It was in March 2016, over a year since I signed up to work for a news channel in the Republic of Congo. I had applied for and my holidays had been approved. I arrived on Air Ivoire in February 2015 but I opted for Ethiopian Airlines for my return to Accra.
If you don’t mind, I’d share my reasons. Air Ivoire ferried us to Abidjan where you stayed in the airport for close to 12 hours before flying over to Pointe Noire. Ethiopian takes you to Addis Ababa and ‘pampers’ you with a night stay in a hotel before you leave for Accra.
So there I was aboard Ethiopian heading for Addis that Thursday afternoon. I opted to join my prayers – Zuhr and Asr before boarding. I was left with reading, listening to audio books, sleeping and twisting and turning in my seat plus stretching my legs once a while.
For me, it was all about waiting to reach Addis to say my last two prayers for the day. But before long, a prayer situation caught my eye. A stout, fair man had spread his mat and was offering his prayers on board. When he was done, he beckoned another man to do same.
I whispered a word of prayer for them and for my friend, Wahany Sambou. Wahany is a Senegalese pal who bought a prayer mat for me after seeing me pray with my handkerchief at the office. I carried the mat on me because I expected to pray in Addis Ababa.
So we reached Addis Ababa and I got to my hotel, with my hausa cap balanced on my head, I went for dinner and there, a man walked up to me and said, ‘If you want to pray, this is the direction,’ – pointing me in the direction of prayer (the Qiblah) – ‘Alfa, don’t just be Muslim, look it,’ I advised myself of course after thanking him for his unsolicited generosity.
After dinner, I reverted to my room, ‘killed’ the remaining battery on my laptop after putting the charger in my main luggage. Prayed and slept till the receptionist called to say I needed to prepare for breakfast and to leave to the airport. Discharged Fajr, breakfast and back on board.
Allah brought us back home, it was a slow month of being away from work – at a point it felt too long for someone who was taking the first vacation in his professional life. Then it was time to return to base. The Kotoka hustles is topic for another day but relished getting back to Addis Ababa.
It was a Friday, I was sure gonna miss Jum’ah. For some reason oboy failed to join Zuhr and Asr. Flight delayed for over 90 minutes and eventually we took off. I was sandwiched in the middle row between a Nigerian lady going to South Korea and Chinese heading somewhere.
We left Accra behind and were well above Nigeria when I remembered it was time to discharge Zuhur and Asr. With Wahany’s mat I spotted the most spacious place for the motions. I spread out the mat and ‘they’ were nice.
The two men seated where I spread the mat would adjust their feets and one will even clear his food tray to allow me more space. Effect? A Ghanaian man came over. Asked of Qiblah, I said it didn’t matter under the circumstance, shall we pray?
We did, and comfortably so. Finished, shook hands and returned to our respective seats just then another guy walks up and demands for the mat, he also discharges his prayer and yet another person.
So there we were, a community of Muslims on board the flight. That act by the man on my return in March had coalesced and created that ripple effect of persons hitherto unknown to each other submit in prayer to our lord, Allah.
A lesson has since stuck with me and it is, to do right – be it via words or deeds – in whatever situation one finds himself. Allah sees and will reward you if your intentions are right. But people will also see and learn – you will become a beneficiary of that good whenever they so act upon what from you they learnt.
And people whoever they are will respect another’s worship if and only if they are open and fair – minded. That is the very basis of peaceful coexistence, isn’t it? I laud those two men who ensured that we could pray in a conducive atmosphere even it it meant they had to adjust their legs for a while.
May Allah bless that man and his brother for being the signposts, ya Allah, bless my friend Wahany for his mat and accept the prayers that we offered high above the ground and those nice non-Muslims grant them more understanding of and Islam itself. Ameen.
If you don’t mind, I’d share my reasons. Air Ivoire ferried us to Abidjan where you stayed in the airport for close to 12 hours before flying over to Pointe Noire. Ethiopian takes you to Addis Ababa and ‘pampers’ you with a night stay in a hotel before you leave for Accra.
So there I was aboard Ethiopian heading for Addis that Thursday afternoon. I opted to join my prayers – Zuhr and Asr before boarding. I was left with reading, listening to audio books, sleeping and twisting and turning in my seat plus stretching my legs once a while.
For me, it was all about waiting to reach Addis to say my last two prayers for the day. But before long, a prayer situation caught my eye. A stout, fair man had spread his mat and was offering his prayers on board. When he was done, he beckoned another man to do same.
I whispered a word of prayer for them and for my friend, Wahany Sambou. Wahany is a Senegalese pal who bought a prayer mat for me after seeing me pray with my handkerchief at the office. I carried the mat on me because I expected to pray in Addis Ababa.
So we reached Addis Ababa and I got to my hotel, with my hausa cap balanced on my head, I went for dinner and there, a man walked up to me and said, ‘If you want to pray, this is the direction,’ – pointing me in the direction of prayer (the Qiblah) – ‘Alfa, don’t just be Muslim, look it,’ I advised myself of course after thanking him for his unsolicited generosity.
After dinner, I reverted to my room, ‘killed’ the remaining battery on my laptop after putting the charger in my main luggage. Prayed and slept till the receptionist called to say I needed to prepare for breakfast and to leave to the airport. Discharged Fajr, breakfast and back on board.
Allah brought us back home, it was a slow month of being away from work – at a point it felt too long for someone who was taking the first vacation in his professional life. Then it was time to return to base. The Kotoka hustles is topic for another day but relished getting back to Addis Ababa.
It was a Friday, I was sure gonna miss Jum’ah. For some reason oboy failed to join Zuhr and Asr. Flight delayed for over 90 minutes and eventually we took off. I was sandwiched in the middle row between a Nigerian lady going to South Korea and Chinese heading somewhere.
We left Accra behind and were well above Nigeria when I remembered it was time to discharge Zuhur and Asr. With Wahany’s mat I spotted the most spacious place for the motions. I spread out the mat and ‘they’ were nice.
The two men seated where I spread the mat would adjust their feets and one will even clear his food tray to allow me more space. Effect? A Ghanaian man came over. Asked of Qiblah, I said it didn’t matter under the circumstance, shall we pray?
We did, and comfortably so. Finished, shook hands and returned to our respective seats just then another guy walks up and demands for the mat, he also discharges his prayer and yet another person.
So there we were, a community of Muslims on board the flight. That act by the man on my return in March had coalesced and created that ripple effect of persons hitherto unknown to each other submit in prayer to our lord, Allah.
A lesson has since stuck with me and it is, to do right – be it via words or deeds – in whatever situation one finds himself. Allah sees and will reward you if your intentions are right. But people will also see and learn – you will become a beneficiary of that good whenever they so act upon what from you they learnt.
And people whoever they are will respect another’s worship if and only if they are open and fair – minded. That is the very basis of peaceful coexistence, isn’t it? I laud those two men who ensured that we could pray in a conducive atmosphere even it it meant they had to adjust their legs for a while.
May Allah bless that man and his brother for being the signposts, ya Allah, bless my friend Wahany for his mat and accept the prayers that we offered high above the ground and those nice non-Muslims grant them more understanding of and Islam itself. Ameen.
This! In the name of food 😕😐😂
No comments:
Post a Comment