Some food for thought

A few days ago at a pre wedding function I met a young couple that have a beautiful child who was born with a rare birth defect, microcephaly whereby the brain does not develop properly resulting in a smaller than normal head.Often people with the disorder have an intellectual disability, poor motor function, poor speech, abnormal facial features, seizures, and are short.This cute little child was 13 years old. She sat in her pram staring at the strange faces around her. She was totally helpless yet she was so content. My heart went out to her parents. They have so much of patience with her despite everyday being a constant struggle. Only they know the trials they are facing on a day to day basis. In the same gathering I met a young man who was wheelchair bound. His story broke my heart too. He was a bright student enrolled in a university. However, when his dad passed away he was forced to leave university and start working in order to provide for his family. One day whilst at work, he was shot on his spine during an armed robbery causing him to become paralyzed from his waist down. Can you imagine the trials his family and wife must have faced during this period. They were devastated. With God's grace though he has learnt to adapt to his new way of life. He is working and drives and hence he has become an inspiration to many others out there.... Last week whilst meeting with a community member who deals with the blind school in the area, I was heart sore after hearing 2 stories that were relayed to me. The first is of a young 24 year old woman who became a pharmacist. She loved her profession with a passion. After having a heart attack and 2 strokes recently resulting in a blood clot lodging itself near the optic nerve, she has lost total vision in both her eyes. She can not come to terms with her destiny. Whilst she has taken the bold step to enrol herself at the blind school she finds herself sobbing in one corner of the classroom. She finds a bit of comfort from a fellow student learning braille. He was also a professional person who was simply at the wrong place at the wrong time. During an armed robbery at a store, he was shot in the head causing him to become blind. He has however embraced his fate and chooses to live life one day at a time. I have come to the conclusion that each and everyone of us is going through some sort of trial or test in life. Some people may be having financial problems, others may be having marital problems..whilst others may be experiencing health issues or problems with their kids. If we sit back and analyse our own problems you will quickly realise that sometimes our own problems are miniscule in comparison to what other people out there are going through. God never ever burdens us with more than we can handle. Sometimes we face difficulties simply because God wants us to turn to Him for assistance and guidance. He wants us to be closer to Him. So before you start whining, feeling as though your whole world has come to an end, think about those people who are in far worse off situations than you. In every situation thank the Lord. Be happy and content in life. Always remember that even in a bad situation there is always some good that comes out of it......

Muslims only in name, not in character

This picture was sent to me by a facebook acquaintance. I have no idea who I should be accrediting the picture to. By the way, I am a big fan of both gentlemen :)The title of the post is in NO WAY affiliated to the picture above.....

So this morning I woke up to an inbox message that was sent to me by a young Muslim girl asking me if I by any chance know the guy standing next to the maestro Rahat Fateh Ali Khan? I replied to her stating that whilst I do not know him personally, I do know him. He is a UK based boxer by the name of Amir Khan. He is married to a gorgeous Pakistani American girl and if I'm not mistaken he was recently in the Tabloids for supposedly having an affair. Well, to cut a long story short, this girl has been chatting to someone on facebook who utilizes Amir Khan's pictures and pretends that it is actually his own photos. It seemed to me that this poor girl was smitten by this person based on the boxer's attractive photos.

Then when I got to work, I heard about an even more bizarre story whereby an entire family was involved in duping a girl into marriage for the sake of her wealth. The girl, being an only daughter is now the owner of her dads company. Through her dads business associate the girl was introduced to a boy who claimed to be an electrical engineer. Both families met and the formalities were completed only to find out later that the boy never completed his schooling and neither does he work. The parents executed the scheme so well, that they hired people to pretend to be his work colleagues from so and so company. After the marriage all hell broke loose. The truth emerged and naturally the girl was devastated. She never told her family initially but after realizing that she is the only one in the home earning a fantastic salary that is now used to support her in laws she decided to seek help from her family. The sad part about this whole story is that the neighbours and the boys immediate family knew about the boys bad reputation. Apart from not working, he was also involved with duping people into financial schemes. He would take peoples money and disappear. No one came forward to warn the girl and her family. After a few weeks she obviously went back to her parents home and filed for a divorce. In her own words she mentioned to me that she will never ever trust another Muslim boy again. She is too terrified to get married again. She has opted to focus on her career and her business as such. Her story seemed to be straight out of a movie, yet this is the stark reality of what is happening within our Muslim communities.

A few days ago, I heard a few horrific stories that blew my mind away. The first is of young girl who traveled to SA from a neighbouring African country in search of work. She left her country as the man she married was abusive. Whilst he was powerful and rich he was mean towards her. When she fell pregnant he forced her to have an abortion and then he disappeared...She related her story to me with sadness and yet there was a sparkle of hope in her eyes for a better future.... I then heard about a group of Muslim men from a neighbouring country who claim to be part of a charity organization and dupe people into donating money for boreholes etc. The money is not given towards charity. It is pocketed for themselves.

The saddest story of them all is about a strong willed woman who gave birth to three beautiful daughters. Her husband was so angry that he had no sons and hence he showed no love or respect towards his daughters. He never cared for them. This lady decided to divorce her husband and she moved away to South Africa in order to give her kids a better future. Today with the grace of God Almighty her daughters are all grown up..educated and independent..It is shocking that in this day and age there are Muslims out there who are so ignorant. The prophet (saw) abolished female infanticide. He liberated women and afforded women their rights. He encouraged women to seek knowledge.....Praying etc is a part of Islam...Obeying God's commands is on one scale and being good to humanity is on the other scale. Being able to strike a balance between these two entities determines the goodness of a human being. Sadly there are people out there who act as though they are holier than though. Their day is spent in preaching from morning to night.. yet they are wicked and unkind towards humanity.. A person who is pious should be kinder..softer... more humble. Yet very often I come across people who act all holy....yet they are abrupt... rude.. they lack softness.. they are unapproachable.they don't smile.. they walk with an attitude of authority.they feel as though they are superior and above the rest. This is not Islam in my opinion.. Then I have come across those people whom God has guided towards goodness.These individuals start judging others forgetting about their own past histories..Wearing an abaya and headscarf does not make you a good human being. Neither does wearing a thobe or praying five times a day. It's all about the heart and what lies within.