Godsend

This is ironic. In my previous post (like an hour ago lol) I mentioned my giving up on talking yeah? Well get this, I've just spent the last 45 minutes talking to the 'woman sleeping on my doorstep' (as mentioned in previous post). She said she's waiting for a friend of hers to get back but she's not sure if her friend's at home since it's the holidays.

I only went out to give her some bread and a baked oat slice but we ended up talking. I spent quite a while peeping through the peep-hole deciding whether I should go out or not and then she waved at me & that made me feel silly so I just went out & gave her the food. I wondered if you could see people peeping from the outside and figured that she probably could hear me walking in my rustling tracks. Go figure.

First things first, she's paranoid. Like for real, DSMV-VI  textbook paranoid. Told me she's on the run from corrupted police. Likened them to the mobster, mafia, trying to "get at her", "bad people chasing me down" etc. Repeatedly corrected herself saying "Oh, I really shouldn't have told you that" as she kept on talking. Some more words she used to describe them: vigilantes, neighbourhood-watch-sort-of-thing, like the CIA but bad, etc. How she's been estranged from her family. Her sister, who kept calling her and emailing her when she absolutely wanted no contact because she's worried bad people will find out where she is. From all the things (numerous I think I've included enough to paint the picture) she said, what I can piece together is this: She haven't been paying rent, she basks in the city doing fortune telling, pretty much homeless. Oh, she even said that these people chasing her down might fancy her because she's pretty (she was quite pretty, but the cap shadowed her eyes too much), said that they might even have a fanclub dedicated for her. Hyeapp.

God preserve me, I haven't the words to really describe this whole thing but I feel it's important to type this down because we also talked of religion, of Islam in particular. 

Said she's a former Christian, now she's into New Age. She had a battered copy of Bhagavad Gita with her so I asked her if that's why she's reading it, she said yes. We talked about Jesus. Today's Good Friday so we talked about that at length. She doesn't approve I guess of being sad on Good Friday. Talked about the crucifixion (a lot about this). About how she believes that maybe Jesus's body was switched. I told her of how Jesus is really our prophet Isa in Islam and that he's not really son of God and that the one that died wasn't him but a bad guy made to look like him and she really dug that. Talked some about Buddhism, Sufism (just a teency bit, asked her if she knows anything about it she said a little because of the New Age thing she's into) etc.

Then, we talked of Islam quite at length. The subject came about because she noted that I came home pretty late (it was 11 something when I got back and discovered her sleeping at my doorstep) and asked me if I was up studying at uni. Told her I just got back from an Islamic conference (Twins of Faith fyi) at the building behind the Melbourne Museum. She really approved of that, said how that's really good. Said she likes that Australians are cool with things like that and I told her that people are nice here.

She repeatedly told me how kind I am giving her food and telling her she could just knock on the door if something comes up. I told her well, I'm a Muslim, it is our religion to be merciful. Told her that my being kind to her she could in turn be kind to someone else later, "like a pay-it-forward kind of thing" I said. She really liked that. We talked about tolerance for people with different religion backgrounds & how she doesn't like it when some atheists have a go at her etc. I explained to her that Islam is a monotheistic religion, that there's only one God. 

Then she dropped a bomb by asking, "In Islam, are there evil people?" asked me what we think of the concept as Muslims. I told her that I suppose people who do bad things are those who are lost. That they're in need of guidance. I told her that Syaitan is what's evil and that Syaitan is the one that seduce us to do bad. Of course I told her that even though this is true in the end it us who make the decision to do good or bad. Told her it's a matter of discipline. I made it a point to tell her that Syaitan is not like a voice you could hear for real (because she brought up, "Like the opposite of God's voice then?" and I'm not sure whether she believes she could hear God or not...so yeah) but the interfering thoughts that prevent us from doing good. 

At some point in the conversation, her being into New Age said that she thinks there's really just one God but in different names, that all religion is equal. Buddha, the prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h.) etc. all achieved enlightenment in the end. I'm not sure what happened next, she probably went on saying how I've shown her kindness and all or it could be when we were talking about the purpose of existence in Islam Idk, but I said "We were placed upon this Earth to do good. To strive to be good." and that really made an impression on her. 

To conclude this, what brought a sweetness to my heart unlike anything I've ever felt before is when she said (in these exact words), "The next time I talk to a Muslim, I am going to think of you. Of the kindness you've shown me." and this is what matters most.

p.s. I apologize for anything bad/offensive/misleading I've written here for it comes from my ignorance, and all that is good comes from Allah SWT. Also, as I type this down, the poor woman is still waiting outside waiting for her friend.