“Dont Cry, The Mujahideen Said” - Mohd. Tahir Abd. Rahman

The meeting with the Palestinian fighters twitched my heart. There are those with maimed hands, missing legs and crippled limbs. We were so touched that we shed our tears. But the Mujahideen right away said: “Don't cry.

“We do not need your tears here. What's important is your do'a so that we will remain strong here to keep on fighting for your masjid.

“Send our salam to the people of Malaysia. Please believe in this struggle so that we can together defend the rights of the Islamic ummah.”

Those Mujahideen smiled. We were amazed by the richness of their spirit. They do not mind, they are ready to sacrifice their lives anytime for the sake of defending the rights of the Muslims. Ouch! I feel so tiny when compared to the spirit of their jihad.

Not only the adults, even the small children there have a big ambition. Just ask those children, what do they want to be when they grow up?

Their answer is, we want to be Mujahids! Their enthusiasm and the educations that had been fed in them are so intense. I still remember, while organizing an iftar program in a masjid there, at that time the noises coming from the Palestinian children, who were so cheerfully playing, could be heard. However, as soon as the azan reverberated and the time for solat began, not even a drop of sound was heard from the mouths of those children until we finished performing the taraweeh.

All those children were orderly in their respective saf (row), even the four year old little ones did not dare to make a sound. They do not need to be monitored, but they already know that when the prayer time comes, it is a time that must be respected and where you cannot make a noise.

It ticked in my heart to say, if in Malaysia I would not fell this atmosphere. Normally, during the taraweeh prayer in the masjid, it is surely accompanied by the noisy sounds of children playing outside the masjid. Not to mention those who play firecrackers which could startle the imam.

In Gaza, where ever we go, the children would come to crowd around us. They stretched out their hands. Not to beg, but just to shake our hands. Their faces were cheerful when seeing their brothers from other places coming to visit them.

You don't need to give out money. Those kids would not accept it. You would not find the term 'beggar' here. They are not taught to beg even though life is hard, on the contrary they are nurtured so as to always share whatever they have with others.

If someone gets a loaf of bread, then he too would share it with his other friends. Even if only a little piece of the bread would remain for him, he would not mind. What's important is that the received rizq is shared together. That's one of their manifestations there, a thing that I could not see in our country.

Yes, Gaza needs our help, but do you know that at the same time the population there can collect donations as well to be given to our needy brothers in Somalia? Subhanallah.. even though they are in hardship, but they still give contributions, although a little, because they believe, our brothers in Somalia are more in hardship and need to be helped as well. Do we here possess this noble character as them?

Like one of the meanings in surah At-Tawbah which says: “Indeed, Allah purchases the body and soul of those who fight in Allah's cause.”

These are the people of Palestine. They do not cry when they lose a leg or hand, they are not afraid to go to the battlefield. Because they say, Allah has bought their body limbs. Therefore, they don't mind losing them. Can we afford to be like them?

“Two Children Of Ummu Ahmad Shaheed” - Noorhasyimah Ismail

The woman's name is Ummu Ahmad. In her smile the woman said, she has lost two of her sons who had been shaheed in the battlefield. I asked, how could she be that calm after losing her beloved children? She did not answer the question but instead advised, “Protect the religion, indeed the Jews are our enemies.” And if possible that woman said, she wanted to be pregnant again so that she could continue to give birth to Mujahideen.

Then I remembered when we visited a house. The house was so small and had no room. The roof was only made from plastic materials weighted with stone in every corner to stop the plastic roof from being blown by the wind.

It is in the narrow house that a husband and wife live, along with nine children and their in-laws. It is in that space that they gather, sleep and cook. They are burdened with poverty but strangely, their faces are always laughing cheerfully while recounting how they undergo the routines of life. There is no look of sadness, no complaint, let alone to be grim. If in our place, are we able to tell the difficulties of our lives in the state of smiling and laughing like that?

Next, we met with another woman. She has also lost a son who was shaheed for the sake of the Islamic struggle. The story goes that, during the early stage after she lost her son, she always cried remembering her deceased son. But one day, she dreamed of being visited by that of her son. He said, “Ummi, I am now in Paradise.”

The dream was like a message so that she would not cry over the death of her son again. Only then the woman realized that there is no need to cry again. Instead, she is proud because her son has become a dweller of Paradise.

This is the story of another family that we met. A man was telling the story about his younger brother. He said that his brother whose name was Muhammad went to the battlefield only 13 days after he got married. Before going out of the house, Muhammad said to the wife whom he just married: “I will go and fight, indeed I marry you because I wanted to complete my Islam.” And after that Muhammad departed as a Palestinian Mujahideen, wearing his wedding shoes.

Muhammad was martyred in the fight. And after the expiry of the idah, his brother married Muhammad's widow, who was his sister in law before.

“This is our son, who we named Muhammad, in commemoration of the name of my younger brother who had been killed while conducting jihad in Allah's cause,” he said while holding on his laps a cute little boy, aged around 2 years.

Meanwhile, the mother of the two brothers took out a shirt of his late son. She kissed it and then she cried. Then her son right away hugged the mother and said: “Be proud mother, indeed Muhammad is waiting for us in Paradise!” We, who listened to their story also shed our tears, it's akin to a drama. But that is the truth.

I also remember the story of a teenage girl. She is still 16 years old but is already drenched in sweats working as a 'fisherwoman' at the sea of Gaza to provide for her family. Her father has been sick and cannot afford to work anymore. While her siblings are many and still young.

Every day, the teenager would go to the sea by rowing a small boat to catch fish. Just imagine, in that young age, she already has to the breadwinner of the family and not the least she is daunted to ford the vast sea alone.

And when we asked what assistance would she like to lighten the burden of her whole family, it's not money or food that was asked by the girl. Instead, she only wants a small motorboat which can help ease herself in seeking the rizq (sustenance) in the vast sea.

“Rowing the boat takes a long time. It suffices if there is a boat with an engine,” she said. Indeed, it really touches our hearts us to see her. As a woman, I am very impressed with the women in Palestine. They lost their husbands, the lost their children and they are burdened with poverty. But they are strong, determined, resilient and the most important, they never want to beg.

They do not raise their children with the feeling of sadness and deprivation. Instead they always train their children to be grateful. No matter how difficult their lives are, they would remind their children to be grateful because there are others who are less fortunate than them.

That's one of the ways the mothers produce the characters of a fighter in the selves of the children since a young age. The struggle to them is not to kill, but to train the toughness of the self so that they could be strong in countering the enemies.

Their emotions and psychology are trained to be fearless or to not cry when attacked, but to continue fighting even armed with only a stone for the sake of defending the rights of Muslims.

Due to that, it is no surprise why there are a lot of hafiz and hafizah born in the land of Palestine. And it is no surprise too why the Jews are still failing to conquer Gaza, though they have been trying for decades. The women there are very strong, able to give birth to a lot of Mujahideen.

On average, every family have eight children or more than that. May be we imagine that with such a number of children, how are their lives going to be. On the contrary, despite the deprived life, all those children have already been independent since a young age, they know their roles and responsibilities with each other.

The children are still sent to school even though many of the school buildings have been damaged and full of bullet marks. In fact, children with disabilities are also sent to school because knowledge to them is very important. So, it is no surprise when we met many disabled and mute children capable of sounding the recitation of the Qur'an.

Yes admittedly the Jews should be feeling confused, it has already been decades that they are bombing Palestine, it never reduces. Instead, the population of Palestine are increasing because when they killed a Palestinian who was shaheed, the replacement would be born.

Even though the women there lose their children, they always want to give birth again because they know, it is one of the favours that Allah gives to them to give birth to fighters who would conduct jihad in His cause. Subhanallah....

“The Bombings Are Music!” - Muhammad Munawer Ismail

Previously, when the Zionist regime was controlling Gaza, it was indeed difficult to dream of setting foot there. However, since Israel pulled out their military, the chances of the NGO's to come to Gaza to channel aids, started to open up. Due to that, when selected to go to Gaza, I was really grateful to Allah. Yes, I really wish to see the land which is said to be full of blessings.

One day before departing to Gaza, we received the news that Gaza had just been bombed by the enemies. More or less, the feeling of fear and worry did conjure up. Strangely, once we entered Gaza the feeling of fear and anxiety went away just like that. In fact, we did not think of death anymore or maybe got shot by the enemy while we were there. We seemed to have forgotten that Gaza is a land that is always rained with bombs. True indeed, the land of Palestine is filled with barakah.

Even though the Israeli troops are not seen in the streets anymore, but almost every day we could still hear the sounds of bombing from the air, carried out by the Zionists Jews, but not in the slightest were we afraid. In fact, when asking the people there, the sounds of bombing are as if a “music” in their lives. As if it is not complete if the “music” is not heard.

I remember when passing through a street where on its left was a former settlement of the Jews which had been abandoned. The land there was all dried up, no life, it was like a dead plain.

On the other hand, on our right was the settlement of the Palestinians. The area is very fertile, and all the eyes see are greens with date trees producing abundant fruits.

And again, when we visited the site of the fish pond farm, we were surprised when we saw that they are able to rear tilapia fish in sea water, whereas it is in the category of a freshwater fish. In fact, the fishes farmed there could breed easily into large quantities, that they are always enough to be supplied to the poor.