--- Muhammad Latif <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> From: "Muhammad Latif" <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2006 16:38:58 +0000
> Subject: [al-Zawiya] Imam Zaid Shakir - Defender of the Flag: In Memory of Alia Ansari
> 
> Defender of the Flag: In Memory of Alia Ansari
> By Imam Zaid Shakir
> 10/25/05
> http://www.zaytuna.org/articleDetails.asp?articleID=108
> 
> This past Tuesday, Muslims celebrated ‘Id al-Fitr, one of Islam’s two great 
> festivals. For me, it was a beautiful day that began with a truly warm and 
> vibrant ‘Id gathering at the Zaytuna Institute. God afforded me a wonderful 
> opportunity to see friends who had been “missing in action,” to meet 
> enthusiastic new converts to the Islam, and to kiss so many babies I felt 
> like a politician. During that time, I was also able to break away from the 
> gathering to visit the graves of some distinguished Muslims buried in a 
> nearby cemetery. Visiting the local Muslim cemetery on ‘Id day is a practice 
> I have been able to maintain since my earliest years in Islam. They serve as 
> a solemn reminder that all of us have an appointment with the Angel of 
> Death.
> 
> I was blessed to stay at Zaytuna until the early afternoon when I departed 
> to attend a meeting at a local school, a reminder that we are in America and 
> sometimes, despite our best efforts to clear our schedules on the day of our 
> festivals, the requisites of our everyday duties intervene. After that 
> meeting, I was able to visit some of the Muslim families in the area. All of 
> those visits filled my heart with awe at the simple dignity of ordinary 
> Muslims, many of whom are struggling valiantly to survive in this sometimes 
> cruel, always challenging and complicated society.
> 
> The last of those visits was to the family of Alia Ansari, the 
> Afghani-American mother of six who was gunned down in central Fremont last 
> Thursday as she walked to pick up her children from school. The Ansari 
> family are everyday people—and, they are proud people. As I talked with 
> Alia’s husband, brothers, and cousins who were gathered in the family’s 
> humble apartment, it became clear to me that, most of all, they were proud 
> to be Ansaris, descendants of the companion of the Prophet Muhammad, peace 
> upon him, Abu Ayyub al-Ansari, and the great Muslim mystical sage, Khawaja 
> Abdullah Ansari. In Afghan society, they are people who are identified with 
> piety and they endeavor to live up to that identification, in their various 
> ways.
> 
> Alia Ansari migrated from war-torn Afghanistan at the age of 17. When her 
> father died shortly thereafter, she became a second parent to her younger 
> siblings. A life of hardship could not suppress her inner beauty, expressed 
> most readily in an irrepressible smile. Her husband, Ahmadullah Ansari, an 
> auto mechanic struggling to make ends meet for a family that includes six 
> young children, five of them girls, spoke glowingly of Alia’s martyrdom and 
> the place God has reserved for her in Heaven. Her story impressed on me the 
> truth embodied in the words of a poet who said, “Be yourself beautiful, and 
> you will find the world full of beauty.”
> 
> Her husband, contrary to the caricature of the vindictive, hateful, enraged 
> Muslim, mentioned how the family did not wish her martyrdom be treated as a 
> hate crime, because he did not want her death to be a source of agitation in 
> the area’s large Muslim community. He also mentioned that the family would 
> not want the murderer executed, because that would not bring his wife back. 
> His wife was a martyr, her place in Paradise secure—for him that was enough.
> 
> His gentle voice was most emphatic when he mentioned that he did not want 
> his wife’s death to be politicized. Rather, he wanted her spirit of love and 
> reconciliation to prevail after her passing as it had during her life. He 
> spoke of his desire that her funeral be a solemn service, where people of 
> all faiths could gather to remind each other just how important it is to 
> work to remove the pernicious stain of racial and religious hatred from this 
> society lest it lead to ever deepening spirals of senseless violence.
> 
> As we sat on the floor of their sparsely furnished living room to eat a meal 
> of traditional Afghan food, our gathering was overseen by four walls 
> decorated with only an unframed picture of the Ka’aba, and a tapestry with 
> Ayatu Kursi, the Qur’anic Verse of the Throne (2:255), printed on it. 
> Husband, brothers, and cousins gathered around to tell me more about just 
> who Alia Ansari was. They spoke proudly of a deeply religious individual who 
> embodied the true spirit of the “Ansar,” the Helpers. The original Ansar 
> were those Muslims in Medina who welcomed into their city and homes the 
> faithful believers who had migrated from Mecca, fleeing the persecution of 
> that city’s population. The Qur’an mentions the spirit the Ansar exhibited 
> in the following terms:
> 
> As for those who had previously established homes [in Medina], having 
> adopted the faith; they show their love and affection to those who migrated 
> to them [seeking refuge]. You will not find their hearts harboring any 
> desire for that given to those migrants; rather they give preference to them 
> over themselves, even though they are themselves afflicted with grinding 
> poverty. (59:9)
> 
> Alia was indeed a helper. In addition to her tireless and faithful service 
> to her immediate family, she was constantly helping relatives and neighbors, 
> many of whom themselves had recently migrated to this country from their 
> native Afghanistan. Her brother, Humayun, remarked that she did the work of 
> six people and never complained. A typical day might find her preparing 
> meals for the family, dropping the children to school, taking a neighbor 
> shopping, shuttling a newly-arrived relative to the immigration department, 
> watching a neighbor’s child, nursing a sick relative, or numerous other 
> tasks demanding the sacrifice of her time and energy.
> 
> Although never formally educated in Islam, she was a deeply devout and 
> spiritual individual. Her husband noted that she never missed a prayer. He 
> quietly added that she would stand for voluntary prayer every night until 
> she wept beseeching God to save her daughters from the ravages of the lewd, 
> violent, promiscuous youth culture of this country. Her deep spirituality is 
> illustrated by the following incident. A few days before her demise, she 
> told her husband that she had seen her deceased grandfather, an individual 
> well known for his righteousness, in a dream. The learned sage indicated 
> that the end of her worldly struggles was near, and a resting place in 
> Paradise would soon be hers.
> 
> As a pious Muslim woman, she never left home without her hijab, the 
> traditional head scarf worn by Muslim women. She was proud of her hijab. In 
> the aftermath of the attacks of September 11, 2001, some of her friends and 
> relatives, afraid of reprisal attacks, took off their hijabs. Alia 
> encouraged them not to compromise their religion, especially when they had 
> nothing to do with those crimes. As for herself, she told them that she 
> would never take off her hijab, even if someone put a gun to her head 
> demanding that she do so. Alia said that her hijab was her flag. She could 
> not have known as she began the fateful walk to her children’s school last 
> Thursday that her path would cross that of a lone gunman who in a single act 
> of mindless violence would bring a close to a life of dedication and 
> service. She could not have known that her grandfather’s words were so close 
> to fulfillment. She could not have known that she would soon die defending 
> her flag.
> 
> Among the believers are those who have been true to their covenant to God. 
> Among them are those who have given their lives, others patiently wait their 
> turn, having never weakened in their resolve. (33:23)
> 
> Imam Zaid Shakir
> Zaytuna Institute
> 10/25/05
> 
> The author requests that you share this article with non-Muslim friends and 
> neighbors.
> 
> _________________________________________________________________
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