It was the 127th day of the aggression against Gaza and a harsh night its people, with bullets raining down their heads while they resided in tents facing Nasser Medical Hospital in Khan Yunis. The aerial bombardment struck the last floors of the complex, spreading terror and fear in the hearts of the displaced people. There was also the sound of the sniper, who would shoot everything that moves there with his gun.
After an exhausting day, Dr. Amira Al-Assouli was on the wall of her room full of displaced people to take a warrior's rest as they say. Then, her hearing was pierced by the sound of a wounded man in a tent under her room. He had been shot by a soldier’s bullet on the corner of the street, meters away from the complex. His screams and calls for help prompted her go out to the gate of the complex without any hesitation to save him!
People were gathering at the door of the Nasser Medical Complex in the south of the Gaza Strip. Everyone feared crossing the few meters between them and the tent where the wounded man was lying on the ground, and being spotted and killed by the sniper. However, Dr. Al-Assouli could not stand for more than a minute in front of the cries of the wounded man, so she took off her winter coat and ran towards Anina with her back bent over, with Dr. Muhammad Abu Lihia following her. They rescued the wounded man and
took him to the hospital despite missiles raining down from the sky and the hail of bullets on the ground. It was a scene that made the whole world to dub her as "The heroine of our time.”
On the 7th of October, when the war was launched on Gaza, Al-Assouli was on a scientific trip in the Arab Republic of Egypt. What she feared was not being able to return to Gaza to participate in treating the wounded, so her prayer was: “Allah knows that I love Gaza and I breathe Gaza while I am outside Gaza. Oh Allah, return me to where I wish to be.” and she got what she wished for!
You know that this heroic stance was not the first for the humane doctor Amira?! In the first days of the war, she saved a cat that was crying in terror under the rubble of a bombed house. She kept removing stones from the rubble for hours, so she can bring it out safely, painting a beautiful picture of mercy, kindness, and humanity.
There is no doubt that Al-Assouli’s heroism brought us back to the glories of Islam, and to shining examples that illuminated the pages of Islamic history. Take for instance, the nurse, Rufaydah Al-Aslamiyah, who treated the wounded in the invasions, and did her best to serve the weak and sick Muslims. The “Battle of the Trench” tent was the first mobile hospital in Islam and was known as “The Tent of Rufaida Al-Aslamiya."
Rufaida Al-Aslamiyah was a righteous woman who had a
tent in the mosque where she worked to treat the wounded among the Companions of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. She picked up the dead and took care of those who had no one.
Let us agree, heroic characters have changed in the eyes of our children after the “Al-Aqsa Flood.” Take for example, the sleek fighter who appeared all nice-looking and classy with an awl in his hand. For the children, he and his black cape and his extraordinary heroism were a replacement for Batman, just like Dr. Amira Al-Assouli, who dazzled the world with her courage, boldness, and greatness!
Yasmeen Anbar