There is always an unusual feeling in the air during Islamic festivity, you might have guessed it but my family and I are Christians, so what could we possibly be the reason behind the unusual feeling during Muslim's celebration? My grandmother who used to be one of the most cherished member of our family died few years back, she lived with us for a very long time, she was the only member of my maternal family that I recognised but there was a lot of things different about her but you wouldn't notice because she was so free spirited. For a start, she was a Muslim living with a Christian family, She prays so diligently and never missed an hour of prayer, she was indeed a dedicated Muslim.
I mean you would think her being a Muslim might influence us in any way but instead of that it strengthens the family even more. My late grandmother never believed in the fact that we served different GOD, she believes the God we serve is one but we just call him different names. She made us understand that religion is meant to promote love not hatred for others, as a result of that whenever we go outside there and see people from different religions throwing insults at each other, we chose to abstain from such arguments because our grandmother made us understand what true devoted religious people should act like.
She was never about a specific religion, she believed in spirituality. Forming a personal relationship with God was her definition of a religion. As a result of her dedication, even as a Christian family we chose to celebrate Muslim's festivity with her as if we were truly Muslims, I mean you won't be able to tell the difference. She would say Islam is love, Islam is kindness, Islam is forgiveness. We put a lot of things in place so that she never feel like she was the only one celebrating Islamic festivity in our house. She believed love conquereth all and she was right, we wine and dine with her with joyfulness in our heart.
The most beautiful moment is during Ramadan fast, we usually join her to fast but as a child our reason was not just because we enjoyed fasting. My grandmother was a great cook and she prefers meals made with fresh fish not frozen food. So she usually have her separate pot of soup especially during Ramadan period, though normally she would give us out of it because she is extremely generous but in order for us to have larger share of the soup we chose to fast and gradually we began to enjoy the fast. Even after she passed my elder brother still ensures he completes the Ramadan fast, that was the kind of impact she had on us, teaching us to choose love over everything else.
During my days in school, I usually wear jalamia on Fridays, My grandmother bought it for me and my brother when she went to Mecca. It took people a while to know I was a Christian because they never believed a Christian could be so indifferent about Muslim traditions. Though I have a Muslim name given to me by my grandmother which made my whole religious identity more complex. Apart from wearing jalamia on Fridays I also wear it whenever I what to follow my late grandmother to EID prayer. I mean apart from the whole religious meaning attached to it, I always look good in it.
It has been years since my grandmother died but what she left behind is still being valued and celebrated. I mean we still celebrate eid - al- fitr and Eid al-Adha as if she is still with us. few weeks ago it was another time of the year of Islamic festivity eid - al- fitr, We make our usual dishes in the memory of her, My mom never really said much but I could tell she missed her mom. Some gestures speaks louder than words but she wasn't the only one missing our grandmother's presence. She was indeed an amazing woman that made an impact on the lives of everyone one of us, she was a light that shined so bright in any environment.
I never dealt with the impact of her death on me, truth be told I spent more time with her compared to my other siblings before I left for school. Has the lord would have it she died before I finished my national diploma. So I thought why not express how I truly feel about her for once, I'm aware I'm terrible at saying goodbyes so I chose to honouring memory is all I can do right now
They say we don't cherish the things we have until we lose them but I did cherished my grandmother but on days when her absence is so obvious, I wish I could have done more, I mean I could have probably made her smile more but how could I have known that our time together was limited. I wish I could display few pictures of her but I barely have any left apart from those in the family photo album that has nearly faded away, it had been almost 6 years already.
Time has a way of erasing our remains from earth has we move to the world beyond but even if time manage to do just that, her teaching and memories will forever live in us an evidence that a great being such as my grandmother once existed.
This write-up was inspired by weekly featured content titled "In loving memory" in hive learners community.
Cover image - 𝖣𝖾𝗌𝗂𝗀𝗇𝖾𝖽 𝗎𝗌𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝖼𝖺𝗇𝗏𝖺
All pictures are mine or else stated otherwise
