Election 2016

This week has been one of the most draining weeks of my life. I haven't been this depressed since the separation, I think this depression surrounding the election is worse.

Tuesday was election day. Trump won. Tuesday night and Wednesday morning I was in denial. I woke up Wednesday morning to my phone near me, CNN live still on, stuck on the last still frame of Donald Trump's victory speech. A part of me is glad I was unconscious and sleeping while that was occurring. Wednesday I was in shock, numb. Going through the stages of grief, I was in the anger phase, in waves. I wrote a FB post with my feelings:

"Like many others, I'm going through waves of shock, anxiety, depression, speechlessness, and hopefulness - and repeat. We cannot underestimate or deny the hatred, bigotry, racism, and sexism that still exists, and that somehow the platform based on these principles just won.
With that being said, I'm not going anywhere. We should stop joking about moving to Canada or about concentration camps (God forbid, and also that's not funny). And instead, we should focus our energy on moving forward. Here's my best guess at how to go about this:
First, we (as in Muslims, all other minorities, democrats, and those who voted against Trump) must stay safe and supportive of one another while understanding this grief is a collective one and that we are not alone.

Then, we hope for the best - to give up hope is detrimental right now because then we have nothing left. To give up hope means we give up on putting forth our own effort to make things better, and we cannot afford to give up right now. Hope means praying that there are improvements and that Congress doesn't pass ridiculous and irrational legislation. Hope means trying to hold off on further panic until we see how Trump actually behaves during his presidency, hoping that he cannot get away with acting the way he did during his campaign. Some may call this false hope, idealistic even, but right now I believe it's necessary and the only option. Let the hope serve as motivation and willpower to stay afloat and let it serve as the energy to deal with and respond appropriately to what may come in the next few years.

Finally, we fight. We're not going anywhere. The results of the presidential election doesn't necessarily force a change in your beliefs and values. We prove that America already was great and still is great and that we are a part of its greatness as we have always been. Immigrants and minorities are some of the most hardworking, persistent, strong groups of people because we have to be and have had to be time and time again. We show America and the world that we're not going anywhere and that we're not backing down, just like we haven't backed down in any of our previous struggles, but instead remained persistent and we remained strong and we will continue. We do it for our immigrant parents, for our neighbors, for our children, we do it for this country whose greatness or lack of greatness is not defined by moments like this, but by getting through and overcoming events like this."

At times I feel this hope, this positivity. But then I go back into my waves of anger. I am angry. I have never been more scared or more angry in my life. Not after 9/11, not in my 8 years of wearing hijab, never in my life have I been this anxious. I pulled over this morning while driving because I felt nauseous like I would throw up. I didn't throw up and I wish I had because I still feel these knots in my stomach but I feel like these won't go away. Yesterday I read about hate crimes and the amount of hate crimes and their severity shocked me. I am scared for everyone I know and love.

I had an attempted burglary at my house last night. Someone cut a window screen with a blade or a knife and had OPENED the window which would allow them access into the house. My dad saw a window wide open and asked me with a panicked tone if I was okay. I will never forget that panicked tone. My initial reaction was to attribute that to his "paranoia" as I often assume of him, except for now I am in that paranoid camp. We didn't know if someone was inside the home and that feeling is open of the most terrifying feelings I have ever had.

We waited outside while the police officers checked the house to make sure no one was inside the home.  I observed as the police conducted their investigation while I was still numb from the election results. They took fingerprints from the window and dogs traced the scent of the person back to a nearby parking lot where it stopped - they probably took off in their car at that point. The police asked about motive - were valuables out and visible, were purses out, why would they choose this house? If this was a few days ago before the election, if this was at any other point in my life, I would have brushed it off and found comfort in the assumption that it was a one-time random burglary and that most of the time the perpetrator doesn't come back. But this was now, this was a couple days after the election, I cannot ignore or dismiss the possibility of it being a hate crime. Of course I don't know and am not certain and am not going to make any claims that it definitely was. As I suggested to the police officers that our neighbors know we're Muslim, that the timing of this has me a little concerned, they dismissed it - one of them responded without waiting even a beat, that that's unlikely. I found myself quickly noticing that all of them were white, I couldn't help it. I became hyper aware of my color and of theirs, of my feeling of being a second class citizen. Why is that unlikely? Until it's proven that it's not a hate crime, it can be, just like it can be anything else until proven otherwise. I would like to believe and I do hope to God it was just a random attempted burglary because that makes me less worried than if it was a targeted act of attempted violence motivated by politics, race, or religion.

I am hyper aware right now. Call me paranoid, I don't care. Do not dare tell me that everything will be okay because we both know you are bullshitting and none of us are certain about that. Do not dare tell me not to be afraid, not to be scared, not to worry about my parents and about Muslim children and other minorities who I know I love. You don't know my reality.
Please try to understand it. In the meantime, stand in solidarity with me as I stand in solidarity with you and we work hard to turn this anger into motivation to fight back or at least to endure, because Lord knows that's taking all of the emotional, physical, and mental strength and energy we have and then some.

Writing is therapeutic

Obviously I haven't written in here in forever but I'm going to start up again. Will write about a current experience I'm going through, and will likely make most posts private (will share link upon request) but some posts I'll make public. 

Things I learned while going through an extremely difficult time in my life

This has been the hardest time of my life. I graduated law school a semester early and my plan was to take the bar exam in February, so that I could get it over with and move on, and not have to take it over the summer in Ramadan while a few other time-consuming, fun things would be going on in my life. However, I was completely exhausted from a busy semester of school, the Chiberia weather was getting to me and causing seasonal depression and anxiety, and I was just not doing well. I think I had just reached my threshold of how much I could handle, and I needed a break, and didn't have the energy that it took at this point to go through the intense process of the bar exam.  I considered switching it to the later date but felt bad about it - I felt like I should have just been able to overcome anything and taken it. I felt guilty. I wanted to stick to my plan that I had drawn out so thoroughly and carefully, and I started feeling anxiety about having to study later while everything else was going on in my life. Here are a few things I learned during the process.

• We are our own worst enemy. We are our own biggest critic. We are harder on ourselves than others, and sometimes we need to give ourselves a break.
• Balance of life comes first, before anything. Health and happiness come first, then everything else. Everything else can wait. 
• In the grand scheme of things, most things won't matter. We can't take everything so seriously, because it's just life. 
• Everyone has a threshold. There's only so much you can handle, and at some point even the most calm and collected people just fall. And sometimes it's okay to spend some time just relaxing before getting back up. 
• Sometimes our plan may not be the best plan. God is the best of planners.
• And finally: everything happens for a reason. We just have to trust that hindsight is 20/20 and sometimes things will make sense later. 

Ramadan Reflection: The Art of Forgiveness

Ramadan is a time for spiritual rejuvenation, but because of the way our emotional, spiritual, physical, and mental states affect one another, in order to really spiritually cleanse ourselves we must go on an emotional detox. This means we have to get rid of negative feelings in our hearts ("black spots") such as anger, pride, grudges, envy, etc. We also have to seek forgiveness for ourselves and for others. We have to forgive others who have hurt us in any way, whether it's through small acts or in big ways. 

This Ramadan, I struggled with this. I had discussions about it with my friends, contemplated it, and read up on the psychology of forgiveness. How do you forgive someone who may not "deserve it," or someone who does not realize they did anything wrong? This is why forgiveness is truly an art of its own. 

Many articles and lectures about Ramadan telling us how to "do it right" mentioned that we must let go of grudges and that we must forgive and forget, but how exactly do we do this? Sometimes we may tell ourselves that we forgive someone but we're only lying to ourselves. If we still possess a feeling of "hatred" towards someone, it's a sign that we have not fully forgiven them. If we find that it is getting in the way of allowing us to focus on our spiritual worship and of improving ourselves, then it is a problem. And it does get in the way of our worship and spiritual well-being, because of the way God created us, subhanAllah. 

It only hurts ourselves when we have not forgiven someone else. I saw this quote and loved it: "Holding on to anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die." -Buddha

This is why we must forgive others and make sure we have a clean heart with no negative feelings or grudges towards other people. We may know that we should forgive others, but we may not know how to get ourselves to. That was my personal issue. But with one month of contemplation, reflection, and discussion, I think I started to figure it out a little. I hope that iA it can be beneficial to at least a few people out there. 

1. We must pray for ourselves and pray for them. 
God only gives us tests that He knows we can handle, but sometimes it feels like He overestimates us. The fact that we can handle it should give us the confidence and the drive to pass these tests. But we might not always be that strong. When we are wronged by someone else, we can react in different ways and this is a test from God. Once we realize this, we can pray that God makes it easier on us, to help us pass this test He has given us.

A friend sent me a prayer she had written before she went for Umrah, and I used some parts of this prayer for myself in Ramadan. Certain parts stuck out to me, and they are relevant here: 

"Oh Allah, You are the Turner of hearts, so turn my heart to forgive others. If I have wronged others knowingly or unknowingly, verbally or through my acts, turn their hearts to forgive me. Make the hearts of those around me softened towards me, and soften my heart. Allow me to purify my heart and rid my heart of diseases including anger, negative feelings towards others, and other diseases that I am unaware of." 

As part of our prayer, we can get specific and "vent" to God. You can literally pray for anything, using whatever words you want to. I already mentioned to pray for it to become easier for you to forgive, but you can also pray for more if it helps you feel better, which to me it does: for example, for them to realize their mistake, for God to soften their heart and swallow their pride and make them realize that they did something wrong, for them to not do what they did to you to anyone else, and for you to never hurt anyone else the way they hurt you. You can pray for God to help you understand why He put you through that as well, because there is always a reason, and I'll get more into this in #5. If a wound is fresh or if something really terrible happened, then ask Allah to take it away from you and replace it with something better. Here is a hadith that goes with that dua: 

Ahmad and Muslim reported from Umm Salmah that she said: "I heard the Prophet, peace be upon him, saying: "If a servant of Allah is afflicted with a misfortune and says 'Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un, Allahumma ajirni fi musibati wa akhlif li khairan minha' (Verily we belong to Allah and truly to Him shall we return. O Allah! Protect me in this calamity that has befallen and replace it with something better), Allah will accept his prayer, grant him reward for his affliction, and replace it with something better." She added: "When Abu Salmah (her husband) died, I invoked Allah in the words tuaght to me by the Prophet, peace be upon him, and Allah did grant me someone better than he, i.e., (He gave me) the Messenger of Allah (as a husband). 

One of the best ways to forgive someone is to pray for them and to genuinely mean it. This sounds crazy, but try it. I heard somewhere in an Islamic context that if one is envious of another they should pray for them to get more of whatever they have that makes one envious of them. That works here too. I already mentioned how we can pray for the person to realize their wrong and to soften their hearts, but we can and should also pray for their well-being, for them to forgive us in return for whatever we have done, and for them to gain the best in this life and the hereafter. This is literally what it means to "be the bigger person." 

This goes hand in hand with #2, which is that we must view their forgiveness from a different perspective. 

2. We must view their forgiveness from a different perspective. 
What if we were in their position? What if we were raised the same way they were raised and had had the same experiences as them? Would we have acted differently or acted similarly? Only God knows. We need to humble ourselves and realize that if we want God to forgive us for our mistakes which may be larger than theirs, we need to forgive them and we should want God to forgive them too. This is difficult to do, but it's necessary to sincerely try. We cannot be selfish when we consider this. Maybe God won't forgive them, but that's up to Him and not us. Only God can judge, and once we realize this we will let go of these feelings that consume us and get in the way of us living our life in the healthiest possible way. 

In the grand scheme of things, this person is another human being who makes mistakes just as we do, and they may be our Muslim brother or sister, and so we want the best for them. We must forgive them because we want God to forgive us too when we screw up, and we do, probably more than them but in different ways. It comes down to being as simple as that. We need to have some tough love on ourselves, and avoid victimizing ourselves in this process. 

3. We must try to forget, and in the mean time we may still feel hurt or upset, but we must realize that that's okay.
I have a story here: 

Once I was boiling up about something. I think I was talking about a bad situation to a friend, and this made it worst because when we talk about something from the past, in talking about it we are re-living it. There is a difference between venting about something and speaking about it just to speak about it. If you are over a situation or getting over it, don't "re-live" it by telling the whole story again. If you must tell the whole story again, tell it in a less emotional, more vague, matter-of-fact way. But going through the details of something will only make it worse. Yes, we do need to vent about things and we do need someone to listen and we do need advice, and that's okay when something is more recent and fresh. Personally I try to remind myself that the more time has passed since something or the more we've progressed in getting over something, the less we should be talking about it. 

Back to the story. As I was boiling up about this, my mom was in another room in the house and was reading Quran while listening to the recitation with her headphones on. She did not realize that her headphones were not plugged in all the way and so the recitation was on the speakers of her iPad and I heard it. But the way it softened my heart in an instant. I had never turned on Quran when I was angry before. This recitation of Mishary Al-Afasy though just changed my mood in an instant which was so powerful that it scared me slightly. 

So we need to realize that we will get angry from time to time. One way to avoid this is to not talk about it with others after we have already started the healing process. We must also avoid re-living it in our own heads, which is very common and only natural, but we need to fight it anyway. We will slip though, and sometimes we will think back to something and feel hurt. If we do feel angry we should deal with it in one of the many ways that Islamic teachings tell us to - whether it is through changing our physical position (sitting down, laying down, or standing) or by taking a shower or sleeping or listening to some Quran. We need to also realize that it is possible to forgive someone yet still feel hurt from their acts towards us. There is a difference between feeling angry towards someone, versus feeling hurt because of what someone did or said to us. We will feel sadness or disappointment from time to time, but we cannot that transform itself into anger towards the person again. And we need to continue to work on forgetting, which leads me into my next point. 

4. We must realize the power of time as a healer. 
Time is the best, and sometimes the only, healer. God makes our brains forget painful memories over time: so that our hearts can forgive and heal. We need to be patient and realize that it will get better with time. Sometimes fresh wounds seem like they will never heal. But whenever something bad happens, we need to keep that in mind and it will become easier for us to get through it. This is difficult for those who are not as patient, such as myself. To forgive is a test of patience. This point and the next go together, in that through time we will realize and understand the situation better


5. We must have faith in God's plans for us.
"But perhaps you hate a thing and it is good for you; and perhaps you love a thing and it is bad for you. And Allah Knows, while you know not." - [Quran 2:216]

Why did this person or these people hurt us in whatever small or large way, why did we go through whatever experience we did, and why did it occur at the time it did, with the people it occurred with? There is a reason for all of this. We may not understand it until later, though.

Think about it sort of in comparison to history: while an event is going on it makes absolutely no sense. There are only attempts to understand, but these are biased and only a slice of what is going on, influenced by media and propaganda and politics. Whatever we understand from it is only only years later, sometimes decades later, when it makes sense to historians and political commentators. One of the reasons for this is because the emotion of the situation is less strong and present, and there is more of a logical lens when analyzing it. 

This happens to us as well in these situations. It may be hard to forgive someone when there are more emotions involved, but later we realize why we were put through the situation. Whether it is to teach us a lesson, show us what to watch out for, learn about ourselves, or just because we had to get through that in order to get to where we are now. Having faith makes it easier for us to have the ability to forgive, and forgiving others in turn strengthens our faith. 

I'll end with a few quotes on forgiveness I really like: 

"To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you." -C.S. Lewis

"Forgiveness is not an occasional act; it is a constant attitude." - Martin Luther King Jr. 

Ramadan Reflection: Taqwa

I haven't written in here in about a year. Since that year I've completed my second year of law school, traveled a lot, and then now I'm back. Finishing law school in December of this year, just a few months, then I plan to do some more (non-legal) writing!

My other blog for traveling - ayycarumba.blogspot.com - has a bit on my China trip from last summer, and a little on my recent trip to Geneva in February. I still haven't written in it about Dubai, Oman, and Bahrain, where I went in December-January. I haven't had time to write or even think. Ramadan is a time for self-reflection, though, and as a result I always find myself writing a little bit in Ramadan. I try to limit myself so I can use Ramadan time towards reading Quran,etc. and to save the inspiration for after Ramadan. Clearly last year it didn't work.

This is something short and simple I wrote this Ramadan about Taqwa, loosely translated to "God-consciousness."

Tonight in the nightly prayer, I heard a verse that translates into “God loves those who are God-conscious.”  There are many benefits to fasting in Ramadan – spiritual, emotional, and physical. However, I realized that the largest benefit of fasting is that it makes one more God-conscious. While fasting I am forced to think before I do or say something, to make sure that it does not violate my fast: I have to think before I speak to ensure that I do not talk negatively of anyone, lie, or use foul language, and I have to think before I act to ensure I do not hurt anyone in any way and that I always act with good intention.

Fasting is the ultimate act of submission. If I wanted to eat, I could, and no one would know. I could create an image that I am fasting and secretly deceive it. There could be food in front of me and I will not eat it because I know that God is watching. To be “God-conscious” includes the realization that God is always watching; an elementary teaching but one that we frequently forget. It takes between 8 and 21 days to break an old habit or create a new habit.  Ramadan is 30 days: 30 days of thinking before speaking or acting, of constantly reminding oneself that God is watching and that we are liable for each and every one of our actions. The ideal hope is that this habit will carry on after Ramadan’s fasts are over. For me, this is the most rewarding outcome of Ramadan: this beautiful way in which God helps us become those who are God-conscious, whom He loves so much.

A Tribute to Pakistan

I made this video to show the daily life, hard work, and beauty of this country, from a bunch of pictures I took from my recent visits there. It is merely a non-professional effort to show the "other side" of the country, because lately it is portrayed as this violent, rural, war-zone in the media. Please feel free to view and share, & help combat the stereotypes. 

We cannot lose hope for Pakistan. This independence day, keep this country in your prayers.

#ThoughtsDuringTaraweeh

Finally, that feeling of just being blessed. That moment when you just "feel it." To attempt a description would be unjust. You don't know what I'm talking about unless you have felt it yourself, and if you have felt it, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

The beautiful abaya and scarf on the lady in front of me blew gracefully with the fan as I stared at it, focusing my eyes there while listening to the imam's recitation during Taraweeh. I understood some of the Arabic recitation, I didn't understand some. The fluctuation caused my mind to wander, attempting to stay focused, but I'm human and it's only natural. This time, my mind just went. There was first the point when the mind realized what the eyes were staring at, and it just looked so beautiful. The scarf and abaya matched, of course. It's sort of like when you're staring at someone and don't realize you're staring at someone because your mind is fixed on something else and you're deep in thought about something. And then you realize it, and it can get real awkward real quick. That's when concentration is best, and that's what I've heard is recommended (rather than close your eyes) when you're praying. Although sometimes I still do need to close my eyes, such as in the witr dua, when they pray for all the countries of the world and for ourselves and I understand most of it, alH. When my mind was wandering this time, and as I was becoming conscious of my subconscious thoughts, I found that one of them was looking forward to the witr prayer. This year, they added Burma to the prayer. Every year, new countries are mentioned in that witr prayer, and every year, more and more of these countries are Muslim nations.

I also noticed that I was standing and praying next to people of all ages, all races, and all professions. I thought of how my dad was going to Makkah soon for Umrah, in which all men wear white towels and you cannot tell apart a janitor from a homeless person from a doctor from a president. It's a beautiful thing and it captures the essence of equality. That led me to remember a few of Malcolm X's quotes in his autobiography, in which he talked about what it felt like to put his head down on the ground in complete submission and humility before God, and his shock upon seeing everyone pray together around the Kabah despite race. This led to his conversion, which led to a change in his message when he came back to the US and started preaching equality instead of revenge via black supremacy. He took what he learned from Islam as practiced in Makkah, brought it back with him, used it to help him change his approach in the Civil Rights movement, and essentially changed American history because this approach was successful. Islam is a part of American history, and now all of a sudden politicians are using "Islamophobia" to distract citizens from real issues, and all of a sudden they think Islam is a threat to America. Even though it helped shape American history, from the time of the Muslim slaves to the time of the Civil Rights Movement to now.

I understood some verses now, he was talking about hell and repeated that verse 3 times. He talked about heaven after that. I noticed that in the Quran they're always talked about together, and often heaven is more often mentioned than hell. He started crying and I felt jealous of the crying Arabs near me, who understood everything. They're right, only in the language of Arabic can you grasp the essence of God's words. Wow, it goes by faster when you're listening and paying attention, and when you can understand. Before I knew it, it was time for Witr. Like I mentioned, the witr prayer included prayers for ourselves, for forgiveness, for the countries around the world, and the imam cried with those behind him as he mentioned countries specifically. I loved this part.

This year we added Syria and Burma to the list. I anticipate that next year, unfortunately Iran will be on this list as well. It's so scary to think that so I'm going to stop anticipating what else could be on the list next year. The imam repeated the prayer asking for forgiveness three times, and he prayed for Burma three times. He prayed for Syria six times. With each repetition, we felt the power of prayer. What if one random person's prayer for Syrians in the US, in a Chicago suburb, is answered and that it leads to one child's life saved in Syria? I believe it could happen, subhanAllah. I felt connected, to those around me and to God. There's no bond like the spiritual bond you get when you pray or worship with others. And this connection to God that I felt - this is the blessed feeling I mentioned in the beginning. If anything, I felt guilty for even receiving this blessing, knowing that I did not do anything to deserve it, and probably, definitely, did not deserve it. It's true - take one step towards God and He takes two back towards you. This is also mentioned in Malcolm X's autobiography, & I think in the Bible as well. I took one step towards God after so long, and here it was: the most undeserved yet indescribable feeling of just "being blessed." SubhanAllah is right. 

Ramadan 2012

This Ramadan was the first in which I was working 9-5 shifts instead of being in school or at home. It is the same for many of my friends too, and around 3pm on every working day, I would sneak a break from my job as a law clerk in a civil rights organization and my friends and I would gchat about how ridiculously tired we are and how we start losing it around this time. We would complain from our air-conditioned offices as if we've never fasted before, though we all have. We would compare what parts of fasting are most difficult for us: for someone it would be the lack of coffee, for another it would be the inability to smoke while fasting, for another it would be the heat, and for the other, the lack of water. We would continue until one of us realizes how easy we have it, especially considering other countries' conditions. If I were to go back to my saved chat conversations and read any chat which took place after 2pm on a working day, I would probably be amused by our "loopy-ness."

While sharing our complaints via gchat, my complaint, like many of my friends, was the inability to "focus" on Ramadan because of being so busy with work. Back in college, we had a large Muslim community and fasting was easier. We would sleep during our breaks between classes, then stay up all night and eat and socialize. We would be able to "focus" on Ramadan in the traditional sense, in that we would be able to attend the night prayers, reflect during the night, and have get-togethers in which we discuss religious topics or self-improvement techniques. After graduating, everyone dispersed around the city and country, and there is no tight-knit group to do this anymore with. Except my family, I guess. My Pakistani-immigrant parents have a different idea of what it means to practice Islam and celebrate Ramadan. My younger brother has a completely different idea from myself or my parents. I, on the other hand, am still trying to figure out how to "celebrate Ramadan" when I unfortunately cannot "focus" on it the way I did in the past years because of my work schedule.


After about a week of this struggle, I came upon one of those epiphanies that we all get: the kind that we feel dumb for realizing so late when it's right in front of us, or is just common sense disguised as something more complicated. Ramadan represents the religion of Islam in that, like many other religions, it's a way of life rather than a "set of tasks" to be completed. I realized that just fasting while at work, informing my Christian, Jewish, and Agnostic co-workers about why I'm starving myself in the midst of a July Chicago heat-wave, and stopping myself from caring when someone bumped into me in the downtown rush hour traffic - was all "celebrating" Ramadan. I remembered that I was not just fasting from food and water but also from anger, lying, gossiping, listening to vulgar music, and swearing. These were all things I could "practice" throughout the course of my daily life, through Chicago rush hour commuting and the 9-to-5 workdays. This may even be better, I thought, because the purpose of Ramadan was to try to kill bad habits and develop good ones, and these were small yet significant aspects of daily life that I would be able to continue after Ramadan, hence the point of the holy month. 


Needless to say, during my sneaky gchat conversations at work, I stopped complaining about "being too busy to celebrate Ramadan," and instead, celebrated Ramadan. 

Light Upon Light

"Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The parable of His Light is as if there were a Niche and within it a lamp: the Lamp enclosed in Glass: the glass as it were a brilliant star: lit from a blessed Tree an Olive neither of the East nor of the West whose Oil is well-nigh luminous though fire scarce touched it: Light upon Light! Allah doth guide whom He will to His Light. Allah doth set forth Parables for men: and Allah doth know all things."


For Arabic: http://quran.com/24/35

Stay Strong Pakistan, the World is Praying for You.

Meray Log, defined as "My People"

Pakistanis are a beautiful people, all going through a collective struggle and just trying their hardest to get by, the only ways they know how.

Their courage, patience, and strength is far more than any of ours could probably ever be.

Stay strong Pakistan, the world is praying for you.