This Ramadan he has been dropping me to and picking me up from work in the up to 30C heat. He has been encouraging me to nap after work so I can get through the evening and the night prayers and he has been trying to do so much himself that he is walking around in a bot of a daze at times.
When we married, on paper, he would have fit none of the criteria that girls often have on their check-list: he was older than me, he had to drop out in the last year of his degree to support his family, he was from Pakistan and I had to sponsor him to come to the UK, he had a big family and he did this strange thing where he would go off to do dawah work around Pakistan, which I did not understand at all. But I did see that he had a good heart. He would go out of his way for people and he would even help his enemies.
I relied on my intuition and my perception of his having a good heart and said yes to marrying him when I was nineteen and still had two years of university left. Alhamdulillah, we have had our ups and downs ( mainly because of my temper and our cultural differences and misunderstandings), but a day does not go past when I am aware of what a good man he is mash'Allah - considerate of his mother, caring towards his wife and an amazing dad.
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The thing I am most grateful for is that he brought me much closer to this faith and put a love of dawah work into my heart which brought immense purpose to my life.
Aside from that there is no shortage of things to be grateful for: my beloved, bonkers children, my parents, my amazing sisters, my very cool brother and his very patient wife who have given me much adored little niece. My home which has sheltered so very many friends and family and may it continue to do so. A job where I can do my hours, get treated with respect and come home within half an hour of the kids. A community where it is easy to be Muslim.
Most of all my faith - the honour of being a Muslim, which we take for granted each day and which beautifies our life, prepares us for the next life and makes each and every one of us valuable and important.
“And remember! Your Lord caused to be declared: If ye are grateful, I will add more unto you.” - (Qur’an 14:5-7)
“Allah’s generosity is connected to gratitude, and gratitude is linked to increase in His generosity. The generosity of Allah will not stop increasing unless the gratitude of the servant ceases” — Ali ibn Abu Talib
“We are told that people stay in love because of chemistry, or because they remain intrigued with each other, because of many kindnesses, because of luck. But part of it has got to be forgiveness and gratefulness. ” ― Ellen Goodman
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