Look, look!

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim.

“Screech!”

The big green bus halted abruptly, sending its passengers flying towards the front part of the dusty old machine. “OY! VY CHTO??” shrieked an old aunty from the back, angrily. Her grumpy eyes were widely opened; her face was red, as if ready to beat up the driver into pulp. Melati who was witnessing the scene from outside the bus did not waste any time. She went into the bus and made sure that she holds on to the pole tightly.

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The day started as usual, she supposed. Went to class, ran like crazy to catch the bus, struggling to breathe while being squished like a banana by the people inside it, ahh..not including being slapped on the face unintentionally by a fellow passenger...twice… despite all of that, she did arrive at class at 8.30 am. All in all, it’s a rather good day.

Staring blankly out the window, Melati’s dark brown eyes caught a glimpse of an old man on the side of the road. The elderly grandpa was on his knees, with his left hand clutching his chest. Melati’s heart pumped faster as her mind recollected the materials she learned about angina pectoris. As the big green bus advanced forward, her eyes were reluctant to leave the struggling grandpa alone. Right at the time when he was out from her sight, Melati felt a pang of guilt inside her heart. “Is he going to be okay?”

The wheels of the bus kept on rotating, indifferent towards their surroundings; nonchalantly carrying the passengers towards the next stop. Her stop would be much further than this one, thought Melati silently. Her eyes wandered around, looking for a seat. Nope, all taken. She was hoping to get a seat so that she could take out the Al-Ma’thurat from her backpack. Her eyes made their way back to the world outside the bus. Later, she thought.

Gradually, those wheels decreased their velocity, synchronized with the slow traffic outside.  Traffic jam. Hmmph..

“Smotri, smotri!” said someone from the middle part of the bus.

The people inside the bus turned their view towards the windows, some even stood up and went to the right side of the bus, searching for something, something they didn’t even know! And Melati, obviously was not excluded. She could see a police car parked in the middle of the road. Nothing interesting there, until…a young man holding a pair of heels in his hands, trying to block a road lane with them. As the bus snailed further to the front, their eyes were fixed on the same thing- a stiff cold body sprawled in the middle of the road.

Smotri! [credit]

“Zhenshina…” Quite shocked, Melati stood frozen in her place. Again, the young woman’s heart pumped faster and faster. It was a body of an old nenek. Her skirt, her blouse were lifted upwards, revealing an awfully bruised body and lacerated legs. Never in her life, had Melati seen a dead body, uncovered, in a public area. It was a terrible scene. “Innalillahi wainna ilaihi rajiun..”  It struck Melati, she hadn’t recited du’a “naik kenderaan” . Quickly, the young woman recited the du’a with high concentration. The bus picked up its pace and started moving faster.

Somehow, after reciting the du’a, her mind kept on thinking about Palestine. The country. The people. The strength.

The strong  impact, the trauma of seeing a person dying, and another, dead; in front of her eyes were tremendous. Imagine the trauma you have to live with, seeing these; even scenes much worse than these ones, most of the days in our lives.  She could remember vaguely, someone from MERCY saying that the longest MERCY mission doesn’t last more than a week; because of the trauma it could bring to the volunteers. Seeing countless lifeless bodies lying on normal traffic roads. The nightmares which follow. Oh!

Imagine, having our father smothered with thick red blood right in front of our eyes, with bullet wounds on his body, struggling to keep alive. Imagine our mom lying stiff on the hard ground in the middle of the road, and our brother losing consciousness when blood flows continuously from his crushed legs, our sister; her face unrecognizable after being pulled out from under the ruins of our own collapsed home. Naudzubillah. Can you imagine that? Can you?

Pondering silently, Melati came to a significant realization. What was it that she felt when she saw the old man having a heart attack, and the lifeless body of the old woman? It was - Fear. A famous quote by the late Dr. Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi suddenly came swooping into her mind- "Are we afraid to die? It's death, whether by killing or by cancer. Nothing will change. If by Apache [helicopter] or by cardiac arrest, I prefer Apache."

Death is as sure as yesterday. Yes. Melati knows this.

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Every soul will taste death. And We test you with evil and with good as trial; and to Us you will be returned. [Al-Anbiya’:35]

When she looked at the granny, with her abdomen and legs revealed without any coverings, she couldn’t help thinking about her wrongdoings. Her bad deeds. Has she made taubah? Allah has been covering, concealing her wrongdoings from the eyes of people around her. Praying at the end of solat time, wasting time in front of her laptop, and many many despicable things she couldn’t even start to describe. What if when she dies, Allah decides to uncover her bad deeds, revealing her wrongdoings to the world; just like the granny’s clothes which have covered most of her body all her life, but when she dies, they just didn’t? Oh Allah, forgive me…

 [He] who created death and life to test you [as to] which of you is best in deed - and He is the Exalted in Might, the Forgiving – [Al-Mulk:2]

Most of the Palestinians have been doing jihad (read: struggling) all their lives. Jihad fi sabilillah (read: struggling in the road of Allah). Struggling for Allah every single day. Struggling to live, struggling to go to school, struggling to get Palestine back. And countless have died in their struggle for Allah. As martyrs. But Melati..what has she been doing all her life? What if she dies while she was doing one of those wrong deeds she’s been committing all these while…Has she been struggling for the sake of Allah? Studying day and night, staying up during exams..those struggles, were they for Allah? Or were they only for getting pyat and praises from teachers and friends?

“O you who believe! Shall I show you a commerce that will save you from a painful doom? You should believe in Allah and His Messenger, and should strive for the cause of Allah with your wealth and your lives. That is better for you, if you did but know.”  [A-Saff:10-11]

Eyeing the Palestine inspired buttons on her backpack which she bought during Nakbah Remembrance day, the hardships of the Palestinians played in her mind. She remembered reading articles and news, watching videos of Palestinian children and teenagers organizing peaceful demonstrations and protests against the expropriation of their lands, but harshly replied with rains of bullets by the Zionist Israelis. Unarmed civilians. Oh!

"I don't own a gun.

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I don't own any weapons and I'm not prepared to own any...

My only weapon of defense is that I won't leave this place...

and my hope is that the world will respond to Israel's treatment of us."

[Abu Sagr, Al-Hadideya, Jordan Valley]

Like big bullies, the Zionists do as they want, because they can and nobody is stopping them. You see, the world is becoming more and more oblivious towards what’s happening with the world itself. We can find people with zeal protesting against eating horse meat, but just being indifferent or cannot see the problem, when the flesh of an innocent fellow human are torn violently by merciless bullets.

And We have certainly honored the children of Adam and carried them on the land and sea and provided for them of the good things and preferred them over much of what We have created, with [definite] preference. [Al-Isra’:70]

… whoever kills a soul unless for a soul or for corruption [done] in the land - it is as if he had slain mankind entirely. And whoever saves one - it is as if he had saved mankind entirely...[Al-Maidah:32]

Are Palestinians lives less important to be defended? Or one is somehow less of a human because one is a Palestinian?? When a weak child retaliates against the big school bully, people would say that, it is in human nature to defend himself. But when Palestine retaliates against the Zionist Israel, somehow; they are called terrorists…? Is defending our own land, our homes from invaders called terrorism? No wonder Tok Janggut, Mat Kilau, Dato’ Siamang Gagap were called terrorists…we never hoped that anyone would help us when we are in a difficult situations…eh, no?

“How can you not fight for the cause of Allah and of the feeble among men and of the women and the children who are crying: Our Lord, bring us forth from this town of which the people are oppressors and raise for us from You one who will protect; and raise for us from You one who will help.” [An-Nisa’:75]

Many many times Melati’s ears picked up people saying:

-This is sad..lets pray for them. It’s not like we can do anything else…or can we?

-This is normal..it’s war isn’t it? Let’s not mingle with other people’s business..we have our own problems to deal with, don’t we?

-Israelis kill Palestinians? Palestinians also kill Israelis laa…don’t you read the news? Why are you demonizing the Israelis? Totally biased…

Some are indifferent; some, they just never knew the story of the Palestinians. But Melati, don't YOU know their story?

By: A_pacEmakER