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Sister Cheryfa: Well, if their intentions were to destroy our credibility and take away from us any support in the community for bail and Sureties in this trying ordeal, then I’d have to say they did a very good job, but those who plot and plan usually get themselves entangled in their own webs of deceit. The conjecture and innuendo puked up in the media seems to have terrorized the country and set the Muslim community against us as though these men have already been found guilty, instead of coming to the defense of their brothers. But then the Muslim community at the time of the Prophet Muhammad salla allahu alaihi wa salam, did the same thing to Aisha radhi allahu anha, didn’t they? But I am beginning to see the tables turn these last few days, now Muslims are beginning to ask if this is real or was this an invention for the Americans to relieve some of the border pressures like LUMBER, or tourism, cattle and fish, maybe, or what about that nasty problem up in our northern waters, eh? Looks like Dubya and Stevie are quite chummy now, huh. As for the posts they have hunted down on Nada’s old website, or where I gave a comment on a documentary about the rapes and murders of our women in Kashmir by the Indian army, (and let me clarify I was calling the Kashmiris to protect their brothers and sisters, not Meadowvale teenagers to jihad!), well, it’s just too bad they took a lot of them out of context. Some of them were actually jokes, like Nada’s “Who cares, we hate Canada.” Anyone who knows her, as most of us on that board knew each other outside of cyberspace, knows this is an example of her style of humor. Even the joking reference to the young sisters posing for the brothers playing soccer sounded like an old witch cackling jealously at prettier, younger women. If you had seen the whole thread, it would have been apparent that we were all kidding the girls and throwing funny little quips at them. Some of what was printed was amazing indeed, Masha’Allah. We couldn’t buy dawa that good! And to think it has been spread over the entire earth, courtesy of a few gossip mongers! They plan, but Allah is the best of planners! JUS: I understand that Abdul Quyyum is currently being held without bail pending trial. What is his current situation Sister? Is he in good health and spirits? How is he being treated in detention? Sister Cheryfa: Well, he hasn’t had a bail hearing yet, like I said, they keep deferring it due to the fact there has been no disclosure of the evidence and the charges against my husband presented to his lawyer. I guess they’re still working on that,… the evidence, …and the charges,… maybe, you think? I guess that’s why they were torturing them and trying to get them to sign false confessions and evidence against each other, maybe they don’t have anything better to type up. Alhamdulillah, now that the nasty confession grinders have been replace by nicer guards, and they’re no longer threatening the guys with gang rape, he is in better shape than in the beginning. He has so much anxiety for his children, how are they going to grow up without a father, who is going to ensure that they pray on time and don’t watch too much TV, will they still be able to go to Islamic school in this kind of poverty now, etc. He lives in a small cell about 5 feet by 7 feet. He has only a translation of the Qur’an by Maududi. Even the door is solid, with only a small slit for a food tray. The isolation isn’t easy; he misses his family and his friends. He usually gets about 20 minutes a day in the exercise yard, a 20 minute phone call home, and two 20 minute visits with family behind a glass using a phone to speak to each other. I try to bring the kids each time, only two people can visit at a time, so one day I bring one child, another day I bring another one. Sometimes his mother and/or his brothers visit instead. Sister Cheryfa: Most of us have isolated ourselves because the lawyers have told us not to talk to each other or we might jeopardize the cases. It’s terrible because we are our best support right now. The guys in jail are managing, Abdul Qayyum tells me Muhammad Shareef Abdel Haleem is coping the best, and Zakariah and Fahim are also quite strong, Masha’Allah. Being ordered by the judge not to speak to each other, they are quite isolated indeed, even though their cells are right next to each other. I heard a story about Shareef kicking off a fuss in the cells one night by moaning so loudly and slowly in his heavy accent “I WANT FOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!! I’M HUUUUUUNNNGRRRRRYYYYYYY!!!!” I guess the others started to howl with laughter and began to hoot and holler themselves, taunting the guards until they ‘shut them up’. Of course this story is third hand, so it might not be exactly accurate. Made me laugh, though, which is nice at a time like this. JUS: Sister this story makes every Muslim shiver with horror. How are you getting through this?
JUS: Are you getting any support at all from the Muslim community locally? What are your current needs? How can the brothers and sisters who are willing assist you? Sister Cheryfa: Allah truly sustains us. Money comes to us from every direction, sometimes anonymously, sometimes with blessed smiling faces. Two of my husband’s brothers are with us and are a tremendous help, Masha’Allah, but we have lost our main source of income through Abdul Qayyum. Subhana’Allah, as I am typing, my brothers in law and one of their friends have arrived with a fridge, stove and dishwasher, in case the judge releases Abdul Qayyum into house arrest here at home in the basement. I haven’t ask for welfare because it is truly a humiliating experience to bend over while they search every nook and cranny before deciding to throw us a few crumbs subsequently binding us with their ‘regulations’. I am awaiting my husband’s severance pay so that we can apply it to his bail, so if this money came through our joint account while I was receiving assistance, it would disqualify me and it would take months of arguing to be reinstated. Any money donated to us would also have to be reported and all donations would then be deducted from our assistance cheques. I am planning to drive school bus for my son’s Islamic school this fall, so Insha’Allah with that little income and the baby bonus cheque, we might manage, Insha’Allah. I am considering registering myself as a non-profit organization Insha’Allah, and have a website created in that effect; UmmTayyab.com, to update everyone about the case(s) and to give the people an avenue through which to support us until this is over, and either our husbands are acquitted or finish their sentences. The website is almost online, I have only to pay the annual fee to the brother who designed it for me and put it on his credit card for me, Insha’Allah. JUS: Sister when you consider the treatment of Muslims around the world these days, do you have any words of wisdom you can share? Sister Cheryfa: And We will surely test you with something of fear and hunger and a loss of wealth and lives and fruits, but give good tidings to the patient,Who, when disaster strikes them, say, “Indeed we belong to Allah, and indeed to Him we will return. ”Those are the ones upon whom are blessings from their Lord and mercy. And it is those who are the rightly guided. Surah al-Baqarah verses 155 to 157 Do the people think they will be left to say, “We believe” and they will not be tried? But We have certainly tried those before them, and Allah will surely make evident those who are truthful and He will surely make evident the liars. Surah al-‘Ankabut verses 2 and 3
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Sister Cheryfa: You know, since my shahadah, I’ve always been afraid that either I wouldn’t be worthy of a difficult test or I would be tested like our brothers and sisters are tested in the East, with torture, bombings, killings, rape, starvation, disease, and that I would not be able to suffer my children living and dying this way. Subhana’Allah, if this is the test Allah has assigned for us, He is Merciful indeed! What must appear to be the hellfire from a distance is actually quite cool indeed. When things are the most difficult, my prayers are the most exquisite. May Allah give me more opportunity to cry from the depths of my soul in my sujud. Now I know what it is to cry to Allah, to depend only on Him for Mercy and Salvation. 