A child’s letter to God
Tmr Mohsin
Dear Allah,
This is me Abdullah. I’m three years old. I’m writing this letter to you from Jannah as I was killed in yesterday’s air-strike in Palestine. You remember? No! Not the one who was exhumed from under the debris of a school building after three days—whose soiled body pieces were gathered from around by some volunteer people wearing orange helmets; and was put in white shroud and buried for eternal sleep! That is another Abdullah…my maternal cousin. I’m other Abdullah. I was mutilated yesterday–the very moment when my widow mother was giving me false promises that we will be fine very soon & all these oppressors would be brought to justice.
No sooner she finished these consolatory words, amidst sobs, a monstrous bomb fell in the balcony of our house. What followed next? I couldn’t see. Maybe I forgot to say In-Sha-Allah when Ammi was invoking your divine intervention! Now you remember!
My dear God, I hope you are doing good. Well you are God , so obviously you must be doing well. How silly of me to enquire about your well-being. Hahaha! Pardon, but what I do? I’m used to silly things because every question of mine was deemed silly. Every voice I uttered sounded sheer noise, hence fell on deaf ears.
Every act that my feeble toddler body resorted to defend & rescue me & my family from getting killed, maimed and butchered is shown to the world an act of Terrorism. Our cries and sighs are ridiculed. Our sufferings serve as an amusement to entertain viewers. The pain and mental agony that my people are daily subjected to, for the reason that I haven’t so far been able to figure out, is one of the favourite pastimes of my oppressors that elevates their mood. But I’m not disgruntled nor complainant. Infact I’m thankful to you for not made me useless. After all I’m a clear manifestation of your divine teaching that nothing in universe is created without purpose. As you said:
“We did not create this heaven and earth and all that lies between them in vain. That is the fancy of those who denied the Truth ( Al Quran 38:27)
I mean look at me & millions of my brothers & sisters alike. We are fortunate of being only children on the face of the earth that are ‘Multipurpose Beings’. For instance our existence is enough to be conceived as a looming threat to whom…? I don’t know.
Our voice in resistance to forced evictions from our houses has such a strange effect that casts spell; & tempts the fingers at triggers to move own their own. It’s not their fault when 0.22 inch caliber bullets are indiscriminately showered at babies, sick, women & elderly people because the poor Israeli defence forces (IDF) are helpless at the hands of temptation caused by our rebellious yet magical voices.
We are so wicked creatures that whenever my little hands try to pick up stones, oh sorry! Pebbles to stop the advance of gigantic machines from bulldozing our schools & hospitals & Mosques & graveyards & offices & community centres & dispensaries & crops…all the world powers are not only on the same page to condemn it , but giving tacit approval to the tyrants to get rid off of us, in the words of Ben Shapiro ” The sons of b*****s” .
Dear Lord , when we resist all the efforts, intended to continue the mushrooming of illegal settler colonies on my territories at the cost of displacement of my people, with sticks, slings, slogans & stones…all the major media houses unanimously label me & my people “Savage Terrorists” which in turn paves the way for ” The saviour of humanity Jets” to carpet bombing civilians & flatten the residentially areas ,that afterall harbour such a vicious, pestilential, cruel, sub-human young terrorists like me.
So how can I be ungrateful of my existence? When you know your existence is a luxury to lot many people. For some you are the market to sell their weapons; manufactured to eradicate you , for some to justify their genocide & for others to do the politics & so on…
My Dear God! I , however, am writing this letter to ask you some questions that are troubling me here.
I was wondering whether you provided these ‘ men in uniform ‘ Toys in their childhood to play with or not?
If yes then why can’t they differentiate between plastic dolls & flesh laden babies?
Why are we treated as some ‘ items of pleasure ‘?
Why don’t our innocence garner sympathy from across the world?
Why our cries & shrieks are not getting traction from the leaders of Muslim world?
Are not my leaders supposed to be held accountable at the day of judgement?
O the listener of woes & sufferings, tell me am I blessed or cursed?
Yours truly
Abdullah
Resident of Palestine
Kashmir Images is an English language daily newspaper published from Srinagar (J&K), India. The newspaper is one of the largest circulated English dailies of Kashmir and its hard copies reach every nook and corner of Kashmir Valley besides Jammu and Ladakh region.
