Walking In Abu Dhabi Part 3

Winter in Abu Dhabi is beautiful. Such wonderful weather for walking! Beautiful blue skies, white sands and palm trees – just like walking at the beach, except that there is no ocean, just sand and more sand.


I walked to and from school almost every day during the cooler months. Not only was it good exercise but it also gave me time to think and to do dhikr of Allah (swt). My job was difficult and frustrating and walking helped me vent without violence.

One morning on my way to school, I decided to take a different route to the main road by taking a short cut across a sand field. As I neared the edge of the field I noticed an animal scamper under one of the green desert bushes. I looked carefully and found it to be a green parrot with its wing and tail feathers cut off. I felt I couldn’t leave it there in that state. I thought perhaps it was something put in my path by Allah (swt) as an opportunity to show rahmah (mercy) and get hasanat (rewards from Allah). I decided I would look after it until its feathers grew back and let it fly free


I caught the bird easily and wrapped it in my jacket. It squirmed a little but after a few minutes it settled down. I walked to school with the bird and put it in box with some water for the day.

I didn’t walk home that day on account of the bird. I took the bird home and put it in the room adjoining the bathroom and left it alone to get accustomed to its environment. It was not long before I heard it chirping loudly from the bathroom window ledge.

I didn’t know what to feed it so I fed the bird porridge made from rolled oats with date syrup mixed in, apples, some seeds that are actually intended for human consumption, and eventually I found a supermarket with some birdseed intended for birds.

It was a wild and aggressive bird, but very intelligent. It used to surprise me with some of the things it did. And it knew that I was the provider of the food. If it heard me go into the kitchen it would stand in front of its food dish and look at me expectantly. Most of the day it sat on the ledge of the bathroom window trying to communicate with other birds flying by.

After a few months, many long feathers had grown back but not enough for it to fly effectively enough to be released. I was at the end of my work contract and planned to move on to a new destination but the bird was not ready for release. I ended up giving it to a fellow teacher from my school who already had one Indian Ringneck so it wasn’t too much of a problem for him to keep a second bird.

I never found out if the bird was ever released once its wings grew back, but at least I knew it went to a good home, to someone who wouldn’t cut its wing feathers off again.

I hope this green bird is not my last. May Allah give me a green bird in Jannah Amin.

We should never underestimate or forget the blessings of Allah (swt) upon us. It is easy to forget due to our busy lives, that is why for me, walking is a blessing because it gives me time to remember when I might otherwise forget. So, after three walks, these were just some of the blessings and rizq Allah (swt) bestowed upon me:


- A healthy body that is able to walk
- A safe environment to walk in
- Eyes to see my surroundings
- Exercise and fitness opportunity
- Good weather
- An Islamic bookshop
- Friendship of a good sister in Islam
- A clean supermarket
- A smooth shopping trolley
- Food
- A ride home in hot weather
- More food
- Good neighbours who remember Allah
- A green bird
- Time for dhikr and tasbih of Allah and His Creation


These are only the obvious bounties and rizq, there are plenty more that I don’t even realise, and so we must give thanks to Allah swt for the blessings that we know and don’t know, just as we ask forgiveness for the sins and shirk that we know of and that of which we are unaware of.


SubhanAllahi wa bihamdih, subhan Allahu l-Atheem.