In times of distress and pain, time stops, and the instant freezes.
Zahra was at the door, waiting for Ahmad to get back for the evening meal, which was also the breakfast meal, as it was Ramadan time. However, on that day, Ahmad got back home carried on some young men’s shoulders.
She could see at a distance a small crowd making slow advances from the end of the street. The echo of their voices as they were repeating collectively”La Ilaha Illa Allah” was deeply resonating in her heart and mind. The small group stood shortly in front of her, putting Ahmad’s lifeless body to the ground.
Leila, slipping between the adult’s legs, bent and put her head on the chest of her father, “Abi” she murmured. She shed a tear that expressed a precocious awareness of the event’s magnitude for a six-year-old little girl.
Zahra was still waiting at the door. Her senses seemed to no longer constitute a medium between her being and the world. Some women from the neighborhood were hugging her and uttering words that she was unable to hear.
How many days and nights had she imagined, in her distress as a Palestinian woman, the possibility of the loss of her husband. And, every sunset, she waited for Ahmad at her one-room home doorstep, invoking God to protect him and thanking Him when he finally stood in front of her healthy and safe.
How many times has she shivered with all kinds of emotions on the doorstep when Ahmed was late.
And here he was today, arriving at the usual time, but in such a different way.
When time stops, seconds, minutes, and hours become similar, the heart beats at an exceptional pace, and the mind assimilates, absorbs, and analyzes details at another rhythm. Then the ability to grasp events comes back, slowly, by the miraculous mercy of God.
Zahra is making a step forward now. She is touching with her fine fingers the beloved face of Ahmad, illuminating with unparalleled beauty.
Ahmad had the honor of shahadah. He passed away for Palestine, for dignity and justice. Is she not now the wife of the shaheed? Zahra is bending to take Leila in her arms and raises her head in a graceful movement. The eyes full of pride, she smiles.
