Interview of Rashida J.J. (Singapore) by Mudar Patherya

 I dearly wanted to attend Huzurala’s Ashara mubarak waaz in Marol but due to an operation that had been conducted on me in Singapore some months prior to this, I was advised to stay back.

 As it happened, on the night of 8 Muharram, while returning from the Masjid, I stumbled and in the midst of protecting my stomach (which had been operated), I hit the ground face-on. I bled profusely and stained my ridah all over.

 When my son and husband rushed towards me, they screamed. My nose was broken, the tooth chipped and the face red all over.

 While being driven to the hospital, I kept imploring: Ya Allah, please save my face; Ya Maula, I put my face in your qadam mubarak and trust you to cure me.

 While being treated in the hospital, ditto. Ya Allah, please save my face; Ya Maula, I put my face in your qadam mubarak and trust you to cure me.

 The doctor drew the X-ray and showed me my broken nose. He said he would have to wait till the swelling subsided before being able to fix it. And then he said something more: he commisserated, he sympathised. The subtle inference: the face would never be the same again.

 The tragedy was that with my face bandaged and plastered, I could not attend the Ashara waaz n Singapore. First, the regret of not being able to go to Marol; then this. It is in weak moments like these that the mind starts playing up. Did I do something wrong? Is Allah annoyed with me? What kind of life am I leading? Is this destiny’s wake-up call?

 The day after Aashura I went for my check-up. The doctor’s pronounced sympathy now turned to surprise: the face was recovering on its own, the broken nose was back in shape and the broken tooth could be fixed with just a cap. A surgical professional who had pronounced three days earlier that the face would never be same again, was now concluding that perhaps not even a stitch would be required.

 Some days later, I got a call from a cousin in Marol: would I want to attend Huzurala’s ziafat?

 Two weeks later, I put my face in Huzurala’s qadam mubarak just that way I had visualised it.

 Maula protects the mumin from a loss of face. Literally.