Amina's Voice Quotes

“But later that night, as I brush my teeth in the bathroom, I overhear Baba and Thaya Jaan talking in the guest room next door. “

All this music all the time. You shouldn’t let Amina do so much singing and piano,” Thaya Jaan says.

I stop brushing and strain to hear every word, trying to follow.

“But, Bhai Jaan, she is so talented. Her music teachers say she is really quite gifted.”

“Yes, but music is forbidden in Islam. It’s a waste of time and has no benefit. Instead of filling her head with music, she should focus on memorizing Quran.”

The toothpaste suddenly tastes bitter. I spit it out and wait to hear what Baba will say. Surely he’ll say the things he’s always told me, like how music makes him feel closer to God and that my talent is a gift from Allah.

But all Baba says is, “Yes, Bhai Jaan,” and then he stays quiet.

I am numb. Is Thaya Jaan right? Am I doing something wrong?”
― Hena Khan, Amina's Voice

“I was born by the river”
― Hena Khan, Amina's Voice

“Even with things like this, I’m still convinced there’s no better place to be a Muslim in the world than in this country.”
― Hena Khan, Amina's Voice

“I lay in bed, trying to ignore the phone ringing constantly, and replayed everything I’d seen that morning in my head. The words “Terrorists” and “Go Home!” kept flashing through my mind, and a flood of feelings—fear, anxiety, anger—clouded my thoughts. I am home. Where else would I go?”
― Hena Khan, Amina's Voice

“The heaviness that has settled around my heart is getting to the point where it is slowly being crushed. I’m afraid I will never feel normal again.”
― Hena Khan, Amina's Voice

“Emily’s life always seemed perfect to me, but now I wonder if maybe it isn’t.”
― Hena Khan, Amina's Voice

“An-yŏng-ha-se-yo,” she greets her grandfather.”
― Hena Khan, Amina's Voice

“Everything about this past week—from wishing I were singing in the concert, to being in the worst pioneer wagon, to wondering why Soojin and Emily are acting so chummy—is making me wish I’d never left elementary school.”
― Hena Khan, Amina's Voice

“If you didn’t want American children, you shouldn’t have moved to this country,”
― Hena Khan, Amina's Voice

“I want to explain to my father that it would be completely embarrassing to be the only kid tagging along with her parents at back-to-school night. But he would just say, in the Urdu accent he hasn’t lost after living in the Milwaukee area for twenty years, “Embarrassing? I don’t understand this embarrassing. Why do you care what people think?”
― Hena Khan, Amina's Voice

“Mama told me once that she picked my name thinking it would be easiest of all the ones on her list for people in America to pronounce. But she was wrong. The neighbor with the creepy cat still calls me Amelia after living next door for five years. And my last name? Forget about it. I could barely pronounce Khokar myself until I was at least eight. And since I don’t want to embarrass anyone by correcting them more than once, I just let them say my name any way they want.”
― Hena Khan, Amina's Voice

“When it’s my turn, I fill my plate with rice, shami kabob, lentils, and butter chicken, skipping the cauliflower and salad, and pile the naan high before carefully carrying it downstairs to the basement. Rabiya, Yusuf, and the other kids are already camped in front of the TV with their food.

Mustafa joins a few minutes later, plopping down on our beat-up leather sofa next to Yusuf.

“There’s nothing good on,” Yusuf announces after flipping through all the channels.

“Isn’t there a basketball game?” Mustafa asks.

“Nooo!” Rabiya whines.

“I want SpongeBob,” a little boy named Jamal says, chewing on a piece of naan.

“How about we tell scary stories?” Yusuf suggests.

“No way,” Rabiya refuses. “Last time I had nightmares for days.”

I agree. Yusuf tells the scariest stories ever. The worst one was about severed hands of bodies that were dug up from graves. The hands came to life and would tickle people to death. I still think about that whenever we pass a graveyard.”
― Hena Khan, Amina's Voice

“Bradley Landry toward us. And this time, the three of us look at one another with alarm. Bradley’s the kid who can’t sit still for more than five minutes. In second grade, he was forced to sit on a chair”
― Hena Khan, Amina's Voice