The lady with the book

Traveling is a truly humbling experience. During travels, we tend to meet a lot of people. Most of them, we forget in a day, while some of them affect our hearts so deeply that it changes us forever.

I met someone like that while returning from Palestine.

Subhanallah! When I look back and think about her, I still feel the same strong surge of motivation and optimism I felt when I first saw her in that situation.

The air was heavy and the sun was scorching. The time was midday. The street was crowded and the city was noisy, buzzing with life and trade.

I got down from the bus. It was a long journey crossing Palestine and entering Cairo city through the Sinai desert. I had to immediately go to the passport office to register my visa and get other document procedures done. The office would close in about an hour and I had to hurry.

I walked as fast as possible with my hand luggage. On the path were many street vendors selling a lot of items in a wide variety of colors. From eatables to clothes. But they seemed to have become faded under the scorching sun’s torturous heat.

As I paced through the footpath, I saw an old lady with a Niqab (Face covering) sitting down on the footpath floor selling packets of tissue. This is a common scene in the inner parts of Cairo city. The economic crisis in this developing city is rampant as Financial disparity is on the rise. Having lived in Egypt, I had already become accustomed to seeing this.

What made me notice her was the fact that she had a book in her hand. She was reading a book under this scorching sun! Due to my fast-paced walking, I only could just glance at the pages. It was not Quran, but some Arabic Islamic book. I was absolutely astonished! Subhanallah! My mind, which was focused on getting my legs to the passport office that was going to close soon, Froze! It started buzzing with questions. Why is she reading under the scorching sun? What is she reading? What is that book which captures the reader so much that the mid-day Egyptian heat fails in disrupting it?! I couldn’t move forward without finding an answer to this.

So i went back searching for the lady. As I got near her, I handed her some money and pointed towards the book asking: Salam ‘Alaikum ya hagga, ayy kitab hadha? (Peace be on you mam, What book are you reading?)

She showed me the book and I was astonished to find that it was written by an Indian author! The country I am from! It was the renowned Raheeq al Makhtoum (The Sealed Nectar) by Saifur Rahman al-Mubarakpuri, the great Indian Islamic scholar and writer.

The book seemed old and the pages were a bit faded. As she showed me the book, I asked her why she was reading even in this scorching sun. She looked up at me and simply nodded. In her eyes, surrounded by wrinkles of old age, I saw the sparkle of love for knowledge. I asked her a few more questions. She was from Sudan and was selling tissues to make two ends meet. Financial problems troubled her life.

I was astonished! left speechless, I resumed my walk to the passport office. My heart was beating fast due to a feeling of intense happiness and a feeling of shame! Here I was, fully healthy and at the top of my youth! How less have I read!!!! How less have I studied!!! There she was, even though she was very old, even though she was very weak and poor, reading a book about the beloved prophet and investing her time in acquiring knowledge. I felt really happy seeing that. My heart was overjoyed at seeing her iman and filled me with the hope that as long as such people exist, we still have hope for a better future.

My legs couldn’t move further. It was not just because I was tired from walking lots of miles in Palestine and Jordan covering place to place on foot, but because of the mixture of emotions, I experienced on seeing her commitment and sincerity. I was deeply moved and humbled by her dedication. My heart was left in awe at her devotion.

I returned again to the place she was sitting. I opened my bag and gave her all the Indian sweets my father gifted me as we departed from Airport while returning from the Palestine journey. She was happy.

I conveyed to her the respect I had for her and made dua for her long life and health. I asked her a few more questions about the book and her family. When I asked about her children, I could see the sadness in her eyes. She didn’t need to elaborate on the situation for me to understand being a counselor. Even with a full niqab, her eyes revealed stories of sadness that she tried to cover. She was going through a lot of trouble. A lot of crises. A lot of problems. Yet, here she was reading and acquiring knowledge. Subhanallah! How amazing is she! Allahu Akbar!

I said salam and left her not wanting to continue disrupting her reading. My heart was in awe as I walked. The scorching sun didn’t seem to matter anymore. The loud environmental noise didn’t seem to pierce my ears anymore. My mind and heart were captivated by the sheer majesty of what I witnessed. She left an impact on my life just sitting in the streets of Cairo selling tissue.

When I get tired of reading, when I feel my legs paining sitting in the halaqah of scholars, when my eyes strain in studies, I remember her. The lady with the book. When the picture of that old lady, sitting under the scorching sun holding a book, comes to my mind, My heart tells me, If she can do it, I can too.