So We’re Heroes?

𝑭𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑𝒔, 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒃𝒆 𝒂 𝒉𝒖𝒈𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒌𝒊𝒅𝒔 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒖𝒑 𝒔𝒐 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑰 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚 𝒂 𝒃𝒊𝒈 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑯𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑰𝒃𝒏 𝑲𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒓 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔.

While at school, Yusif forges friendships with Reda, Warsoma and Daud. The characters of the four boys bring qualities into their relationships that anyone might wish to find for themselves among their own friends. From Reda’s fierce loyalty, to Warsoma’s voice of reason. From Daud’s selflessness or his caring ability to put others first to Yusif’s unfailing ability to look for the good in others.

These are characters with qualities inspired by the friendships you read about between the Ansar and Muhajereen around the Prophetﷺ who in turn possessed qualities born out of brotherhood and friendship, rooted in Islamic values after all, the Prophetﷺ taught, “Verily, the most beloved to me are those of you with the best character, soft in nature, friendly and befriended…”[ al-Mu’jam al-Awsaṭ ]

Isn’t that what we would want for our own kids to be like? To encourage the best of qualities and manners?

These fictional characters in my books might sound too good to be true for some or even extraordinary by today’s standards in a world where contemporary fiction is largely reluctant to showcase religious values or look favourably upon what they consider ‘preachy’ messages or characters that are too ‘goody two shoes’ to be real or likeable. But I still wrote them because the beauty of fiction is that we do see extraordinary characters and stories told all the time. If Peter Parker can sling a web and scale extraordinarily tall buildings; and Lucy, Edmund, Peter and Susan can discover an extraordinary land through a wardrobe where animals talk and they themselves possess the strength of adults; then Yusif, Reda, Warsoma and Daud’s extraordinariness comes from their extraordinary personalities and the religious values they’re proud to hold. They can stand as much needed role models and heroes, in the extraordinary times we live in; Heroes that Muslim kids can relate to, feel good about, find their own voice with and actually aspire to follow. Heroes that are closer to home.🌙

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗛𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗜𝗯𝗻 𝗞𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗿 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 - Islamic fiction for 𝙏𝙒𝙀𝙀𝙉𝙨 & 𝙏𝙀𝙀𝙉𝙨 by 𝗦.𝗡.𝗝𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗹𝗶 ✍🏼 

𝗕𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗸𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗛𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗣𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀  📚