Once upon a time as a child, I was playing with our neighbors’ daughter. We saw a bird whose life had expired. Though we had just encountered the bird for the first time, we were shocked to witness the death of an innocent creature. We cried and recited Al-Fatiha—the first chapter of the Koran—then gave the bird a burial…
After a decade or so of that incident, I encountered death once more. This time, it entailed birds that were closer to my heart. I cried and recited Al-Fatiha but couldn’t get a chance to bury them as some of them had passed away while I was in detention and some whilst fleeing…