"Of all my mistakes the greatest, the most dangerous, was not emphasizing the mercy of God. Every verse of the Quran begins by reminding us of God's mercy." (381)
"He smiles. I lay out our prayer rugs. He straightens them. I recite the adhaan. I concentrate on looking ahead of me but I can sense his focus. He is listening. I had recited these very verses into his ear when he was a newborn. They were the first words he had ever heard. I wonder if his soul recognizes what his mind does not remember. We pray together and when it is time for us to ask for what our hearts desire, my first wish is that he remain steadfast in faith, and then, if he does not, that he never believe that God is a being with a heart like a human's, capable of being small and vindictive." (377)
"Perhaps in wanting to impart fear of God and therefore adherence to His laws, I had not done enough to show the side of God who was, above all, merciful." (355)
"I had slept through my children's childhood." (330)
"And I think and think again of that child, climbing onto his grandfather's back while he knelt in prayer, oblivious to everyone who was watching and waiting for his grandfather to set the standard for them all." (283)
"Amar, I know this will mean nothing to you now. But I do believe that even your father's God, even He, would forgive you. To know you is to want to let you in." (203)
Fatima Farheen Mirza, A Place For Us (New York: SJP for Hogarth, 2018).
