Homes Quotes

“Life must always go on, Bakr. Death doesn’t matter. Money doesn’t matter. Even life itself doesn’t matter, son. What matters is living your life with your family, with the people you love. We love each other, hard, and hold on tight. What we face, we face together. Together, we move forward and every little happiness we can have, we enjoy. We cannot let hatred and fear stop us from living.”
― Abu Bakr al Rabeeah, Homes: A Refugee Story

“There is nothing we can do about others’ hatred. We can only keep our own hearts clean.”
― Abu Bakr al Rabeeah, Homes: A Refugee Story

“Never forget Syria. Or Iraq, for that matter.”
― Abu Bakr al Rabeeah, Homes: A Refugee Story

“We cannot let hatred and fear stop us from living.”
― Abu Bakr al Rabeeah, Homes: A Refugee Story

“When people in the West hear Iraq, they instantly think of Saddam Hussein and the Gulf War. But when I think about my home country, I remember the honey-drenched baklava my aunts gave me, the pinches on my cheeks, affectionate tickles under my chin, and coos of laughter”
― Abu Bakr al Rabeeah, Homes: A Refugee Story

“My head constantly ached from straining to make myself understood. Even with the help of Google Translate, there were so many things I couldn’t communicate.”
― Abu Bakr al Rabeeah, Homes: A Refugee Story

“Maybe if you didn’t care, you couldn’t be hurt.”
― Abu Bakr al Rabeeah, Homes: A Refugee Story

“Where do you go when you don’t even know where the danger is coming from?”
― Abu Bakr al Rabeeah, Homes: A Refugee Story

“not even children were safe from the army.”
― Abu Bakr al Rabeeah, Homes: A Refugee Story

“There were peaceful protests”
― Abu Bakr al Rabeeah, Homes: A Refugee Story

“How could the God of my gentle father be the same God of those crazy fanatics who killed in the name of Islam? I hated those people the most. How could they take something so loving and peaceful and twist it to justify violence and murder? Those people cannot really be Muslim because my God was about love, peace, charity.”
― Abu Bakr al Rabeeah, Homes: A Refugee Story

“We can make a home anywhere we go together.”
― Abu Bakr al Rabeeah, Homes: A Refugee Story

“To know that someone had thought to prepare halal food, that someone had taken my religion into account rather than ignore or be afraid of it, it felt like such a blessing. Before leaving Syria, everyone had warned me not to lose Islam—as if moving to a non-Muslim country would wipe out my faith—but here, people wanted to honour it.”
― Abu Bakr al Rabeeah, Homes: A Refugee Story

“Leave Allah out of your homework! That is up to you! Now get to work, young man, and leave God to bigger problems!”
― Abu Bakr al Rabeeah, Homes: A Refugee Story

“That’s what terror does to you. It weakens you. It deflates you,”
― Abu Bakr al Rabeeah, Homes: A Refugee Story

“Nihad, it is our only safe option. Think of it: America, maybe Canada. There, we will grow stronger together. We will be free.”
― Abu Bakr al Rabeeah, Homes: A Refugee Story

“Even though my father’s family was Shi’a, he raised us as Sunni. In Baserah, where we lived, the divisions between the two denominations of Islam hung heavy in the air.”
― Abu Bakr al Rabeeah, Homes: A Refugee Story

“I could tell he was flustered by the experience. We couldn’t read the signs or ask for help. The money was colourful and confusing. This was especially difficult for Father, who was so used to taking care of everything. And though we sat and listened to the volunteer translators explaining everything, we weren’t always able to entirely understand their Arabic dialects.”
― Abu Bakr al Rabeeah, Homes: A Refugee Story

“Father got the idea to plant rose bushes in the bakery’s courtyard because they reminded him of his grandfather’s farm back in Iraq. He said we needed to make things beautiful again.”
― Abu Bakr al Rabeeah, Homes: A Refugee Story

“That’s what terror does to you. It weakens you. It deflates you, as it did my grandmother.”
― Abu Bakr al Rabeeah, Homes: A Refugee Story

“I prayed for peace, not from the war, but peace in my heart.”
― Abu Bakr al Rabeeah, Homes: A Refugee Story

“No matter the situation or what he said, his voice sounded like there was laughter in it.”
― Abu Bakr al Rabeeah, Homes: A Refugee Story

“Love radiated from him, but all I wanted was that shawarma.”
― Abu Bakr al Rabeeah, Homes: A Refugee Story

“when we heard an explosion, we ran towards the chaos. Often the police and ambulances were late arriving, if they arrived at all, so we took care of each other.”
― Abu Bakr al Rabeeah, Homes: A Refugee Story

“The white scarf bloomed red.”
― Abu Bakr al Rabeeah, Homes: A Refugee Story