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Whenever he enters the house
a breeze of happiness comes in with him
and covers everything in it
He is...
My father
And every single time, he asks us to change it to his favourite channel
The News
And I'm yet to see him once watch the news
Without becoming sad
I watch him, surprised
asking my self
I always feel happy whenever I watch my favourite channel
Why does my dad always get sad whenever he watches his favourite channel
My curiosity caused me watch the news with him one day
The broadcaster mentioned my beautiful country
she also mentioned
other countries I'd heard about
because I'd either traveled there
or my friends came from there
But the pictures were talking about
crying children
and angry parents
and blood and destruction
and burning cars
also
the most common word I constantly kept hearing in the news was
"Terrorism"
I looked at him and asked
why can't I see in my country
its sun that embraces the mountains and the valleys and the sea?
he answered :
"Because the smoke of the explosions, is covering the sun"
"Why don't I see happiness?"
"Why the tears of the children?"
"And the scream of the women?"
"And the anger of men?"
So he answered me sadly
while watching the screen
and in his voice
a shake I hadn't heard before
These are people
who've lost their parents and children and are filled with pain
I asked
Who is Terrorism
He flashed a glance at me
in it I saw
The tear of my father
He turned off the TV
and looked at me saying
it's a monster
born since the beginning of time
born with 'Qabeel'
when he decided to kill his brother 'Habeel'
It started growing
Feeding off every vice (evil)
and it kept on growing and growing
pushing people to unjustly hurt other people and plants and nature
overpowering the weak
Weeding itself into every community
Taking advantage of the weakness of some souls
to plant discord and distrust
Sometimes disguising itself in a mask of immortality
and other times, in one of piety
It scared me
It terrified me, that monster
I asked
from which country is it?
He laughed bitterly and said
It doesn't have a country my daughter
nor does it belong anywhere
nor does it have a Nationality
It has no identity
It seeks to rule every land to enslave it
and if the free and honourable people refuse to cave in
It tries to finish them off
exactly like what you've seen on the news
I asked in astonishment
And since the beginning of time
has no one tried stopping it?"
he sighed and said
The prophets and seekers of truth have fought against it
In every era
If it plants a thorn
the virtuous weed it out
and everywhere it tries to spread
the free surround it
and capture it
If it raises its head
The light rays of the sun of truth blind it
and so it sinks into the darkness of falsehood once more
my dad felt my fear
so he hugged me saying
don't be afraid my daughter
Allah has said
"They want to extinguish God's Light with their mouths
but God will complete His Light, even though the disbelievers hate it" [61:8]
The light of truth will shine above the smoke and explosions
I asked him instantly
"does terrorism have a religion?"
he answered me determinately
Terrorism has no religion
it fights religion because it makes humans better and greater
and it wants nothing but the destruction of humanity
It might
Cover itself in a disguise of religion sometimes
So that the stab is deeper
and the hurt is greater
But because of its hideousness
It only tricks the most naïve of people
Allah (s.w) says
"And say: Truth hath come and falsehood hath vanished away.
surely falsehood is ever bound to vanish" [17:81]
So don't be scared
as the nature of truth is to show itself and succeed
and the nature of falsehood is to surrender and break
and then he left
leaving me with a fear for a future with terrorism on one side
and every hope and eagerness for truth and peace on the other side
"What is the proof that terrorism has no religion?"
There is no religion
that allows *** and hurt
"Why have you chosen this topic?"
"I chose this topic because these days there's a lot of terrorism going on"
As a child, how do you feel about the future
I'm scared for a future with terrorism on one side
But am also really eager for truth and peace on the other side
