Mangosha’s Experience
Contributed by Br Khaled via Muslim Village Website
My cousin Khaled who was living in Lebanon as a Palestinian refugee was having trouble finding work and making a living, a friend of his told him to go to Poland as one of his brothers were there and might of been able to help him find a job there. He went to Poland and while he was there he met a woman named Mangosha, they really loved each other, she wasn’t Muslim nor could she speak Arabic, they both struggled to talk to each other in English, but they didn’t want to leave each other and he wasn’t able to stay in Poland so he went back to the refugee camp in Lebanon, and soon after, she followed him.She left all her possessions and everyone she ever knew, to go live in the terrible conditions in the camp with people being murdered very often and in poverty. She was a strict Catholic before that however she had never known much at all about Islam.
When she was exposed to it she was really attracted to Islam and soon after they got married she decided to embrace it. Mangosha became very fluent in Arabic (when I saw her she could talk better Arabic than me!) and you would never be able to tell she was Polish (by her accent); if you looked at her you could tell straight away that she wasn’t an Arab.
They lived there for around 12 years, and 2 years ago she flew to Sweden to find work, my cousin (her husband) was planning on following her when she had finished all his paperwork for him, it took her a year but eventually she had a home and he was ready to fly there with his 13-14 yr old daughter. One week before he left Lebanon he died in his sleep (he was 35) Allah Yirhamu, this was between March-June 2007 I think, it was a shock to everyone, he only came closer to Islam a few weeks before he passed away Alhamdullilah. His daughter ended up flying to Sweden on her own and now she lives with her mother.
Personal note: I like this experience as it shows how she choose Islam by her own decision after being exposed to it and learning about it. Also inspiring how she picked up Arabic so well!
