Living in Hope

to be seen, where had the broom gone, and why could the place not be kept cleaner, etc.? The young Imam could put up with financial constraints but when it came to suffering continual humiliation, that was another matter. He finally decided that in order to keep his mental balance, and to improve his situation, he must find some additional occupation which was not associated with his work at the mosque. He knew that he could not immediately relinquish his duties there, for that would have meant having nowhere to stay. He therefore enrolled in the Tibbiya (Medical) College, and, side by side with his tasks at the mosque, he launched himself on a course of study. It took him five years to complete his medical studies, during which time he would console himself, in the face of disrespectful treatment, with the thought that he was striving to provide himself with a happier alternative, that he was fitting himself for a worthy career. A time would come, he told himself, when he would never again have to hang his head before any member of the congregation. Finally, the day dawned when he received his medical degree. His success had taken great patience, fortitude and single-mindedness. So that his energies should never flag, he had to keep his attention firmly focused on his ultimate objective of extricating himself from a