The Unconventional Women

For just a moment today in Mianwali, the sky must have been lit up with a light more forceful and penetrating than the afternoon sun.

An aircraft flown by Squadron Leader Saqib Abbasi and co-pilot Flying Officer Marium Mukhtiar was on a routine operational training mission when it encountered an in-flight emergency during the final stages of the mission which led to its crash. According to a statement by Pakistan Air Force (PAF): “Both pilots handled the emergency with professionalism and courage and tried to save the aircraft till the last minute, ensuring safety of property and the civilian population on the ground”

Both pilots ejected from the aircraft and sustained injuries. They were being treated at a nearby military hospital, where Flying Officer Marium Mukhtiar succumbed to her injuries.

There is something about Marium Mukhtar that makes me unable to tear my mind away from her story. She was just a year older than I am. I never met her and now I never can. I don’t know what her life was like. I don’t know what you have to get through to be female pilot in a patriarchal country like Pakistan.

Her story is appealing because it is real and unconventional.

I have grown up listening to these unconventional stories, in real life and also those from centuries past. The Holy Quran is full of them. There was The Queen of Sheba, a very powerful queen who ruled over a nation that worshipped The Sun. According to the Quran, Hazrat Sulaiman (A.S.) wrote her a letter advising her to accept the Oneness of God. Here was a woman who could have fumed with arrogance and started an unnecessary was or she could have caved in to whatever her advisers said. She did neither. In the words of Asmaa Hussein, “Hers was a voice that is strong and unwavering, yet open and inviting. She asks for the advice of others whom she trusts. But at the end, she also trusts her own voice and decision”. 

There is the preserverance of Hazrat Marium (A.S), the mother of Hazrat Isa (A.S.), who believes and obeys Her Creator even in a state of unbearable pain. The Quran reveals her story to be thus: "The pains of labor drove her to the trunk of a date-palm. She exclaimed: "Oh, if only I had died before this time and was something discarded and forgotten!" A voice called out to her from under her: "Do not grieve. Your Lord has placed a small stream at your feet. Shake the trunk of the palm toward you, and fresh, ripe dates will drop down to you. Eat and drink, and delight your eyes. If you should see anyone at all, just say: 'I have made a vow of abstinence to the All-Merciful, and [so] today I will not speak to any human being.'" (Surah Maryam: 23-26). Here Allah mentions what seems to be a very small task (shaking a tree branch) but the fact is that the branch of a date tree is so strong and thick that it can be hard to move. Imagine having to do that when you are in more pain than you can perceive to be humanly possible. Yet Maryam (A.S.) listens and obeys even them. And this became a defining moment of her life, which was filled with serving God.

There is the quiet strength of the Mother of Hazrat Musa (A.S). To quote Asma Hussein again, “I often wonder about what kind of strength she must have possessed when she placed her infant child into a basket, and pushed him into the water without knowing where he would end up, or whether she would see him again. She did one of the most difficult things a mother could do. But she held herself together with the help and guidance of her Lord, and watched him drift away.” What is extraordinary is we that we don’t even know her name. Yet Allah chose to honour this woman in a very unique way. Millions who read about her are inspired by her courage and faith. It is something that gleams past the barriers of time and history.

 We have so many other examples from the life of The Holy prophet (S.A.W). There is the wisdom and independence of Khadija (R.A.), the knowledge imparted by Ayesha (R.A.), the love and steadfastness of Fatima (R.A.) and so many amazing women who are a part of a never ending list.

Marium Mukhtar  was cut from the same cloth like so many amazing women before her, known and unknown. According to one article, she joined the forces because she wanted to do something different in a highly traditional  society where opportunities for women are limited. And she did it. More than that, she did something that can never die, a task rendered immortal due to its nature: risking her own life so that all the residents on land could be safe.

As Muslims, we say “Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un (Arabic: إِنَّا للهِ وَإِنَّـا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعونَ‎)”, in times of difficulty and espescially when we hear of someone’s death . It means “We surely belong to Allah and to Him we shall return” It is a reminder that we are to have the same meeting with our Creator like the ones who have passed before us. Marium returned to her Creator today with a force that shook the entire nation. In the course of her short life she demonstrated how just one person, fighting against all odds, can leave the world a much better place than it was. Her courage and determination joins the echo of so many brave, unconventional women who stuck to their guts and did what they felt was right.  

“Be sure we shall test you with something of fear and hunger, some loss of goods or lives or the fruits (of your toil), but give glad tidings to those who patiently persevere”. (AL- Baqarah 2:155.7)

“Righteousness is not that you turn your faces toward the east or the west, but [true] righteousness is [in] one who believes in Allah , the Last Day, the angels, the Book, and the prophets and gives wealth, in spite of love for it, to relatives, orphans, the needy, the traveler, those who ask [for help], and for freeing slaves; [and who] establishes prayer and gives zakah; [those who] fulfill their promise when they promise; and [those who] are patient in poverty and hardship and during battle. Those are the ones who have been true, and it is those who are the righteous.” (Al Baqarah 2:177)