Saturday morning. Fathiyah Al-Fatah Winston finally woke up. The tall, beautiful young woman stretched luxuriantly on the king-sized bed next to her beloved husband Charleston Winston. Gently she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Next to her, a handsome young Black man lay fast asleep. Snoring louder than hell. Fathiyah smiled to herself, and gently kissed her sleeping husband on the lips. She got up and went to the bathroom. Outside, it was a bright sunny day in metropolitan Hartford, in the State of Connecticut. Uncharacteristic of New England winters, as she's come to understand. Fathiyah went downstairs to make breakfast. Instantly she was greeted by Abdul, the large Doberman she'd had since she lived in the City of Ottawa, Ontario. Back when she was a student at Carleton University, falling head over heels for a young African-American whom she simply couldn't resist. Yeah, it all seemed like a lifetime ago. Hard to believe that it had only been six months.
Six months since she walked out on her old life forever. Fathiyah had undergone so many changes. For starters, she was no longer Muslim. She had become what her people called an Apostate. One of the unbelievers. She walked away from Islam for the love of an American who happened to be a Christian. Her people had forsaken her. Her name was synonymous with a curse among Saudi Arabians living in Canada and back inside the Kingdom. Wow. Walking away from a life of privilege as the daughter of one of Saudi Arabia's wealthiest businessmen to the life of a Christian wife. Fathiyah knew next to nothing about Christianity. She grew up hearing her relatives and friends refer to Christians and Jews as Infidels or Unbelievers. Muslim women were forbidden from marrying Christian men or Jewish men but Muslim men could marry women from the Christian and Jewish communities. Another example of a sexist double standard signed, sealed and delivered by Allah Himself to the Prophet Muhammad.
In her short time as a Christian, Fathiyah Al-Fatah had been amazed to discover how much freedom and respect Christianity afforded women. Christians worldwide praised Mary as the Holy Mother of their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. They built statues and shrines to her across the globe. In Islam, statues were forbidden. Idolaters are punished severely by conservative Islamists. Christians saw nothing wrong with building statues representing not only their Lord Jesus Christ but also his Holy Mother, the Archangels and Angels and even the Saints themselves. In Christianity, women could wear whatever they wanted. And they could marry whoever they wanted. In Islam, both the choice of attire and the choice of spouse was left in the hands of men. Women in Islam exerted very little control over their own lives. They were property, pure and simple. First the property of their fathers and brothers, then that of their husbands and sons. Freedom for women did not exist in Islam. Of course, a lot of Muslim women living in North America and Europe would vehemently disagree. And a lot of foolish westerners actually believe their lies. Fathiyah Winston ( nee Al-Fatah ) was a daughter of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. A land where women couldn't drive, or even walk down the street without being accompanied by a male relative. Those White women like Texas-born American photographer Nicole Queen who converted to Islam had never lived in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia so they didn't really know the true meaning of Islam. Or the true nature of Muslim men. Islam was all about control and submission. The control went to the men, and submission was expected of women. This was Islam at its purest. Sharia Law. American and European women didn't know the true meaning of Sharia Law. Something Fathiyah Al-Fatah understood all too well. Especially on the day when she burned her hijab ( something she never told her husband Charleston) and walked away from it all.
For a moment, Fathiyah Al-Fatah Winston stood alone in the kitchen. Even after converting to Christianity from Islam, she was still struggling with certain things. Habits learned over a lifetime were hard to let go of. Like praying five times a day, which she still did. Now she prayed to God, Jesus and Mary, instead of Allah. Sometimes she missed a prayer, but forgave herself because the God of Christians and Jews was a God of Mercy and Forgiveness while Allah was a vengeful deity. How many times had she read the words "kill the Infidel" in numerous passages of the Koran? Yeah. Whenever she went to church with Charleston, she couldn't imagine ever going back to a Mosque. Inside a church, men and women sat side by side, praying together. That did NOT happen inside a Mosque. Inside a Mosque, the men prayed at the front, listening to the words of the Imam as he preached. The women were relegated to a room in the back because they were considered a distraction.