#MyExperience: Accident

Accidents happen. This is a phrase that we've grown accustomed to hearing. What I didn't expect was for myself to experience firsthand how exactly car accidents occurred. I was five and on the way to my first day of kindergarten; I never reached the school. An unfocused SUV driver crashed into the car my dad and I were residing in and I remember clearly the sound of breaking glass and cracking bones. Alhamdulillah I had come out with only a fractured leg and a few scratches to boast. But my mother had hugged me tightly in the hospital with tears in her eyes, thanking Allah under her breath for keeping me safe. At that early age of five, I hadn't understood why she was so worried and the brevity of the near-death experience was nonexistent to me. Thinking back on it now, however, it dawned on me how close I had been to inhaling my last breath. I had looked death in the eye and walked away with merely a few broken bones. Not many could say they had done the same. It was only because Allah had bestowed mercy upon me that day that I am now sitting here and telling the tale. Anytime I'm reminded of that accident, I praise Allah for being the merciful Lord that He is for giving me more time to explore my life and grow into a better human being. Any mercy shown in this world pales in comparison to the mercy shown by the One who made the term itself.