"I have been waiting to read Quran for a longest time, and I think it's about the right time to do it", said a seeker of truth with beaming eyes and huge smile. My heart swelled with love for the woman who stood tall, her seeking spirit made an aura around her as she told me the story of her life. She told me she was an atheist first and then she followed Christianity for a little while, and then Buddhism and Hinduism, which took her to India, Tibet, Italy, Singapore and many other places. As I listened to her testimony of journey of discovery, I recalled similar conversations Zeba and I had with many seekers of truth who were on their quest to discover God. When they would picked up their copy of the Quran, they seemed at peace and with a sense of fulfillment. I can imagine their lives were full of challenges, but they were hopeful by the motivation to find their Creator and It appeared that was the most important issue in their life!
I looked at our new young members Haroon and Fatimah's faces who flew all the way from Maryland, took their time off from work, and spent their own money to join the Quran Sharing event. They rented a van from airport, picked up pallet of Quran boxes from our friend's place and then helped Zeba setup the booth at the festival. What were they feeling? Were they tired in this Austin heat , Talking to the visitors, handing them Quran, How were they feeling?
I got my answer by their interaction with the visitors, their easiness of presentation of the Quran, and their observation and planning for the future events. Zeba and I were very lucky to have brother-sister team onboard with us.
The Quran sharing event at the Austin Festival was very successful as we were among the most diverse, openminded, easygoing, and unbiased young crowd who were eager to learn new ideas and experience spiritual connection to their Creator. Thanks to Haroon and Fatimah, we were able to attract lot of college kids and young-at-heart lively crowd, and I could see both were moved by the inspiration of this mission.
We distributed at least 1000 Quran, 300 books and hundreds of Spirit of Islam at the festival. The highlight of the event was the testimonies of the visitors (recorded), and the respect our team received solely due to this mission.
Zeba and I shared after the festival that we have been seeing higher human greatness and the spiritual side of the people solely due to this mission.
We serve people through this mission and it inspires us to plan for the next book festival!
See you all on next Book Festival In Sha Allah!