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12/31/08

~It will not be a happy new year for me~


I just realized that it's been a week since I've done anything on this blog!! This is a busy time for me at work as we need to get a lot of reports out before the end of the year. Alhamdulilah, I made it this far! Few days ago, on Dec 29th, it was the beginning of the Islamic Year (A.H 1430) while the world watched as our brothers and sisters were being killed in Gaza!The pictures and testimonies at the Palestinian Holocaust Museum are heartbreaking. We see these images, watch the news on tv, but our lives go on, we eat out, go shopping, buy gifts for our families, and laugh as if we were watching a movie and not the news. We have detached ourselves from the reality of the News, the reality of death. We are so used of the news of death that it doesn't feel real anymore,it's like watching scenes from a scary movie,we're scared for a few minutes but when the movie is over, we forget everything, we're back to our normal happy life, after all it was just some images on a screen. As, I'm writing this, I'm sitting in my comfy office with my heat on, sipping on my morning coffee, and I feel like I'm not much better than the rest. But today, I beg to differ, when the lights will go out, when the count will begin for a new year, when the world will celebrate on their successes and accomplishments, when champagne glasses will be raised and toasted, wishes of health and prosperity exchanged, it will not be a happy new year for me. Tonight, my thoughts will be in Gaza, for all those families who will sleep on empty stomachs, terror in their hearts, darkness in their homes. My thoughts will be for all these mothers in Gaza who are tearing at the loss of their children, the jobless fathers who can't feed their families, the elders who are waiting for death...Palestine, how more can I cry with you? Tonight, I beg to differ, it will not be a happy new year for me~


Dedicated to my fellow brothers and sisters in Palestine, specifically Gaza. We will not watch this genocide and remain apathetic. We will not allow another “Holocaust” to happen, God-Willing. We will not remain silent.

As we sit surrounded by luxury, engrossed in our own lives,
We tend to forget about the world’s struggles and strife.
I cry, I write, and I speak,
For my brothers and sisters in humanity, those helpless and weak,
For the innocent Palestinian lives taken all in just one day,
For the children who lost their mothers in Gaza today,
For the civilians, trapped, living in blockade,
For the bloodshed that continues decade after decade,
For the severely injured who have no access to medical care,
For the elderly folk, who are not even spared,
For the demolished homes and destroyed olive trees,
For the men and women who are not even in their own land, free,
For the dreams, hopes, and optimism, completely crushed,
For the Palestinian voices, all muted and hushed,
For the genocide occurring afore our own eyes,
For the déjà vu of a Holocaust, buried among justification for the sake of security and other wretched lies.

I cry, I write, and I speak,
For the situation around the world, seeming so dark and bleak,
For the censored media and news we are being fed,
While others lose their homes and their family members, dead,
For the baseless vilification of the people of Palestine,
For the apathy and the forgetfulness, both your fault and mine,
For our tax dollars going to fund rockets, bombs, and annihilation,
For this country’s full support of the collective punishment and decimation,
For the thousands who live and die, knowing nothing of this occupation,
Too engrossed in their personal lives, not even caring to expose themselves to this human rights’ violation.
I cry, I write, and I speak,
For the innocent people of Palestine, may God bless them with strength after they were weak.
But I cry, I write, and I speak even more,
Begging us all to learn, read, write, demand and act, I implore.

(By Mai El-Sadany)

16 comments:

Rabia said...

It will not be a happy new year for anyone who is even slightly humane. What's going on in Gaza is an absolute tragedy...Over 400 dead and still no ceasefire. There is no justice for the sufferers...-sigh- I hope the UN takes a step to end the atrocities being carried out by Israel.
The victims of Gaza massacre will be in my prayers.

Mina said...

May Allah help Palastine...

Ya Rubb here our cries.

Empress Anisa said...

Yes, for those with a conscious, there will be no happy new year- and they want you to always feel bad for them and their ordeal with that Austrian guy who practiced cleansing but they don't see anything wrong with the one they're conducting now?
May Allah punish them all 700,000 times for each of their cowardly acts against our sisters and brothers(Ameen)

Amina said...

I was shattered when i watched the news!!!!
I also refuse to be happy happy on New year's

Ms.Unique said...

Masha Allah nice post hijabee .... I think ur post has expressed every feeling wiht more words than mine ..... Yes we seem to get engulfed by our own life ..... but truely it's not a Happy New Year for all those whose hearts and minds are with the ppl of Gaza ..... I just feel so vexed that it's only the duas that I can offer them and no other help ...... but I hope even this little thing will hepl better their days ..... I don't seem to understand the silence that the powerful ppl have fallen into, even the Muslim powers though they are making their effort but it's just too little to stir anything ...... We are only left with dua, hope and remorse in the end ..... May Allah strenghten us for we have become so weak .....

Naimah said...

Assalamu 'alaykum,

I too had the same thought earlier, 'how can people be happy and celebrating the new year, when such tragedy is happening this very minute?' Yes, you do feel totally helpless, and I feel frustrated that no other muslim country is stepping in and helping Palestine. Also the lies and deception coming from Israel, that they're only trying to target Hamas, and not the civilians, they have no mercy for the people of Palestine, they are dropping cluster bombs, which do a hell of a lot of damage, and kill so many people at the same time, and they're blocking the media from going in, cos they don't want the world to witness the wrong they are doing. Allaah will expose them insha Allaah, and what goes around, comes around.
Let's keep making du'a insha Allaah.

Jamaican Hijabi said...

Assalamu alaikum,
It's not a happy new year at all. My prayers are with them. :-(

Hijabee said...

Thanks for sharing your thoughts! The more I think about this, the more I see images of this genocide, the more angry I get!!!! I just feel so helpless, especially towards the child victims. SubhanAllah, I just saw the picture of a fetus that was being shot at, how evil do you have to be to shoot a fetus? Ya Allah give me patience!

ModestJustice said...

Masha'allah for the poem!
But MAI EL-SADANY?!

She is a very nice poet who attends my mosque!
I've never met her personally but I see all of her poems in my Masjid's weekly newsletter :DDD

Sorry, kinda random I know o:

Hijabee said...

ModestJustice, that's awesome, I wish we had people like that in my masjid :)

Yasemin said...

This was very well-written Hijabee. When will Israel realize that just because Jews were victims of a Holocaust, that they can't create another one? Sighing...Hopefully we will see a resolution in the New Year.

Umm ML said...

Jazaki Allah khair ukhti, my mind and duas are also with Gaza...

Hijabee said...

Lisa/Yasmin,
Thank you! I too pray for more peace for this new year :(

Erin,
Same here, may Allah help them

Anonymous,
We all stood and denounced the Mumbai attacks. Injustice for us, will always be injustice regardless of who commits them. Injustice is the enemy, not Islam. Salam

A.D.K. said...

Good post and so true. :(

Banafshe said...

May Allah help all muslemas be united and allied and powerful .Thanks from your pure emotions that you do share always wih us.I love you .

Hijabee said...

ADK,
Thanks :)

Banafshe,
Ameen to your duah! I love you for the sake of Allah as well.