Happy Islamic New Year!
Today the Islamic New year falls together with the Jewish new year!
It is 1440 years ago that our prophet Muhammad and his small group of followers that consisted of former slaves, the poor and other outcasts, ran away from Mecca in fear of persecution. They found refuge in an Abasinian kingdom which had a Christian King who took pity on the small group of religious outcasts.
It was Surat Maryam from the Holy Quran that made the difference. Maryam, the mother of Jesus has a whole verse in the Quran dedicated to her. The followers of Islam were also followers of Jesus. We and the Christians were part of the same family. It was Christian solidarity that saved our faith.
Maryam was the Quranic prophet who had an important place in the life of my dear friend Zahia.
We met at the tea house of the Grande Mosquee de Paris. I had an appointment with her to visit the house of mother Mary. A small Franciscan church run by nuns. The head nun was Maria de Betlehem, the lady that Received a rose from me when I visited the Notre Dame. I had told Zahia about the place and she asked me if I could visit the place with her. Around her neck she coincidentally wore a necklace with a hanger with all kinds of souvenirs. A hand of Fatima from Algeria, a small image of Lady Mary, a souvenir from Mexico, a golden Mary hanger from the sanctuary of Lourdes, etc.
Before meeting Zahia I had a talk with a lady in a wheelchair who begged at the entrance of the mosque. She told me about her life. She came from a rich family in Algeria. She married the wrong man, got sick. Received a large inheritance from her family, but through bribery and paper falsifications he took all her belongings and married other wives.
Now she has nothing and is coping with a serious illness. Even begging is difficult. She has to pay for a taxi. And because she can't move, is depending on other beggars to help her with the wheelchair.
I felt anger as I listened to her life's story.
Her small pension is not enough to survive and she has medicine bills to pay, so the only thing left for her to do is to go to the mosque to ask kind givers for some spare money.
Sometimes it rains, then she puts plastic around her to keep herself dry.
The mosque usually itself doesn't give money to the poor women that sit outside. Once a year the director goes outside to give the women 10 Euro each.
Sometimes the women are chased away by the Mosque, like on the day of Eid. I felt that history repeated itself. These women were outcasts.
The lady in the wheelchair showed me a hanger around her neck. It was a gift from her daughter, who was struggling with cancer and had to raise five children as a single mum on her own. The hanger had the shape of a heart: "I love you mum."
Happy new year, and may this new year be a year where all the poor ladies of the Grand Mosquee de Paris will find the love, care and compassion to meet their needs. And may this new Islamic year guide us to the right path: the path of compassion, the path of Allah, the light of Allah, that guides whomever it wills.
Amien
Salima el Musalima
Avant- Garde Imam
It is 1440 years ago that our prophet Muhammad and his small group of followers that consisted of former slaves, the poor and other outcasts, ran away from Mecca in fear of persecution. They found refuge in an Abasinian kingdom which had a Christian King who took pity on the small group of religious outcasts.
It was Surat Maryam from the Holy Quran that made the difference. Maryam, the mother of Jesus has a whole verse in the Quran dedicated to her. The followers of Islam were also followers of Jesus. We and the Christians were part of the same family. It was Christian solidarity that saved our faith.
Maryam was the Quranic prophet who had an important place in the life of my dear friend Zahia.
We met at the tea house of the Grande Mosquee de Paris. I had an appointment with her to visit the house of mother Mary. A small Franciscan church run by nuns. The head nun was Maria de Betlehem, the lady that Received a rose from me when I visited the Notre Dame. I had told Zahia about the place and she asked me if I could visit the place with her. Around her neck she coincidentally wore a necklace with a hanger with all kinds of souvenirs. A hand of Fatima from Algeria, a small image of Lady Mary, a souvenir from Mexico, a golden Mary hanger from the sanctuary of Lourdes, etc.
Now she has nothing and is coping with a serious illness. Even begging is difficult. She has to pay for a taxi. And because she can't move, is depending on other beggars to help her with the wheelchair.
I felt anger as I listened to her life's story.
Her small pension is not enough to survive and she has medicine bills to pay, so the only thing left for her to do is to go to the mosque to ask kind givers for some spare money.
Sometimes it rains, then she puts plastic around her to keep herself dry.
The mosque usually itself doesn't give money to the poor women that sit outside. Once a year the director goes outside to give the women 10 Euro each.
Sometimes the women are chased away by the Mosque, like on the day of Eid. I felt that history repeated itself. These women were outcasts.
The lady in the wheelchair showed me a hanger around her neck. It was a gift from her daughter, who was struggling with cancer and had to raise five children as a single mum on her own. The hanger had the shape of a heart: "I love you mum."
Happy new year, and may this new year be a year where all the poor ladies of the Grand Mosquee de Paris will find the love, care and compassion to meet their needs. And may this new Islamic year guide us to the right path: the path of compassion, the path of Allah, the light of Allah, that guides whomever it wills.
Amien
Salima el Musalima
Avant- Garde Imam
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