From Baklava to BBC

In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful,Most Gracious

I was at Prohijab.com and I saw her name. I googled her name and within seconds hundreds of sites came up. WOW!! MasyaAllah! The sister that I met in Canada is actually well-known.

Flashback, It was a sleepy January morning and I was watching BBC .(yeah, Haahaa, BBC in the morning is really good 4 u and im not being sarcastic) News showed Canada apologises to to Maher Arar. My reaction was 'Ok, cool, news about Canada' And then, I saw this lady who looks VERY FAMILIAR. And I was like, "Eh?! Isn't that my sister's friend(as in my real sis)? Isn't she the one who taught us how to make BAKLAVA (u see tat wonderful pic up there? THAT'S BAKLAVA. YuMM. Baklava is a type of mediterranean /middle eastern dessert and there's lots of version of it. the one above is the tunisian version if im not wrong. I LOVE BAKLAVA!! Somebody please make me BAKLAVA!!)

The news went on and when Canada's PM Harper said sumthing like '..apologises... Maher and wife Monia' then I was like CONFIRM chop chop GUARENTEE, the lady there was the sister who taught us Baklava.

I got soooo excited!! ( 4 those who know me, u should know how i am when im excited heeehee)
I couldnt wait to tell my sis (ok to make things easier,lets call my real sister, Kakak). Kakak was still sleeping when i heard the news so i waited in excitement for her to wake up. (she was in Sg to visit us, to show us Haajar, my niece, to get PR for her husband and to buy a house here) After telling her wat i saw on tv she was SOO RELIEVED. U see, the news only mentioned Canada apologising to Bro Mahar and his family. Br Mahar was accused of being a terrorist and was deported to Syria by the USA. Altho' Canada apologises, USA didnt. So the news was all over, CNN,CNA, Straits Times, Berita Harian.However the spotlight wasa not so much on sis Monia but her husband.
Since i have no idea what's the story behind the apology,Kakak told our family wat happened.

Sister Monia and her family was on a holiday when her husband had to go back to Canada first to due to some errands. So when her husband reached New York for transit, the nice US Immigration people claimed that they received information from Canada that he was a suspected terrorist and has to be deported to his home country. U see, Bro Mahar is a Canadian Citizen so by right he's suppose to be sent back to Canada. Instead, he was deported to Syria,his birth country.
When Sister Monia realised her husband didnt reach home in Canada, something was dead wrong. meanwhile, her husband was in Syria being tortured. Sister Monia went all the way for her husband. Seeking for justice and trying to get her husband back to canada .
In the end,after more then a year of not seeing his family, Br Mahar got back to Canada and all he wanted ever more was to clear his name.
Finally Alhamdulilah, he cleared his name and was compensated by the canadian gov in monetary value. Altho' he got wat he wanted, the traumatic experiance still haunts him. He was, among many innocent brothers, a victim of 'guilty by association'
So today, when i googled Sister Monia's name, I'm happy to see lots of websites praising on her courage and tenacity to seek for justice. Im so proud of her, i dont think i would have gathered as much courage as her. To add on, she got herself involved in politics by joining National Democratic Party. Littel did i know that when she taught how to make Baklava, this admirable sister is a phD holder in Financial Economics. WOW! MasyaAllah! A DOCTOR taught us how to make baklava.. isnt that sweet? While making Baklava i played with her two adorable children. Her daughter then 8 was telling me about the education system in canada (isnt tat cute?!) while her brother then 3 was running away whenver i wanted to take a picture of his handsome face.haha..

It was really nice getting to know Sister Monia and her kids. And i feel tat it's kinda cool to have some1 bringing positive news on tv and the internet.

May Allah make it easy for them and for us. May Allah grant us courage and wisdom. Ameen

go to these links http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=5ecd5c44-dbb2-4a83-9c7a-dbdf653b5bd2 for more.
http://www.tru.ca/news/06storiesdec/mazigh.html