The tone of her voice on the phone was pleasant and engaging. She said that she was ‘Mrs Agjee’ and wished to see me urgently as she wanted to hand something over to me. I was in Durban, South Africa and Mrs Agjee was the principal of an Islamic school in the suburbs of this beautiful city.

 A humble lady in her early sixties, dressed in hijab, she entered my office and greeted me warmly. After she had introduced herself she immediately began talking about Palestine. The passion that poured out of her really moved me. When she spoke about Al Aqsa, I battled to blink away the tears. The thought came into my mind …. there are so many in the blessed land who do not have as much love in their hearts for their own homeland as Mrs Ayesha Agjee. Yet it was comforting to know that there are many good Muslims like her in the world who are ready to stand up for the Holy Land.

Then she handed me a gift. It was a calendar with the picture of Al Aqsa on the front page. Each page showed a month and each day on it had a block in which was noted what event of significance happened on that particular day in the history of Palestine. Each of the 365 days of 2007 reminds us of a major tragedy or celebration that took place in the past. It was a monumental work undertaken by a young girl, Mariam Vawda, a former student at Mrs Agjee’s school. She did it entirely on her own, using her own pocket-money and great encouragement from her parents.

As I examined my noble gift I was left completely awe-struck and breathless at this great labour of love. I could only whisper my thanks to her for giving me this wonderful present and made dua that the Almighty bless the young person who created the calendar for being so committed to Palestine.

I was really captivated with Mrs Agjee’s detailed description about how her students feel about Palestine. Then for some strange reason she began speaking about Coca Cola. She said that she loved to drink Coca Cola. She was addicted to it. Even when she heard that she was diabetic and was strongly advised by her doctor to avoid it, nothing would stop her from drinking the black liquid. Then she heard a fatwa that one should not drink Coca Cola because part of its profits went to the Israelis. Although feeling somewhat guilty, she still could not stay away from it. I was somewhat taken aback by her admission and could not make sense of her lack of commitment. Then it all became clear.  Mrs Agjee said, ‘One day a grade three student approached me and asked me why was our canteen selling Coca Cola and funding the Israelis so that they can buy bullets to kill Palestinian children. I was really shocked by this and immediately vowed never to touch the drink again. I immediately called a meeting of my staff and put the issue to them. They all agreed that we should instantly stop all sales of Coca Cola at our canteen. For me the happiest moment of my life was to call the distributor of Coca Cola and tell him that we are terminating our business with his company. It’s now three years since I stopped drinking Coke.”

After this wonderful lady left the office, I had much to ponder upon. I wondered why is it that we in the Arab world get all fired up and spring into action in response to some provocation and then within a short time our enthusiasm evaporates. Our boycott of American companies that support Israel starts with great gusto and ends up a damp squib. We went all out to boycott Danish products for the insult to our Prophet (SAW). Today the shops are brimming with products from that country.

As I looked at the calendar, I wondered how much our young people are concerned about Palestine and Al Aqsa. Perhaps if they paid half as much attention as they do to their Mp3 players and video games, there would be some reason for hope.

Yet, my heart is full of hope. When we have people like Mrs Agjee and her students who carry the flag for us -- Palestine will never be abandoned.