{"id":57849,"date":"2025-11-27T21:13:28","date_gmt":"2025-11-27T18:13:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/?p=57849"},"modified":"2025-11-27T21:13:28","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T18:13:28","slug":"the-abode-of-faith-the-refuge-of-hearts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/27\/the-abode-of-faith-the-refuge-of-hearts\/","title":{"rendered":"The Abode of Faith\u2026 the Refuge of Hearts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Babiker Ismail<\/strong><\/p>\n

The place where revelation descended and faith took root\u2026<\/p>\n

Its sands embrace the remains of the greatest of those who ever walked the earth, and the kindest of all whose palms ever touched the world\u2026<\/p>\n

Whenever worries overwhelm me, I head toward it. It stretches out its arms and holds me with the tenderness of a mother welcoming her returning child\u2026<\/p>\n

My eyes are soothed by the sight of those sacred places\u2026<\/p>\n

My feet gather dust in its courtyards\u2026<\/p>\n

And I extend my hand to touch\u2014without exaggeration or innovation\u2026<\/p>\n

My soul rests, becomes content\u2026<\/p>\n

And my heart fills with faith and certainty, and I return more capable of enduring life, pushing through its crowds\u2026 grateful, thankful, blessed.<\/p>\n

That coastal cosmopolitan city has changed\u2014once filled with people from every direction\u2026<\/p>\n

Pearls of the sea\u2026 shells\u2026 and much foam\u2026<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t wander much through its alleys\u2026<\/p>\n

Though I longed to revive memories of past years\u2026<\/p>\n

A young, handsome taxi driver picked me up from the airport. His tongue carried that beloved Jeddawi accent. It seems his family came long ago and settled there.<\/p>\n

He asked: \u201cIs this your first time in Jeddah?\u201d<\/p>\n

I said: \u201cWhen were you born?\u201d<\/p>\n

He replied: \u201cIn 2002.\u201d I said: \u201cMy first visit was six years before you were born\u2026 perhaps even before your father met your mother.\u201d<\/p>\n

He laughed, blushing\u2026<\/p>\n

The greatest change I saw was in the people\u2026<\/p>\n

Especially the youth of both genders. The traditional men\u2019s attire has almost vanished, replaced by Western clothing. Professor Abdullah Al-Tayeb once traced the origin of trousers back to the Turks\u2014who are not far from us, but in the very heart of the Ummah\u2026<\/p>\n

As for the young women, they still wear the open black abayas\u2026 but without face veils. The headscarf has receded a little to reveal the front of their beautiful black hair\u2026<\/p>\n

A few leave their curly hair falling on the sides of their faces without a scarf at all\u2026<\/p>\n

Their faces covered with layers of colors, creams, and moisturizers, appearing like photoshopped images\u2014lighting, warmth, and sharpness adjusted to taste, mood, and age group\u2026<\/p>\n

I saw an elderly woman at the airport eating beneath her niqab, lifting it slightly with her free hand. I remembered Qasim Amin, Safiya Zaghloul, and the day when the veil and shawls were cast aside\u2026 History repeats itself again and again, without lessons learned\u2026<\/p>\n

As for non-Muslim women in the holy land, they no longer place the light scarf upon their heads. They wear whatever they wish without hesitation or fear\u2026<\/p>\n

You no longer hear loud Qur\u2019an recitation from mosques. Only the adhan is broadcast through speakers. It reminded me of when Egyptian actresses living in Garden City complained about loud mosques, and when Sheikh Shaarawi\u2014then Minister of Religious Endowments\u2014restricted loudspeakers in that district. How similar today feels to yesterday\u2026<\/p>\n

I also noticed the absence of children and youth in mosques, and how Qur\u2019an memorization circles\u2014once abundant\u2014have nearly disappeared\u2026<\/p>\n

Most worshippers now are middle-aged or elderly, with only a handful of youth in some mosques.<\/p>\n

I sat aboard an Airbus 320 full of passengers\u2014its tickets cheaper than the national carrier for those without much baggage\u2026<\/p>\n

When the engines began warming up\u2026<\/p>\n

A warm voice recited the Traveler\u2019s Supplication:<\/p>\n

\u201cGlory be to Him who has subjected this to us, for we could never have accomplished it on our own, and surely to our Lord we will return.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Then the engines roared\u2026<\/p>\n

I heard the captain\u2014Ahmed\u2014speak between the rising thunder of the turbines:<\/p>\n

\u201cCrew, remain seated for departure\u2026 Tawakkalna \u2018ala Allah.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

He pushed the throttles forward\u2026<\/p>\n

The aircraft surged down the runway, unleashing heat and sparks\u2026<\/p>\n

Then we rose high above the folds of clouds\u2026<\/p>\n

And I murmured:<\/p>\n

\u201cWere they created from nothing, or are they the creators?
Or did they create the heavens and the earth? No\u2014they lack certainty.
Do they possess the treasures of your Lord, or are they in control?
Do they have a ladder to heaven to eavesdrop? Let their listener bring clear proof\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

As I murmured, my eyes fell upon the Tweet of the \u201cGreat of Sudan\u201d<\/em>:<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you Trump\u2026 Thank you Bin Salman\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

And praise be to Allah in every state, in this life and the next\u2026
My heart yearned for the days when we said: \u2018He who planted us other than God\u2014let him uproot us.\u2019<\/em>
And \u2018America has approached its torment,\u2019<\/em> now suffering silently beneath his boot\u2026
And Allah has His ways among His creation\u2026<\/p>\n

Place your trust in Allah when your plane lifts you high among the clouds\u2026<\/p>\n

For faith remains alive in hearts\u2026 and in rituals\u2026<\/p>\n

No matter what the wicked and ill-omened desire.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Babiker Ismail The place where revelation descended and faith took root\u2026 Its sands embrace the remains of the greatest of those who ever walked the earth, and the kindest of all whose palms ever touched the world\u2026 Whenever worries overwhelm me, I head toward it. It stretches out its arms and holds me with the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":57850,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57849"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57849\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57851,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57849\/revisions\/57851"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}