Haroun

This is a picture of my son Haroun before he became very ill . It was taken on the day I had registered with the Islamic society as a Muslim. Even though I had converted 10 years before , I had never gotten around to registering . That was a very happy day for our entire family . Haroun was so thrilled .That was 7 years ago .He died 2 years later .

This was , I think , the only time I have worn the Hajab , or the scarf .I had to wear one to the Islamic society place . It felt odd to wear the Hajab , as if I was a impostor or something . At the same time , as strange as this will sound , it felt Holy ? I have a personal aversion to wearing the head scarf and all the other paraphernalia that Muslim women are supposed to wear . So , I felt like a hypocrite too that day . I know , a total contradiction huh ?

The picture above Haroun drew years before he became ill as a present to me . I loved it because it was a abstract and so expressed his talent as a artist .Years later on after he became addicted to heroin , he told me that this was the way he felt when he was on heroin, like a monster . We have this picture in our living room as a reminder of him .