy because he did not have a home himself. The
foreign lady told him to wait one minute and took the puppy inside. The
neighbor ladies called to her and said: “Don't take that puppy into your
house. It will grow up into a monster and eat your children. It is a dirty
street sweepers dog. Worth nothing. Garbage.” When she returned to the
doorstep she gave Hamid a 1LB note, a ginah. She told Hamid, her children
would really like to have a puppy even this little life is worth something.
Hamid thanked her and walked away with a smile on his face.

Time passes quietly like a cat on velvet paws sneaking up on the bird
that sits in the garden. One day it pounces and you notice what is going on.
You wake up. The small, pitiful puppy was named Es Widy (Blackie). A 35
kilo, muscular, black dog. A guard. A friend. A playmate for the children
and family.

The Nile feeds into the canal that borders the fields of Zag a Zig. This
year, praise ALLAH, we had more rain than usual. It will be a good year for
the crops in the field. The children enjoy swimming in the canals the same
as when Hamid was growing up in his village. Hamid loves to sit on the
side of the canal watching the children. He notices the foreign woman's
son, Shamel. What a fine young man he has become. He is doing good in
school and helps his father. Hamid always sees him with his father every
Friday at the mosque. A good family.

Hamid sits there remembering the good times when he was a boy. A
young man with a family. A time when he had friends and was loved by a
mother. He sits in the warm sun almost asleep. Hamid sees a large black
dog. The puppy he gave to Shamel's family, so long ago, is really a big dog
now. The dog comes over and smells Hamid. It's a lazy spring day. Hamid
pats the dog and he sits down next to Hamid. All sleepy under the palm
tree, in the shade, listening to bees buzzing, birds singing, the children
laughing and playing in the water. A Scream!

Shamel, the foreign woman's son has dived into the water and hit
something floating in the water with his head. A big piece of wood. He is
knocked out, unconscious. The current quickly grabs Shamel's body. He is
floating down the canal and not moving. Not swimming. Dead?

Hamid and the dog race to the canal bank and look for Shamel. Es Widy
leaps into the water and swims towards the now still form of the boy.
Hamid slides to the edge of the canal trying to grab Shamel's shirt, to pull
him to the shore. Hamid can't control the speed he is going and slides
towards the water and ends up in the water. But he can swim. The dog
reaches Shamel and bites his shirt. Struggling, pulling and swimming; the
dog manages to get him to the edge of the shore. The dog drags him up out
of the water. Shamel starts to open his eyes and throws up a lot of canal
water. He lays there in the hot sun trying to catch his breath. A shout! A
call for help! Again!

The current where the boys never go has caught Hamid and is washing
him rapidly downstream turning him over and over. He cannot breathe. He
is moving too fast.

Es Widy hears Hamid calling for help. He dives into the canal again and
looks for Hamid. The dog is also swept rapidly downstream. By now
several people are on the canal banks watching the drama play out the
story. What a brave dog. Hamid grabs onto the big dog's back and the dog
swims with Hamid to the banks of the canal. The dog drags and pushes
Hamid up to the shore.

Somehow the dog slips and falls back into the raging waters and
disappears under the muddy water. Es Widy bobs up and is swept out, into
the current and cannot seem to get control. The dog disappears.

Everyone is very excited. A big black dog has saved the life of a child
and a man. People are talking, giving food and placing blankets under the
trees; just like a celebration. The foreign woman, mother of the boy shows
up and hugs and kisses her son. Grateful that he is still alive. She thanks
Hamid but Hamid tells her if it hadn't been for the dog, Es Widy, hearing the
boys cry for help and going to his rescue, he would probably still be asleep
under the palm tree. Where is the dog? Everyone loves a hero. What
happened to Es Widy? Where is he? Is he dead? I guess so. No one can
find him.
 For the next three weeks the foreign lady's children look for the dog.
They never give up. They have faith that they will find Es Widy alive and
well. They keep telling everyone that he is only lost not dead. We never
found a body. How could he be dead? Oh, if we only had the true faith of
children! That everything will be all right and we believe that there is
purpose to life. Hope.

Three weeks to the day exactly and the children are walking back from
the bus stop after school. Up ahead is a man walking with a big black dog.
Look! It is Es Widy. I know it is as the children run to catch up to the
strange man. They cry we never gave up our hope. For what is life without
hope? Hamid comes on to the scene of the two happy children, laughing
and jumping up and down with the big dog. Yes it is the long lost dog, Es
Widy. Hamid moves forward to thank the strange man and stops dead in his
tracks. “I know this man. ALLAH, be praised. It is my brother from
Ismallia. I haven't seen him for 12 years. I thought everyone in my family
had been killed. I do have a family. I am not alone anymore.” A thrilling,
happy cry erupts from Hamid's lips. Hamid rejoices and breaks into song
and hugs his only brother. Everyone is happy.

All this because Hamid, a very poor man, from the dust of the streets,
but a man rich in spirit; refused to pass up one of ALLAH’S creatures in
need. Hamid the street sweeper gave of himself and asked for nothing in
return.

This is a true story. I know. I was there. I am the foreign woman.

Hamid still lives in El Hesi naya, Zag A Zig, Egypt. Except now he has a
loving home and works with his brother in a dry cleaning business. Hamid
is now married and has a small son and a small black puppy.