I see the sister next to me, devotedly praying her Taraweeh (congregational prayers), but weeping profusely. I ask myself, “Is her agony much greater than my grief and despair? Is she in more dire need than me for forgiveness from her Lord, for succour and alleviation of her pain?”
I immediately reminisce the verses of the holy Quran flashing into my mind: ‘We will surely test you with something of fear, hunger, loss of health and lives, but give glad tidings to the steadfast’ (Baqarah 155-157).
My self-introspection in Ramadhan has impelled me to dedicate this article to every sister, who has been walking on the face of this earth. Sisters who are toiling this Ramadhan to surpass their tribulations, endeavouring to assemble the shattered pieces of their hearts and souls.
Ramadhan, the most awaited period in a person’s life, is the light that can illuminate the sisters who have already lost hope in themselves. Every sister knows well, where her shoe pinches. She knows how her gruesome circumstances have made her numb, self-contained and oblivious to the vice surroundings around her.
She knows how she has been left aloof amidst so much hue and cry. She knows how she has been betrayed and forbidden in her marriage, where she had given her heart and soul out. One has engulfed the bitter truth, that she cannot make sujood. As her body fails to do so, her ailments are progressing and her muscles deteriorating at the tick of the clock. Despite so much combatting, she wears a gleaming smile. Consoling herself that her Lord, her Rabb, her Creator will accept her distorted endeavours.
To a sister who has been sanctioned her death certificate from her doctor, breathing her last few moments. To a sister who has been relentlessly craving for a baby, yet has to endure probing comments from the ignorant. To a sister, who has recently miscarried and felt like a piece of her heart has been uprooted and snatched away from her. Moreover, to the sister, who has lost the apple of her eye. Her near and dear ones, whom she covets to see just one last time. To tell them how much she loves them, loved them or how much she could have loved them!
The sister away from her family, undergoing gruelling treatment of cancer and wishing for death, as her pain is beyond endurance. The sister who has shed her sweat out to shield her modesty by wearing the hijab (head cover). The sister who has been widowed, yet flapping her wings in buoyancy in her turbulent storms. That precious sister, who has been divorced for a fault she is unaware – devastated, crawling to get back on the feet, one step at a time.
As we proceed further into the realms of our blessed last nights, let us all take an oath to be more benevolent, to mitigate someone’s anguish where we can, and to remain more steadfast. A smile and a kind gesture to an ailing sister, could be that rekindling hope, she has been seeking all her life. Love you all my sisters for the sake of Allah!
