#Seed023: A Letter to my Daughters

Never forget that Jerusalem runs through your blood.

Artwork by Dawoud Najmudin (2023)

“By the End of the Day! Truly Man is ruined in loss! Save those who believe and work righteous deeds, and bid each other to right, and bid each other to patience.”

- The Chapter of the End of the Day (Surah al-’Aṣr), The Quran

Dearest daughters,

Though your name is French-Canadian, I hope you never forget that Jerusalem runs through your blood. Your Great Grandmother, born in al-Quds, taken away as a child just a little older than you were, never set foot in her home again. There are forces that want you to forget that side of your story. But I will not stand for cultural genocide, and I will make sure that you always remember.

In the Arabic language, ṣabr is usually translated to patience. In the oft-sung Chapter of the Quran, al-’Aṣr, we are called to “bid each other to patience.” Don’t think that this means that you ought to be passive. Patience is an action. One of the Names of God is Aṣ-Ṣabūr, the Most Patient One, for He is actively enduring the injustices we cause to each other and ourselves. Patience isn’t about being passive but rather it is about having the strength to subdue our desires, our appetites, our anger, our lust, and our oppression of others.

As you grow up, you will begin to see that the world is full of injustice, oppression and pain. It will be difficult not to despair. You may even ask, how can God allow this to happen? As I write these words, our brothers and sisters in Gaza are being murdered by the descendents of those who forced your Great Grandmother into exile. And to be honest, your father is weak. The call to bid each other to right and to patience is a difficult one to answer. How can we bid each other to right when we feel so powerless? How can we bid each other to patience when blood is spilt right before our eyes? I’m not sure I have the answer to those questions but I do know that we live in a culture of impatience. Jorge Luis Borges writes, “The female soil, worn and haggard from bearing that impatient culture's get, was left barren within a few years, and a formless, clayey desert crept into the plantations.” We must be patient.

You’ll soon learn that impatience leads us to no longer trust in God. Despair is nothing more than the result of impatience. The impatience of needing solutions now has usurped our awareness that history is in Good Hands. Impatience leaves a place barren. Impatience leaves a soul barren. We lose our senses when we only think of the “now.” Without knowing history, oppressors will convince you that they are victims. Don’t sympathize with the Devil. My dear daughters, know where you come from.

And as you grow, you’ll see that our battle has many fronts: demonstrations in the streets, petitions, workplaces, markets, farmlands, battlefields… But I ask you not to forget, that the most important front is your heart. “We have returned from the lesser jihad to the greater jihad,” spoke the Prophet to men who were face to face with death itself. “The jihad with one’s own self.” And when you forget, bid one another to right and to patience. Some days, I’ll need you to wake me up and lend me a hand when I no longer find the courage and strength to stand up for what is right. I’ll need you to help me see light when all I see is darkness. My children, I cannot tend my garden alone.

With love and faith,

Your father