WHO AM I AND WHERE DO I LIVE?

I know that you are curious as to who am I and where do I live so here is my story………..

Once upon a time I lived in Camelot, where life was beautiful, everyone had plenty, the days were sunny, the nights were starlit, we visited each other and congratulated each other on each other’s material and academic gains, and the achievements of our children.

We carefully cherished our children trying to instill the basis of Islam by taking them to the mosque class and celebrating each muslim holiday with gusto and generosity. Meanwhile amassing wealth and opportunities for our children.

Our children grew up together holding on to each other and getting their strength from each other. They created new traditions in the secular school system. Sitting in the library at lunch in Ramadan, was one that became a coveted fashion. The children did more social services than some of us adults. They served in the soup kitchen and cleaned out the bathrooms and bedrooms at the local Ronald Macdonald house for the parents of chronically sick children and many other things fi sabillallah. They were the frontline facing the onslaught on the war on Islam after September of 2001, never flinching, and still finding joy in life.

We adults on the other hand continued to work long hours, eat weekend dinners at each other’s homes and attend Sunday mosque like the Christians and felt that we knew a lot of Islam. Many of us prayed five times a day, some did not but did good deeds to make up.

We lived in idyllic Camelot, nothing bad ever happened here and we were off and on blind and deaf to the bad things happening to people elsewhere, as long as all was well in Camelot.

Then one afternoon in July two and half years ago, on a bright and sunny day, three nineteen year old, handsome, bright, intelligent and good muslim boys set out on the interstate to drop off one of the three to the airport located two hours away from Camelot.

Hurricane Dennis suddenly entered the scene and dropped blinding showers. Their car slipped and crossing the median to the other side crashed into an oncoming sixteen wheeler. All three boys, loved and cherished by the community because of their good muslim behavior, intellect and beauty, died instantaneously.

Inna lil lahi wa inna elayhe rajaeoown.

Camelot exploded with grief, never to be put back together again. I am the mother of one of those three, and that is my story……