Reflection 34 – How My Bird Taught Me HOPE

My elder son simply LOVES animals! He always dreams of living in a house on his own, where he gets to keep different types of animals. For me, he reminds me of Ace Ventura, in which animals and birds are roaming around him everywhere he goes. I myself wasn’t really much of a pets ’ person; my mom’ s fear of any moving creature meant that I really didn’t have much of an option. It was mainly my wife’s courage along with my son’s passion that I began to significantly change, and gradually but surely pets began to have a place in our home. And we went through the typical list from birds to turtles to rabbits to ducklings! Myself, I really LOVE birds, but my main problem with having them as a pet, as you might expect, that unlike dogs or cats you can’t really interact and play with them much unless you have wings .

Almost close to a year after our return to Egypt, my elder son along with myself began to entertain the idea of getting a pet. Since I wasn’t much of a fan of cats at that time, we decided to get a bird. However, we wanted something that we can at least have some fun with, and we were successful through a friend of my brother-in-law to get a bird that was somehow playful. One of the rules I had was to keep the bird uncaged inside our living room for a decent amount of time throughout the day so that we offer it some freedom and also to get to play with it as much as we can. And so we did! Until one day something totally unexpected happened….

I was going into the living room and the bird as usual was standing at the tip of the curtain rod above the window. For some unknown reason, I opened the window for a couple of seconds to do something and in a split of a second I saw nothing else than our lovely bird finding its REAL freedom within the vastness of the sky . A quick flashback came to my mind. When we used to live in California my younger son (at that time, probably he was 1.5 years old), had this strange habit whenever we would put our birds in our balcony (in their cage of course), he would go unnoticed before we leave our home and simply open up the door of the cage (like father, like son ). And yes they would simply fly out! Now back to our flying birdie.

I was really sad. On the one hand, I was getting attached much to the bird, and on the other hand my elder son would be devastated. But what can I do? The bird simply found its way in the sky! However, for some reason I decided to give it a shot and try to do anything to get it back! I went down to the street scoping with my eyes everywhere hoping to see any glimpses of the bird. Strangely enough, I heard its unique sound as I wandered aimlessly in the street. With the help of a security guard, we were able to identify its place in an opposing building chirping in the balcony. I got really excited and we went to that apartment only to find out the owner of the apartment was at work and would not come back before several hours! Will the bird stay for a few more hours or will it fly?! On my way to the mosque back and forth going to duhr (noon) prayers, I would hear the bird chirping and I would pray to Allah to get it back. Honestly, as much as I prayed, I couldn‘t believe that we can get it back. I couldn‘t wrap my mind around it. I went back home and a couple of hours passed by until I went to pray asr prayers. My kids were about to come back and I was getting nervous how I would convey this bad news to my elder son. Anyhow, I kept praying to Allah hoping that things would turn out differently. On my way back from the mosque, I saw my kids ‘ school bus arriving and my wife standing in the street talking to the security guard. It turned out our birdie got probably bored from that first balcony and decided to fly to the adjacent building resting on the exact edge of the outer part of the window of an apartment in the fourth floor as far as I can recall. It was more like a movie scene! A bird chirping out loud from that building, a bunch of people along with my family gathered in the street trying to see the best possible way to get the bird back. And that was DEFINITELY no easy job! My wife – OUR SUPERHERO- along with my elder son were the ones to take on that difficult task. They were permitted to enter the apartment where the bird was staying (at the tip of the window) and with some superwoman tricks were able to lure the bird back into the apartment and then safely into their hands!

For me, seeing the bird again in my wife‘s hand meant one thing: EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE IF ALLAH WILLS IT TO HAPPEN! Full Stop. What is the statistical probability of regaining a bird from the vastness of the sky? Probably ZERO! For the four of us, it was definitely a message of HOPE and good thoughts sent from God to us. That specific day was a turning point in my ALS journey. Since that day, the hope of being cured was solidified into my subconscious. Allah is CAPABLE of anything. We just need to maintain that hope and confidence in him. Nothing was more beautiful for me than ending the day with the esha (night) prayers in the mosque where the Imam recited part of Surat Al-talaq ending with this amazing ayah that was very timely:

ٱ للَّه ٱُلَّذِى خَلَقَ سَبْعَ سَمَٰوَٰتٍۢ وَمِنَ ٱ لْأَرْضِ مِثْلَهُنَّ يَتَنَزَّلُ ٱ لْأَمْرُ بَيْنَهُنَّ لِتَعْلَمُوٓا۟ أَنَّ ٱ للَّه عََلَىٰ كُلِّ شَىْءٍۢ قَدِيرٌۭ وَ أَنَّ ٱ للَّه قََدْ أَحَاطَ بِكُلِّ شَىْءٍ عِلْمًۢا ١٢

Allah is the One Who created seven heavens ˹in layers˺, and likewise for the earth. The ˹divine˺ command descends between them so you may know that Allah is Most Capable of everything and that Allah certainly encompasses all things in ˹His˺ knowledge. I was being reminded through the words of Allah that he is CAPABLE of everything. And although I knew this ayah from before, Allah decided that I needed to see it with my eyes! PS: I am thankful for my wife for reminding me of this story and encouraging me to write about this message of HOPE .