Samira, London
I’m here in Madina because of my daughter.
Background
Recently, my daughter approached me saying she had been trying to get pregnant and needed my help. (I work in alternative therapy). She had been to see her GP who had told her that because of the chemo-radiotherapy she had as a child, (she had leukemia), getting pregnant was impossible. I told her I would do what I could, but in the meantime her and her husband should make dua.
I arranged a visit with the homeopathic lady in my clinic and my daughter and I went to see her. As she was questioning my daughter about her fertility issues, we both looked at each other, and she asked me to quickly go to the pharmacy and get a pregnancy test and have my daughter take it before she prescribed anything, which we did. I showed her the test to confirm and she said, ‘MashaAllah, your daughter is pregnant!’. We couldn’t believe it. My daughter was shocked and kept asking, ‘How is this possible?!’. We were all overwhelmed but happy, alhamdulillah.
Hospital Appointment
My daughter and her husband went to the first scan and were told they were having twins, mashaAllah. Two weeks later they were called in for another scan. On the day of the second scan, I called my daughter and said that I wanted to go with her. She wasn’t too keen saying it was their baby and between her and her husband, but I was feeling anxious so I said I was coming. So, we spent the day together and in the late afternoon went to her appointment.
When we got to the hospital, I thought it was odd that we were going to the fertility unit, but I thought ‘I’m not going to panic’. We sat down, the BSL interpreter came (as her and husband use BSL sign language). They began the scan and began measuring etc. and then informed us that both babies would have ‘Spina Bifida’, and that because they are identical twins and share the same placenta, whatever happens to the one, would happen to the other. My daughter and her husband didn’t have a clue what the doctor was saying, even though it was being signed. They were just interested in getting a picture of the twins.
I kept asking questions again and again, because I knew my daughter didn’t understand. ‘What are the complications, risks, how could this have happened?’. The consultant was explaining and the more he was explaining…my daughter began to understand. Suddenly, she got it and she broke. She covered her ears and said, ‘I don’t want to hear anymore! I want to go to umrah, to Allah’s house and ask Allah to help’. She said ‘I’m not listening to anyone’ and stormed out the room, crying. Then her husband broke down and followed her. Then I broke down; the interpreter started crying, the consultant started crying…it was overwhelming.
We stayed at the hospital until late evening. They suggested to my daughter to abort. My daughter just said, ’Mummy, tell them to be quiet. If I kill my babies, it would be like I have killed all the babies in the world. I’m a Muslim. If Allah wants them, He will take them. I will carry them and look after them until the end’.
Umrah
So I spoke to my friend and said, ‘My baby wants to go to umrah’. My friend said, ‘Lets do it, sis! If your daughter wants to go to umrah, lets do it’. I thought, ‘Yes, why would it be hard? This is her wish. Its an ibadah and she wants to ask Allah for help’. So we asked the doctors if she could travel and they said it was fine as long as it was no longer than two weeks. I planned our trip quickly and now we’ve done our umrah and are here in Madina, alhamdulillah
My daughter and her husband both have strong iman. When you have strong iman you just keep going. You don’t question the situation. You only question if you have doubts or don’t want to accept what Allah has given you. Other members of the family have not been that strong. We need people around us to be strong and focussed at this time.
Own Personal Experience
I went through a lot with my daughter myself and now I might have to go through it with her twins. At three years old, she was a normal, healthy child. One night she had a fever and we rushed her to hospital and suddenly she was fighting for her life.
They said she had five hours to live at one point. Then they said she would be brain damaged; then paralysed. May be she was all those things when I took her home; she was paralysed. She couldn’t lift her head up, she couldn’t walk. The only communication I had with her was her eyes. Me and her father gave her a lot of support. That’s how I got in to alternative therapy. I was desperate as a mother. So she is a miracle herself. Twenty years later she is alive, healthy and pregnant with twins! Things they said would never happen. The only thing she is left with from that time is the deafness from the strong anti-biotics and chemotherapy treatment she had.
So I have been through this before.
My daughter is the one that first bought me to umrah. It is because of her that I have a connection with the Din.
We ask everyone to please pray for my daughter and the twins she is carrying.
