Why Algeria

Living in Algeria

Bismillah

I came to Algeria to make Hijra. Hijra is an Islamic journey, undertaken for the sake of Allah, where the person intentionally moves for the sake of Allah and the Rasul (salallahu alayhe wa salaam). This moving can be just emotionally and may need to be (conditionally) for those who cannot for one reason or another physically move to a location that is more acceptable to Allah (a place where the rules of Allah are applied and (at least) where the Muslims live in majority and Allah is worshiped publicly as well as privately).

Ever since I understood and accepted with all of myself that I will one day meet Allah and have to give account for every bit of my life, I had decided to make Hijra to a place where Allah is worshiped publicly, where His supremacy and sovereign is acknowledged (and better yet implemented in the rule of law, at least partially), where Islam is a way of life for the majority, and where opposition of Allah is minimal or better yet, non existing.

There is no such place in existence today from what I know but Algeria has at least some of what I am looking for, and is an acknowledged Muslim country (as it were!).

I have been blessed to move here and I'm doing my best to make it a move of the heart and not just a change of address, something I have experienced before several times mashallah.

I have been here now for nearly 1.5 and I officially have a love hate relationship with the country. My disappointments are of course my own fault as the country never promised me anything, nor did the people, nor did reality of the current Muslim Ummah.

The people here are like the people everywhere else. Some are great and they are the fewest of course. Some are really hateful and thankfully, they are also very few comparatively speaking. The majority are just living their lives, doing their best, sometimes able to show kindness and sometimes facing disappointments and difficulties, which affect their hopefully great general nature.

The country has some good things and has made some great progress mashallah but it still lags behind as compared to where I was coming from. Further, it is disappointing to see the nature of the inhabitants of what I believe could be a really great and progressive country. People are complacent, the government is mismanaged, and the youth are all lost in the miasma of the fantasy world created by world media. In short, there is great potential and very little realization of it and that is the most disappointing part of all for me, especially because I expect great things from people who profess to worship Allah. How can they allow themselves to stagnate thusly? I really dont know and that part just irks me.

Anyway...

In the beginning, I wasnt able to tell the difference between my own failed expectations and the disappointment I was feeling, especially in light of having invested all I had into making my move.

Then I realized that I was letting the Shaytan win with his waswasa. I was being influenced by external and ultimately irrelevant factors regarding people, the country, building codes, material availability, etc. I came here with a focus on improving my akhira and here I was being blindsided with matters of the dunia and letting them get me down.

Thanks to some amazing sisters (fellow lovers and worshippers of Allah), I, alhamdulillah, I'm no longer feeling so blinded. Moving here has broadened my whole horizon in a way that living in no other country ever did. The experiences I have so far had and the things I have so far had to face and deal with are in magnitude probably equal to what I went through when we first moved to the US.

The culture of the people, the way they conduct their private vs public lives, their prejudices and views of the world outside of Algeria, their expectations of me as a foreigner and a westerner, as a Muslimah with a somewhat different understanding and practice of Islam from them... it is all very different and somewhat unexpected for me.

So the first year has been difficult, spent questioning my initial decision to move here, my sanity if I remain here, the strength of my principles and values against the tidal wave of the prevalent cultural norms here in Algiers, etc.

I have to admit that for a time there things were shaky but Allahu Musta'an and He has helped us to adjust, and to find the needed strength to keep digging our roots here, and He nourishes us from sources unexpected and deeply valued.

My conviction for my move here has been strengthened after experiencing a period of shakiness. I know why I moved here. It wasnt to live with Algerians because they are particularly special people. It wasnt to find Islam embeded in the soil and manners of the people of this country. It wasnt to expose my children to amazing role models who can be found only in Algeria or only from the Algerian culture.

Not in the least.

I came to a Muslim majority country, where I can practice my Islam openly and without fear, or a shadow of persecution, where my children will have access to a rich Islamic culture and an Islamic environment (diluted as it is), as well as exposure to the Arabic language.

The bonuses were that my husband's family is here and the blessings of family cannot be understated or under estimated, no matter the differences of opinions in various things. I want my children to grow up with family and since mine is scattered in the world, and his is all in one place, it makes me happy and thankful to take advantage of such a blessing alhamdulillah. Other bonuses are exposure to several languages like French and Kabyl (a Berber language), a more central location world travel wise, offering easy access to Europe, to Tanzania/Zanzibar (a place we hope to travel to often, to the Middle East proper for Hajj/Umra and general visiting, and not an unbearable journey to the US to visit family & friends there:)

With this kind of outlook, living here becomes worship and the struggles faced a means to learn patience and earn hasanat inshallah. No one is promised a life of ease, no matter where they live, nor complete fulfillment, no matter what their provisions are. The rich struggle as much as the poor, just differently, and the healthy struggle as much as the sick,again just differently. Living is struggling, from the simple to the most complicated. If I keep in mind what my ultimate goal is and strive for it, facing forward, keeping my feet moving, never giving up, and doing my measly (absolute is beyond me for the moment, maybe forever) best at every chance, then I will arrive at my chosen destination inshallah...