In part 1 of “The A train” we read about our sisters Sana and Muslimah who were meeting each other at the train station. Sana was arriving on the A train and Sana knows this but decides to wait for Muslimah at the B train. This type of habitually inconsiderate behavior is typical for Sana and in her mind she thinks that her way is the right way and can’t understand why others don’t feel the same.
The point that I wanted to make was very simple. Sana no matter how hard she tries has difficulty meeting people where they are (literally and figuratively). Unfortunately for Sana and especially Muslimah, Sana seems to be suffering from some sort of psychological block. It may be as severe as narcissism (which requires a professional diagnosis) or a character flaw that makes Sana believe she is really helping her friends with her behavior.
I would like to know: How do you handle the Sana’s in your life? If you were Muslimah what would the rest of the conversation be like? Would you sweep it under the rug or confront her head on?
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Teacher~Tamara
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teachertamara
Assalamualaikum teacher tamara
i guess with people like Sana, one has got to:
1. be patient
2. do it for Allah’s sake..
2. come up with a rationale that would support Sana in a way instead of confronting her by telling her off. maybe ask her to see things in perspective, that “if you thought train B was better, you should have at least told me prior to my departure. i took train A as i thought you would be waiting for me there since you received my itinerary and didn’t say anything.”
3. breathe
4. come up with logical explanation and insert humor “Alhamdulillah, we are reunited, but we could have spent that extra one hour catching up over ice-cream by now!”
5. and maybe then remind her about the possibility that things could have been worse, say one or both of them did not have their mobile phones (i.e: battery died..it happens!). not only will there be disappointment, but frustration too…
i guess the main point is not to want to hurt…but come to knock some sense into her with love
at the end of the day, as Muslimah, i guess we all need to learn to be more patient…and maybe it’s Allah’s test upon us to see what we’d do. InsyaAllah…though i believe it won’t be easy for myself if i were in Muslimah’s shoes…but i guess we got to try… 
p/s: i love your site sister… Jazakallahu khair for sharing wonderful motivating and inspiring posts, MasyaAllah
Wa laikum Asalam Sister Dayana,
Excellent words of advice! Doing it for the sake of Allah, using humor and not wanting to hurt the sister in question here are all points that we can walk away with and apply to our everyday living.
It’s true that Allah does use some of us as trial for others and we must be aware, some days we are the tried and some days we become someone’s trial!
I love the part about the ice cream! (oh summer time don’t leave us so soon.)
JazakaAllahukhair to you for reading my little posts! Enjoy!
Thanks for popping by, come back soon!
T~T