I knocked on the door and the mother opened the door and greeted me with peace:

“As-salamu Allaykum wa rahmatu Allah wa barakatuh, Tafaddal (meaning welcome).”

She was so full of light, her eyes were shining, her skin was shining. She opened the door as if I was going into the Taj Mahal. As if she lived in the most beautiful place in the world.

And when I went in to her home, what was in her home? Nothing! Just a small empty room. Only walls, floor, ceiling and one rug in which there is food for iftar for ten people.

And what was their food for iftar? Bread, one plastic plate of chickpeas, and one plastic pate of salad.

So when I sat down, I tried not to eat but she kept giving me food. She said:

“You are our guest.”

And she gave me so much, though I refused to eat. I felt angry. I felt angry at Islam! And I felt angry at a book that would tell hungry people to be hungry for thirty days.

I was angry at the Quran for telling this poor woman not to drink water when always her water is dirty.

So I said to the mother:

“Why do you fast in Ramadan?”

Why? What is the point?

She said to me:

“I fast in Ramadan to remember the poor!”

This mother who had nothing in dunya, nothing! She will never have perhaps anything in life. She was humbling her heart for other people who had less! What is this?

This woman who knew only tribulations was emptying her stomach to thank God. For an empty stomach? What is this?

And I thought at that moment:

“If this is Islam, I want to be Muslim!”

This video is transcribed by Discovering Islam team.