Their faces.
Holding their children.
Laughing. Smiling. Fifty-one of them.
This is Islam. This is how Muslims are.
Do you think we are terrorists?
We’re daughters. We’re husbands. We’re children.
Their faces.
Their hijabs. Their beards. Their smiles.
Their souls. Their talents. Their gifts.
They were all taken from us.
These are my brothers and sisters.
Their sacrifice. Their courage. Their last words.
And all I can think of when I hear the news
is their faces.
But what the killers - sorry, the terrorists - didn’t know?
Their places in Jannah, in Heaven.
Their martyrdom. Their heroism. Their jihad. Their blessed death.
Living as little birds that fly freely around the Throne of Allah.
I pray I am as lucky.
I am not sad for them. I’m sad for the world that they left.
I’m sad because I see those same faces all around me.
In Jews, Christians, Atheists, Hindus, Muslims…
All brothers and sisters under the same God - or under humanity at the very least.
Divided by media. Divided by oppression. Divided by falsity. Divided by talking heads on the television.
But not divided by their emotions. Not divided by their expressions. Not divided by...
Their faces.
The faces of my fifty-one brothers and sisters in faith.
That will be shining in the Light of God for Eternity.