Love at First Sight

Last year I went to perform Umrah, while staying at Madinah, we met a family who were our acquaintance through some close relatives.

They live somewhere far from Jeddah and came here in their own vehicle. They were 5 members with 3 kids, 2 of them were girls and 1 was a boy. Out of those kids I got attracted towards a girl named Khadija, she was cute, extra slim, a little bit curly haired and bright shiny eyes.

I felt she was a bit shy and found her a little bit hesitant towards asking me for a mango which she saw in the fridge. The other two kids were bold enough to ask for mangoes and apples but she silently sat in my lap and did not utter a single word until I asked her. She nodded when I asked if she wanted a mango and gave it to her which she happily took from my hand and ran towards her mother to get it cut with the knife.Maybe I was missing my niece that day but the innocence of that child mesmerized me, I don’t know how it happened but I got attracted to that child in the first meeting infact in the first hour.

After all the discussions with the family I got to know that she was the only child of her parents and the most shocking news which shook my soul was that kid does not have pancreas since birth and she was on heavy dosage of medicines since then. Luckily the family can afford those expensive medicines which cost around PKR 15-20k per month, her parents even took her to Canada for getting the cure of that disease but since it was too risky to transplant and the other practices would not have saved her either , so they took her back to Saudia Arabia.

On hearing all this, I instantly got tears in my eyes and even right now while writing this blog I have tears in my eyes, she was nine years old but her body and growth had stopped due to heavy dosages of medicines to “STAY ALIVE”.  Physically she looked like 5 or 6 year old, and the way her mother showed patience while discussing this was commendable, may ALLAH give everlasting health to child and patience to her parents (Ameen).

The reason why I wrote this blog is to share an incident that shook my soul and made me realize how ungrateful I am to ALLAH. That day I realized that the problems for which I become ungrateful are nothing infront of those problems faced by many people around us. Khadija was another example,a child of such an innocent age, fighting for her life unknowingly, her family struggling to make their only child “STAY ALIVE” , and all of them don’t even know when it would be over (ALLAH FORBID).

This little incident, whenever I remember, gives me shiver down my spine and brings tears to my eyes. I immediately pray for that child with my heart and for her family too, don’t know what else to call it but I’d always call that child my “Love at First Sight” !!!