#Culture

[Podcast] Faith, Motherhood, and the Call to Gaza | Dr. Samaiya Mushtaq

Published

September 14, 2026

Dr. Samaiya Mushtaq’s book “A Beautiful Patience: A Memoir of Marriage, Motherhood, and a Mission to Gaza” pulls readers into the story of her husband, Dr. Mahmoud Sabha, who went to Gaza on multiple medical missions – and takes us along on her own journey, struggling with fear, guilt, motherhood, and more.

In this episode, Dr. Samaiya shares the behind-the-scenes of the book process, from what it took to process her husband’s experiences in Gaza from shared anecdotes to the page, to her own personal struggles being home, and what we can do to support the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the rest of Palestine.

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When Samaiya Mushtaq’s husband considers joining a medical mission in Gaza, she must face the quiet terror of what it might cost them. As a physician, she understands his calling—but as a mother of two young children, she fears the unthinkable. What if he doesn’t come back? In the face of uncertainty, they choose faith over fear: Mahmoud will go to Gaza; Samaiya will hold their lives together at home.

In Gaza, Mahmoud removes shrapnel, helps amputate limbs, and finds a colony of maggots in a wound that isn’t healing properly. In Texas, Samaiya nurses their infant at night and spends her mornings wrangling their toddler before signing in to work, only to do it all again in the evening. Each night, Samaiya and Mahmoud connect through messages and calls. While he tells her about his patients and asks about the kids, she can hear air strikes in the background.

At once devastating and inspiring, A Beautiful Patience is a poignant memoir that explores our responsibility to our families and fellow humans, the power of trusting in God, and different ways to persist and resist against all odds.

Related:

What Can I Do To Help Gaza?

From The MuslimMatters Bookshelf: Palestinian Literature For All Ages

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Keep supporting MuslimMatters for the sake of Allah

Alhamdulillah, we're at over 850 supporters. Help us get to 900 supporters this month. All it takes is a small gift from a reader like you to keep us going, for just $2 / month.

Related Topics:Activism books faith Featured Gaza Injustice memoir motherhood non fiction palestine podcast Spirituality

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Zainab bint Younus

Zainab bint Younus (AnonyMouse) is a Canadian Muslim woman who writes on Muslim women's issues, gender related injustice in the Muslim community, and Muslim women in Islamic history. She holds a diploma in Islamic Studies from Arees University, a diploma in History of Female Scholarship from Cambridge Islamic College, and has spent the last fifteen years involved in grassroots da'wah. She was also an original founder of MuslimMatters.org.

1 Comment

Amer Rizvi

September 15, 2026 at 9:00 AM

Thank you so much for your podcast. May Allah reward you and your husband with Firdous al-Aʿla. 🤲

I felt so guilty after listening to some of it that I went on Facebook Messenger and reconnected with the Gaza families whom I had ignored for far too long. May Allah forgive me!

And despite me ignoring them, they had continued sending me thumbs-ups and asking if I was okay 😢 That’s Allah using the people of Gaza to look out for me!

The father immediately picked up his cell phone and turned on his camera. I was like, “Oops!” 😂 I told him I was calling from America and that I was so sorry I had ignored them.

The father showed me inside their tent in Gaza, near the sea, where they were living, and the simple food they had in a pot. They were so hungry. 😢

He introduced me to his wife and children. He told me that his father had recently been killed by Israeli bombardment while he was on his way to the mosque to pray on a Friday 🤲🏼

I comforted him by telling him that, insha Allah, his father is now in a much better place. I even got to speak with his mother. The elderly lady, who had just lost her husband, was so nice, with a smile on her face.

But I really wanted to talk to the children because, as a school teacher, I love joking around with kids. What struck me most was how normal and happy they were despite everything they had been through.

And they burst into laughter when they began chatting with me. 🤣 Their parents smiled at their happiness.

They just chatted with me about simple things. They spoke Palestinian ʿĀmmiyya, while I spoke Classical Arabic.

I asked the children if they liked English, whether they swam in the sea nearby, and whether they liked Ronaldo or Messi. One girl even demonstrated her swimming stroke for me 😃

I showed the children some of the toys we have in our house. The father told me it would cost him $100 a month to send his three children to school. I talked to the mother as well, and she was so friendly.

These Gaza families had let a stranger into their lives! You might think they would be angry or bitter because of everything they have endured and because so many people have been unable to help them.

Not at all! They were kind, warm, welcoming, and grateful ❤️

Honestly, it was so refreshing to experience Muslims with such simple, warm, and open personalities. As a once part-time English teacher in an Islamic school here in Virginia, I had encountered some complex and troubled personalities.

But with these Gazan families, there was none of that. The children weren’t preoccupied with telling me that playing with food was haram or that singing was haram, and the women I spoke with weren’t cliquish or distant. The Gazan families just talked to me like normal people do. 😃

And perhaps that’s part of why I felt so close to them. I felt like I could just be myself with them, and they could be themselves with me.

May Allah protect the Gaza families, provide for them and unite me with them in Firdous al-Aʿla. Ameen.

❤️ طوبى للشام

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