Amena

by Maimona Khan on Friday, May 13, 2011 at 4:04pm

Once upon a twenty first century, a teenager struggled to define herself. With her pink streaked hair, she continued her education in a British institution, developing her skills and knowledge –

Yet what being British could not help resolve was this conflict that she felt within herself. She looked to her Indian heritage as maybe offering some consolation, however, this too merely offered nothing but more confusion. And so the final definitive feature she looked to was her religion – Islam. Struggling at first to comprehend the creed inherited from her family, she attempted to make sense of it with the help of being British and Indian.

Still this did not actualise any uniformity in who she was, and so she continued trudging along in her journey to self actualise an identity. She changed her hair colour, and now with purple coloured hair she journeyed on a TeachFirt program away from familiarity.

It was here, in the company of solace she found the answer to her melancholic confusion. Spirituality called out to her, and with the help of the life of the most beautiful beacon of light in Islam – the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him, she found a consolidation in her identity.

They say there are many paths to God, and for her this was it.

Now, twenty-three, she found a home in Islamic spirituality and the rest fell into place, a domino effect. This is not to say she no longer struggled, struggles are a commonplace in life… however, the peace within herself about who she was enabled the most amazing occurrences to happen.

One day she married.

Another day, on her way to an Islamic convention, she decided to cover her hair. Since then, this piece of cloth was contently adopted as part of who she was.