
He was our driver while we were in Kyrgyzstan. A humble person who is native to this land. With little English , we managed to communicate and talked to each other effectively. Mostly with the help of Google Translator. He is younger than me and drives taxi when not taking tourists around the country.

interestingly, Jenish is an avid Jamaat Tabligh. Alhamdulillah we didn’t have to worry about stopping for prayers because he would do it for himself. So with that was taken care of, we could enjoy the travelling within Kyrgyzstan with ease.

I was trying to find out how a Kyrgic lives. With limited words, he told me that he has a daughter who is studying Quran to be hafizah. He lives with his family in a village outside Bishkek. He told me about difficult times during Soviet times. As a 52 year old, he experienced the last part of that hard period when it finally collapsed in the 90s. The unIslamic practices among his people has been a direct influence of the past. He showed disappointment and encouraged me to help him in dakwah. I was stunned and speechless over his plea. The tone of his voice and face clearly make it an honest request . I stuttered and smiled for saying that it was impossible for me to do that. Feeling small and disabled, I hid behind language barrier and a long way from home.How inappropriate wasn’t it? After a long pause, I finally gave him my number. message me!
I was searching for a purpose of my existence; this could be it. This random start of a friendship could lead to something bigger. Who knows!

Today he drove us up a mountain outside Bishkek. We were supposed to explore a sky bridge. Fearing the height, I let go of this activity and decided to stay behind in the car with Jenish. After a while I saw him reading the Quran. I asked him if I could join him and did something like a tadarrus. Surprisingly he agreed and we chose Suratul Baqarah. He read the ayaat beautifully and clearly. I was not surprised as , once in Mekah, I heard someone from this region read the Quran beautifully. After a few pages he stopped and said, “I need to pee!”. And that was it.
The girls came back from Skybridge and we set off to explore Bishkek.





