Tehmina Durrani Quotes

#1. The five basic tenets of Islam continue onto the sixth for me. Huquq-ul-Ibaad, or humanitarianism. That it is not proclaimed as obligatory has deeper meaning; as right or wrong are left to human initiatives, its importance would be lost if forced.
-Edhi, A Mirror To The Blind

Tehmina Durrani

#2. The lesson was clear and I learned it well: blind acquiescence was necessary to gain approval; being yourself only earned condemnation.

Tehmina Durrani

#3. As Yazid, the tyrant of Karbala, never suffered even from a headache, people believed that he was blessed by Allah. But that was a misinterpretation. In reality, Allah had abandoned him completely. He wanted nothing to do with him.

Tehmina Durrani

#4. I obeyed, but my crime was that I did not look obedient.

Tehmina Durrani

#5. Love's absence ailed me. I could not imagine loving my husband. He was a superior and I did not know how to love and be subservient together. Nor had he ever thought of me as a human being, let alone a woman. For no reason had he ever softened towards me, I had stirred him that little.

Tehmina Durrani

#6. Pir Sain was a symbol of munafiqat.
I was a soldier.
This was a jehad.

Tehmina Durrani

#7. Looking back, I realized that we were being raised to be schizophrenic; an appearance of perfection was more important than genuine feelings

Tehmina Durrani

#8. Pleasing and appeasing our master and God at the same time was impossible.

Tehmina Durrani

#9. My mind was consumed with the idea of purdah. From behind it no call for help could be heard. An abandoned species was trapped in a forbidden world. Everything corrupt happened under the shroud, when it was off a faceless and nameless woman appeared.

Tehmina Durrani

#10. My mind became a sanctuary for secret thoughts of escaping from this household.

Tehmina Durrani

#11. There will be a great imbalance in our strengths if we fight, because I am prepared to die and you are desperate to live.

Tehmina Durrani

#12. I found an inner strength to fight for myself. It was clear that nobody else would.

Tehmina Durrani