All my life, I’ve been told that I can’t do whatever I wanted to do. Sometimes this was right, but other times, whoever told me this couldn’t have been more wrong. I am a very unique individual, due to the fact that I’m a first generation Bengali Muslim American with a physical disability, with the very unpopular dream of being surrounded by literature for all my life. This means that I’m probably one of the bigots most favorite targets, because they see all these things that are “wrong” with me. I had a classmate tell me, “For a little towelhead in a wheelchair, you sure have a big mouth.” I responded, “For a tall, dark, handsome person like yourself, you sure don’t have any manners.” My dreams are to travel the world, tell motivating stories, and inspire people wherever I go. All of what is concerned “wrong” with me is something that I see to be an ability of mine that helps me see the world in a different lens. My race is a way for me to experience the world through spicy food and ambition to make more out of what I have, my disability motivates me to never give up and to always keep going, and my religion reminds me that my actions are based on intentions and that God will always be by my side if I’m righteous. All of these things make me a passionate, loving, ambitious, strong, determined, and motivated writer, Muslim, and human being. Perhaps this is why I am able to get through the trials of life that comes my way, much of which comes from the people I’m surrounded by. Many people like telling me what I should do with my life. Many aunties have told me I should be a computer scientist or a henna artist, while many uncles have told me to be a teacher. My paraprofessional has told me multiple times that the best career for me was to start some kind of business. While all of these careers are very appealing and fulfilling, I’m not meant for them. I’m meant to motivate people through my words, tell stories that will outlast my lifetime and will remind people from all walks of life that you’re strong enough and big enough to do whatever you put your mind to. The adversity that is in my life comes from people’s concern of me, their sympathy and pity coming through the box that they’ve unconsciously made for me. They never aim to hurt me. They just want to make sure that I’m in a comfortable place, and want that I have a good life, even if it means being in a box that will block me from who I wish to be. But the thing is that God made me such that I don’t conform to any kind of box, no matter how spacious and glamorous. The stories I want to tell are of those who are like me: girls who wear hijab, loves adventure, and only sets her sights on the sun. Girls like me are meant to fly, are meant to help others spread their wings and create a flock of ambitious, fulfilled, happy people who make the world a better place through their dreams. The adversity in my life has taught me to smile and thank people for their kindness, but to still know when to stand your ground and put yourself first. It has helped me develop a heart of gold and a spine of steel. It is with these shiny body parts that I will fly.

In the Quran, God says, “I am what My servant thinks of Me, and I am with Him when he remembers Me.” I remind myself of this verse every time something “bad” happens, and I find myself in a situation I rather not be in. I find that when I think of God in a positive way, He helps me in a way that is beautiful and unexpected, a means of help that can only be given through divine intervention. I’m a Muslim, my faith, or imaan, in God and my teachings taken from the Quran and the teachings of His Prophets, from Muhammad (peace be upon him) to Abraham, or in Arabic Ibrahim, (peace be upon him). My religion has taught me to stay strong, to always Him in everything, to never give up, and to be a good person that will do things that both I and God will be proud of. Through the examples of the righteous, I learned to be myself wholeheartedly, that redemption is what drives our world towards goodness, and to always fight for what’s right. I was born in a Muslim household, with Osteogenesis Imperfecta. This means that I have brittle bones that are more prone to fractures and deformities, which greatly impacts the way I lead my life. We weren’t always religious, but we always had faith in God that we would be able to get through our hardships and that whatever was happening was happening for a reason. It took me a while to accept that God had made me different than most on this Earth, and it took me a while to find Him on my own terms. In a way, I still am finding Him and learning about Him, and becoming a more ambitious and kind person along the way. But it was after I found Him that I was able to really find purpose in my life and look past what was “wrong” with me. Now, I know that whatever I do, I want to help people find their best selves and help them find Him. My career aspirations are always intertwined with my faith and passion about God. Whatever you do, become a doctor or work at McDonald’s, you need to have motivation for a larger cause that is beyond you. If you’re always thinking about yourself, you aren’t able to benefit the world as much as you would if you thought about how what you do affects others. This is why one of Prophet Muhammad’s companions named Abu Dhar would pray to God to give him the best of character. He said, “If a person has good character, they naturally affect people in beautiful ways.” As a person gifted with a physical disability, I want to help people make the most of their lives and be the best person at the same time. I have a talent of writing and storytelling, and I would like to use this to motivate people to do and be better. This is why I would like to be a college counselor and a writer. I hope to use my God given talent to help lead as many people as possible to their decreed path. God has taught me that helping others is helping yourself. He has taught me to be kind, to work hard, to pray and never give up, and when He sees that you put in the effort, He will help you. As His servant, I think of Him as my friend and protector. He is with me wherever I go, and I will never lose Him.

People with disabilities, physical, mental or emotional, aren’t represented enough in our society. In books and other forms of media, most characters are able bodied, and those who aren’t are oftentimes the one that is the most pitied or the evil one. When the world thinks about making cities and communities, there is very little consideration for those who have some sort of disability. Unfortunately, we’ve had to make a world of our own, and have had to deal with being an outcast in the midst of the “normal” world. We don’t deserve this. Our stories need to be told, our bodies need to thought about, our lives need to be appreciated. This is part of the reason why I would like to be a writer. I would like to write about our stories, where we are the main characters, conquering the world in our courageous ways and blasting out our light like the Sun. I would like to implant in the mind of the world that we’re a force to be reckoned with, and that we aren’t to be pitied. We are the ones who survive with the most vivid of colors. It’s time our stories be heard.

My name is Afra, and my name means, “Daughter of the Earth”. My mom chose this name after reading a book, where the protagonist’s name was Afra. She said to me, much later in my life, that she wanted me to be brave and heroic like her. Now, if you ask me, I think she got the name wrong. I think that when Allah made my soul, He took the soil of the highest mountains and mixed it with the clouds and sunlight when He said, “Kun Fayakun.”, which means, “Be and it is.”. If I were to have wings, my feathers would be different shades of purple and gold and hints of black. They would shimmer in the sun, blend in with the sky during the night, and would take me wherever I want, making the world far more accessible to me than it is now. I am a Muslim girl who loves the color purple and anything gold, a Muslim girl who loves to read and watch anything with Chris Hemsworth in it and paint and do henna, a Muslim girl tells anyone who will listen: I want to go there. My biggest dream, much to my parents’ dismay, is to travel the world. I want to see all of the mountain ranges, visit hundreds of national parks, get lost in the streets of foreign countries and find my way back to my hotel, drunk on the sense of adventure and excitement. I hope to someday be the first hijabi to visit all of the world’s countries, and be the first person of my family to graduate from college. I’m going to major in English at Adelphi University, so that I can become a better writer and someone who is able to see life lessons in everything. Books have always been my way of learning different lessons in life, and I have been more prepared for the hard times in life because of them. As I mentioned before, I love reading. I grew up on reading, going from fairytales to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Even now, you will most likely find my nose, which now has a diamond pin that my father gave my mom when they got married, in a book, my world made up of the images described by words. It was through reading that my dream of traveling emerged. Now, as I am about to embark on my college journey, I think about all of the things I will learn to enhance my knowledge of the world and the life that is and was on it. I hope that it will prepare me for my dreams, and that when I travel, I will be able to reflect on what I learnt. This scholarship will help me go one step further in my dreams and make them a reality. Trust me, there’s nothing better than watching a dream you’ve had for years turn into something that you can feel, touch and smell.

I feel like Rapunzel sometimes. I feel like I’m stuck in a tower, waiting for the time when I will get out and feel the sun on my face and the wind in my hijab. Due to my diagnosis of Osteogenesis Imperfecta, my parents have kept me greatly sheltered for much of my life. Now they’re letting me go, with hopes that I will do great things. This is why the title of this next chapter of my life would be “This is When My Life Begins.” You see, I have great plans for my future. I’ve spent much of my time in bed late at night, planning it out. I’m going to college and start a henna and books club, be an English major, and start writing short stories that will erupt the world like fireworks. After I get my degree, I want to travel the United States and see all 50 states with my mom and baby brother. But right now, these are just plans, drafts in my brain and hidden between my economics textbook pages. They’re just dreams I see in my sleep and vision boards on my wall. But now that I’m going to college, I can make all of this a reality. I chose this title because college is when I will be able to shape my life to make it what I want. I won’t follow anyone’s rules but my own. My education won’t just be numbers, but feelings and experiences too. I’ll still be sheltered, but not as much. I want a life that I won’t forget. I want a life that will be full of joy and light and experience. I want to be the source of color in a dull world of blue light. I will make my own path, and this is when I start. In a few months, when my life begins, and the adventures start, and I will write down all that I’ll learn. It’ll be a collection of short stories, all about the new things of life that I’ll see. It will truly be when my life begins.

Netflix wasn’t really my thing for most of my life. Still it isn’t. But there’s one movie series that I can’t stop raving about, because it’s so good and has changed me as a person. It just happens to be a Netflix series. The Extraction franchise, starring gorgeous as hell Chris Hemsworth, who plays Tyler Rake, who is a black ops mercenary. The movies follow him as he completes some of the most daring missions of his life and escapes death from gangster and cult leaders. Along side with Nik Khan (Golshifteh Farahani) and the rest of the team, he completes these missions and proves the world, and himself, that he’s someone worth keeping. At first glance, these movies are bloody action films. They have killer scenes, a lot of gore, and the most epic chase scenes I have ever seen. It does help that Chris Hemsworth’s the one who is on the screen 90% of the time, because I find myself drooling over him all the time while watching these films. But I’m a huge Chris Hemsworth fan. As my friend likes to say, I would happily take a punch from him. While that’s not true, I DO love the guy. He’s a great person, has consistently made me laugh and inspired me to want bigger and brighter things out of life, and is a great actor, and the role of Tyler Rake greatly suits him. Tyler Rake is a very secretive person, with a hard outer shell that makes him feel unapproachable and hostile. But deep inside, he’s a caring and compassionate person. I won’t spoil the films, because I really hope that whoever reads this ends up watching them after they’re done reading this, but I will say that we learn a lot about Tyler and how that makes him the person that he is. In the beginning of this essay, I said that these films changed me, which is a very strange thing to say when speaking about action films. Maybe it’s because I’m a big softie and that I’m someone who sees symbols and life lessons in everything, but the storyline is more than action. It’s about a man who’s heading for redemption, who wants forgiveness and a new start, about people who are running from their loved ones because they’re the ones who hurt them most, about building bonds with people and realizing that there’s more good than bad in this world. It’s about not giving up, doing the right thing even if it means you get bloody, and thinking about others before thinking about yourself. I want to be a hero. I want to be someone who delivers justice and truth. Tyler Rake is a hero. He falls off a bridge so that he can save a 14 year old boy. He hangs off the edge of a building in order to save his best friend. He kills two men so that his sister in law can give her kids a better life, suffering time in prison. But here’s the thing: when you do the right thing, no matter what the law says or what happens to you, it doesn’t matter. You did something that allowed someone to get a better life. You gave your message, risked your life, for others to go forward and lead theirs. Extraction has taught me heroism. Anyone can be a hero, and that’s why I think everyone should watch it. If Tyler Rake can get his redemption and save people, so can you and I. We just need to get up and do it.

My plans for the future is to write short stories. I want to leave a legacy of words that will motivate people to get up and get over the pain in their life in order to do better and be better people who will leave a lasting impact on the world. The reason why is because the stories that I have read during my life has changed my life. I am an avid reader, and nothing stops me from carrying a book wherever I go. But for a very long time, reading was just an escape for me. It helped me find a world where I didn’t have Osteogenesis Imperfecta, which stopped me from being a “normal” kid, where people didn’t notice how I was different because of my wheelchair, my light brown skin, and my purple hijab. For most of my life I wasn’t comfortable in this beautiful skin and soul that God had given me. Likewise, I wasn’t comfortable admitting that neither of my parents had a college degree. I had a hard time admitting that they were my parents, and I would lie about them. It wasn’t because they weren’t good parents. It was because of my insecurities, and the fact that I wasn’t able to deal with everyone else around me seemed to have come from more successful background. This is how my life went, little me fighting through surgeries, insecurities, and doubt, until COVID hit the world with such power that the world stopped, watching as the virus rampaged its way all over the world, taking millions with it. I was an eighth grader. I had just discovered social media. It was the perfect escape. Zoom classes were times when I watched the lives of others, seeing parts of the world that I didn’t know existed, realizing how big yet small this Earth was. My books were collecting dust and my soul was getting lost in the dark. Obviously, my parents realized this. They saw me disappearing in my phone, wondering where their daughter went. They wanted to know what happened, and when they did, it was pure disaster. We fought to the point of aggression, my accounts were deleted, and my phone was locked into the closet for the next three years. I was hurt and broken. And that’s when I realized that I had lost myself, possibly never even known who I was, and started to read about a girl named Willow, who had the same disability as me, who was so strong and brave and was only 6. I read about the Prophet Muhammad and his Companions, how hard they fought to be the people God wanted them to be. I read about Sajdah Taha, who showed her town their racism and Islamophobia while solving her uncle’s murder. Every time I read one of these stories, I told myself, “I can be like that too.” Though I never had the patience to write more than four pages, I knew that I wanted to write stories like those. And I will. The Bright Lights Scholarship will help me spread my light to help others realize the light in themselves. We all are lights, fireflies in the dark, and we can help others shine too. We all have a purpose, and our light, specific to ourselves, will give that purpose clarity and usefulness. Writing short stories to help others glow and create is my light, and I want to use it. I have all these life lessons I want to share, all this light to give. The more light I have, the better.

1. I got accepted to Adelphi University and am applying for NYU. I am not completely sure about what major I would like to pursue in college, but I would like to do something that would help the Muslim ummah and humanity at large, not in a physical way, but in a spiritual way. I aim to be a doctor of the soul, not the body, and I will find which major is best suited for that soon Insha’Allah. 2. Alhamduillah, my academic strengths are in English and History. I love reading, analyzing and writing. My academic weakness is math, as I’m not interested in the subject. I always try to learn from my mistakes and I never give up. I always stand up for what is right, no matter who or what that supports. I believe that the truth is what should be valued and spoken. Sometimes I say the wrong thing at the wrong time and my wording isn’t as nice as it should be so I end up hurting someone’s feelings. 3. I am a Muslim girl who loves her religion. I am someone who hates watching others suffer and having their God given rights stripped away from them. I love doing henna on people, reading books and recommending them, and making people smile. I deserve this scholarship because it will help me pursue my dreams of benefiting the Muslim ummah spiritually. With my degree I aim to help Muslims and non Muslims discover Islam and realize that it is the true religion. As mentioned before, I would like to be a doctor of the soul. I believe we need more of those kinds of doctors, as we have too many people suffering from spiritual diseases. As Muslims, we have the cure that everyone is looking for, but we play victim and don’t tell anyone about what we live everyday. It’s time to be brave and truthful. It’s time to fulfill our duties to Allah. I want to do this. I refuse to let others tell me that Islam isn’t the true religion when I know it is. I will educate others about this faith, Insha’Allah. I just need the money to pursue this dream. 4. My favorite book is Handle With Care by Jodi Picoult. It is about a family whose young member, Willow, is diagnosed with Osteogenesis Imperfecta. In order to afford the treatment so that the fractures become less severe and more spaced out, Willow’s mother Charlotte, does something that she knows will split her family and hurt Willow’s feelings: sue her gynecologist and say in court that if she knew that her daughter would have this disorder, she wouldn’t have had her. It’s a very powerful read, and it stuck with me because of how it showed the sacrifices we are willing to make for our family. 5. My greatest achievement as a Muslim woman is that I have made it my life’s goal to do whatever I do with my life to do something related to giving dawah and Islam. I want to leave a legacy of Islam and dawah through whatever I end up spending the rest of my life doing. I found out that I wanted this when I went to Model UN and ended up teaching everyone in the room about the position of women in Islam. It was very interesting and made me realize that people have false assumptions about Islam because they don’t know about the religion. This motivated me to spend the rest of my life teaching people about this religion that I love so much.