unHeard
It is a truth universally acknowledged that humanity often finds lies easier to believe than truth.
-Audrey Frank
The sun had set and it was time for salat-al-maghrib. The prayer rugs had been carefully laid out to face Mecca, the Islamic city which is revered and honored as the holiest city in the religion of Islam and the central place of prayer for Muslims. Seven-year-old Areefa stood quietly beside her mother, listening for instruction. Today she would officially begin praying salat. She had dressed carefully, making sure only her face, hands, and feet were visible.
“Stand up straight and make sure your feet are close together, pointed toward the qiblah my daughter,” her mother reminded, demonstrating on her own mat. “Now, let’s make our intention.”
I am going to pray salat, thought Areefa to herself, just as she had been taught.
Now her mother lifted her hands to either side of her chest, then crossed them, her right hand over her left. Areefa imitated her slowly and carefully.
In Arabic, Areefa’s mother began the familiar chant, “God is the greatest.” For several more minutes, she quietly intoned the prescribed prayers and positioned her body accordingly. Areefa joined in easily, having watched and listened to this special time of prayer since she was a small girl. After the final prayer, Areefa and her mother looked at each other. Her mother’s face was beaming.
“Well done, my daughter! You are a faithful girl.”
Areefa smiled back shyly. She was a compliant, obedient child and always respected her parents.
As Areefa grew older, she became adept at praying salat. One day when she was nine years old, after performing the required prayers, she asked her mother a question that had been burning in her mind for weeks. “Mother, why must we pray in Arabic, and not our own language?” It made no sense to Areefa that God required her to pray in a language she did not understand. Didn’t he create all languages? Perhaps it was shameful to even question him.
Her mother looked up from the rice she was sorting, her face clouding with annoyance, and answered, “My daughter, this is how it has always been done. Do not ask questions.”
Areefa was dissatisfied with her mother’s dismissal and silently determined to search until she found an answer that made sense. Areefa was a truth seeker. Her intellectual hunger was growing and the questions inside her heart were also increasing. They would not go away even if she tried to ignore them.
Areefa had sensed God pursuing her since she was a small child. Deep down inside, she believed that he didn’t object to her inquisitive mind. She felt compelled to search him out and find out everything possible about him. She wanted to talk to God about all the details of her life, not only perform prescribed prayers at prescribed times every day in a language not her own. Surely God the Most Kind and the Most Merciful would not rebuke her for wanting to know him as personally as possible.
Would he be angry with her, she wondered?
From Covered Glory: The Face of Honor and Shame in the Muslim World, Chapter 14, by Audrey Frank. To read the rest of Areefa’s story, get your copy of Covered Glory here.
Areefa and I were born on opposite sides of the globe, in different decades, in different cultures. But as she shared her story with me the first time, I was struck by how similar our journeys had been. She, a devout Muslim girl who wanted very much to please God, and I, a devout Christian girl who wished the same. Both following rules and rituals, both seeking approval from God and our parents, both bubbling over on the inside with a desire to be heard by Him.
Both unsure if He wanted to listen to a girl who had been told she should remain silent, restrained, reserved… a censored girl who was made to believe that she was not worth listening to.
Both recognizing, though not understanding it until much later, the voice of Jesus calling us to follow Him into a place of
honor instead of shame,
answered instead of ignored,
delivered instead of imprisoned,
empowered instead of silenced,
respected instead of disregarded,
…heard.
My sheep listen to my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; no one will snatch them from my hand (John 10:27-28, NET).
Jesus heard Areefa, and Jesus heard me. Jesus hears you today.
You are not unHeard.
Lord, thank you for hearing me. Bring me out of the silence. I hear Your voice and I want to follow You. Amen.
Glossary of terms:
salat: (Arabic) obligatory, ritual prayer performed five times per day by Muslims.
salat-al-maghrib: (Arabic) the fourth prayer period of the Muslim day, occurring just after sunset.
qiblah: (Arabic): the direction of the Kaaba, a stone structure in Mecca. The Kaaba is the most sacred site in Islam. Muslims are to face the Kaaba when they perform salat.
Some lies seem to be written on hearts in permanent ink, graffitied in different languages across cultures and continents, yet all meaning the same. unWorthy. unLoveable. unSeen. unHeard. unKnown. unClean. unDefended.
At The Truth Collective, we are seeking to uncover the lies and help people believe what is True. We are proud to unveil our latest project, the unGallery, premiering in Charlotte, NC, October 10-11. Global artists have contributed exquisite expressions of the lies we often believe, and the Truth that sets us free. I hope you will join us by reserving your space here. Be sure to use the code AudreyFrank for a 30% discount.
As we approach the unGallery premier, I will be unpacking these unTruths at our weekly storytime. Join me as we uncover lies and believe Truth together.
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