Umm ul Yaqeen (Sumiara Hameed)- Review by Shoby

Umm ul Yaqeen (Sumaira Hameed)- Review by Shahbaz Ali Naqvi (Shoby)

"If you can't get a miracle, become one", says Nick Vujicic, an Australian motivational speaker with a rare syndrome, whose mother refused to see and hold him, when he was born with no hands & legs. So what does it take to lead a normal life, when life challenges you to become anything but normal? Courage, motivation, belief, faith and you may recall numerous words from the dictionary but wait and think again, is it really like this easy to gain the courage, or get motivated or have a firm faith, when everything is going against the wind. No, it is not. But you become a hero only, when you defeat the villains and the biggest villain of yours is nothing but your dis-belief. Sumaira Hameed's Umm ul Yaqeen, as the name suggests, is the story of the same (Belief & Faith).

Just giving you a hint of what happens in the novel, it is a combo of wonderfully penned success stories of two girls with entirely different backgrounds, culture & time with only one thing in common. Coming of age, from extremely notorious and super cool to the most humble and thankful beings. It tells us about how Huda and Dabees coup up with the biggest challenge of their lives and the way they became a symbol of motivation for others. One, cruising towards death in every coming second and the other, forced to live a life, which en-route her to beg for death, rather than pray to live.

I believe the best thing that Religions (in the broader spectrum) have given their followers is the HOPE. Hope that everything will be better, if not here, then somewhere else, if now now then some other time. This hope, when nurtured honestly by the follower, is converted into Belief and this Belief makes you the winner. Recall what Prophets had to undergo throughout their lives. One verse from Sura Yaseen always enhances my personal motivational level.

(And it was said) Ah! Woes on those bondmen, when any Messenger comes to them, they merely mock at them (Sura Yaseen Verse 30).

Undoubtedly people who suffered the most in their lives are the Prophets but they stood tall to their Belief and focused on their sole objective i.e. to preach the word of ALLAH and eventually they came out as the winners in every situation, courtesy the set of Belief, they had.

Imagine someone living the life to its fullest with no worries at all and within a fraction of moment, everything gets changed and the life is turned into hell. An incident that makes you fell from the heights of the skies to the deep beds of the Earths. Something like which Huda & Dabees went through. What would he or she do? One way is to give up everything and just wait for the final blow that is coming towards you with every coming second. Obviously, this is the way how most of the people would react. But there is another way to deduce the best out of the worst. Stand against all the odds and get ready to fight back, to show the problem statement, the real You within yourself. So, both of our super heroines did the same and what happens next, should be read in the novel.

One thing I feel about being motivated for something larger than life is the impact of a stimulus. This stimulus can be something that appears out of your own self (like in the case of Huda, in the form of the Shelley or the angel or you may call him the self-consciousness) or it may be an external force that motivated you to perform better (like what dabeesa had in the form of the flying bird, her father or the old woman). Be it the Huda's way or Dabees, the pertinent thing to be considered is that it is only You, that can bring out the Best from with yourself. Reason being quite simple, you know your SWOT and you can overcome all the weaknesses and avoid all the threats only when you are well aware of your own strengths. And only you can do it because you know all about you. Don't underestimate the roles of Huda's Angel, a small cameo from Liam, father of Dabees and the old woman. Regardless of the length, they all played their very significant roles in channelizing both of the girls' attitude towards their circumstances. At times, we need someone else to tell us, what we actually are capable of and the rest is on our shoulders about how we can use our own power.

Please take another note from here. My point is, worries, troubles and disturbances are caused to us for two primary reasons. One, they are the result of our very own misdeeds (call it a punishment) and secondly, they are not the punishment, rather an exam (call it a litmus test). It is very easy to judge, whether the trouble you have is your punishment or a test. In case your trouble makes you come closer to ALLAH, it was indeed a test and congratulations you have passed it i flying colors. If your worries drags you away from the right path, it is an indicator that you have surely done something not good and it is a punishment. As Sumaira states, you can't argue that "why you have been selected to bear all this". You don't know the game plan of ALLAH and indeed HE is the BEST PLANNER. Just try to stick to what is expected from you in circumstances.

Coming back towards the novel, it was a pleasure to read two stories with two utterly different backgrounds (in fact times) running so smoothly throughout the course of time. From 21st century glittery happening life of Chicago to the times gone-by (may be centuries old), Sumaira has kept the taste uniform. Time changes but not the human psyche. Both of them were a true representation of being Bold & Beautiful. They had a world in their pockets and they never wished for anything because all of their wishes used to come true before they even wish for them. They considered themselves as The Best, The Special but the destiny showed them the other side of the picture, which was even uglier & darker than they used to live in glitz & fun. They went on to become ordinary to find the true special being of themselves. Dunya mein aam logon ki tadaad zeyada hai... Jo waqai mein khas hotey hain woh doosron jaisa aam ban ker rehtey hain... The Faith brought them to the winning post.

It is quite common for Sumaira to deal in multi-linguistic approach, while moving from one story to another. From deriving new terms (Fot-niya) to usage of global brands (Audi, Dior etc.) & really kool slangs (Killing, Signature, Fashionista, Super Iconic etc.) to a very simple language which carries the atmosphere of Middle East (near  in it, Sumaira was on top of her research. Another amazing stuff that we witnessed in Umm ul Yaqeen was the small little quotations from some real life heroes like Edhi sb, Holy Butcher, Steve Jobs, Ali Banat etc. that came after every important point in the story. They surely enhanced the effect of the subject matter. She beautifully mixed up her arguments by taking a bit of the help from the religious teaching & philosophical theories and amalgamated them wisely, showing their impact on the humans of old & new world.

Talking about some notable scenes of the novel. It has some awesome scenes in it esp., the Opera Show scene, Convocation scene and the last dual frame scene that tells the penultimate climax of both stories. Entry scenes of both the girls were amazing, and both of these scenes set the right tone for the future. Stoning scene of Dabees deserved a standing ovation.

Sumaira knows how to picture through words. Some dialogues stay with you even, after the read is over.

Bachpan ke gham chotey or takleef bari hoti hai
Dolat mand hona agar gunah hai to her shakhs gunah'gaar hona chahta hai...
Hum humesha apni jagah badalna chahtey hain... Hum humesha kisi doosrey ki zindagi jeena chahtey hain... Hum ne hum ban ker rehna seekha hi kab hai...

Log KHUDA se muhabbat kerna to chor saktey hain lakin korhi se nafrat kerna nahi...
Insan ko koi cheez matti se sona, soney se heera or heerey se koh e noor nahi banatai, jitni jaldi takleef banati hai...

The only complaint I have from this read is its length. I feel, it may have been more impactful, if it was a bit shrank, as I felt a bit dragged in some places. But again, it is the writer's call to decide the length of the story. She must have a good reasoning behind the two episode stuff.

One thing I love about Sumaira's writing is her, spreading the hope in the world through her words. Almost every writing piece of her asks us to believe in ourselves and have a firm belief on ALLAH. This novel too, tells us about our relationship with ALLAH and our own self. There is a HADEES e MUBARKA, where RASOOL PAK (saww) says, whosoever knows himself, knows his LORD. So, in order to achieve the triumph, one must have to go through a difficult patch. But the real mantra lies in realizing who you really are, what you are capable of and last but not the least, never letting it go, the belief that your CREATOR loves you the most.

GOD's Love is so real that HE created you to prove it. (Nick Vujicic)

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