YOUSAFZAI, Malala - I Am Malala

I Am Malala: the girl who stood up for education and was shot by the Taliban

By Malala Yousafzai and Christina Lamb

QUOTES FOR DISCUSSION

To all the girls who have faced Injustice and been silenced together we will be heard.

Dedication

Some people say I will never return home, but I believe firmly in my heart that I will. To be torn from the country that you love is not something to wish on anyone.

Pg. 3

We lived in the most beautiful place in the world. My valley, the Swat Valley, is a heavenly kingdom of mountain, gushing waterfalls, crystal clear lakes.

Pg. 15

He wanted tea all the time, our traditional tea with milk and sugar and cardamom, but even my mother tired of this and eventually made some so bitter he lost his taste for it.

Pg. 20

Jinnah said, "No struggle can never succeed without women participating side by side with men. There are two powers in the world; one is the sword and the other is the pen. There is a third power stronger than both, that of women."

Pg. 31

Our history books were rewritten to describe Pakistan as a "fortress of Islam," which made it seem as if we had existed longer than 1947, and denounced Hindus and Jews.

Pg. 31

She was unusual in the village, as she had a father and brothers who encouraged her to go to school. She was the only girl in a class of boys. She carried her bag of books proudly into school and claims she was brighter than the boys. But every day she would leave behind her girl cousins playing at home and she envied them. There seem no point in going to school to just end up cooking, cleaning and bringing up children, so one day she sold her books for nine annas, spent the money on boiled sweets and never went back. Her father said nothing.

Pg. 40

It was only when she met my father that she felt regret. Here was a man who had read so many books, who wrote her poems she could not read, and whose ambition was to have his own school. As his wife, she wanted to help him achieve that.

Pg. 40

He thought there was nothing more important than knowledge

Pg. 41

Education had been a great gift for him. He believed that lack of education was the root of all of Pakistan’s problems. Ignorance allowed politicians to fool people and bad administrators to be re-elected.

Pg. 41

Is Islam such a weak religion that it cannot tolerate a book written against it? Not my Islam!

Pg. 46

He wanted to encourage independent thought and hated the way the school he was in rewarded obedience above open-mindedness.

Pg. 47

It was also becoming clear that while they were best friend, they found it hard to work as business partners.

Pg. 48

While most of us can't live with our wives, he couldn't be without his.

Pg. 53

We thought speaking in English meant you were more intelligent. We were wrong of course. It does not matter what Ianguage you choose, the important thing is the words you use to express yourself.

Pg. 78

Half a doctor is a danger to one's life, so a mullah who is not fully learned is a danger to faith.

Pg. 91

Whenever there is trouble people pray a lot.

Pg. 102

She insisted we leave, but my father was exhausted and we Muslims believe our fate is written by God.

Pg. 103

Earthquake of 8 October 2005 turned out to be one of the worst in history.

Pg. 103

With such a large number of people killed, there were many children orphaned - 11,000 of them. In our culture orphans are usually taken in by the extended family, but the earthquake was so bad that entire families have been wiped out or lost everything and were in no position to take in children. The government promised they would all be looked after by the state, but that felt as empty as most government promises.

Pg. 107

Mullahs from the TNSM preached that the earthquake was a warning from God. If we did not mend our ways and introduce shariat Islamic law, they shouted in their thundering voices, more severe punishment would come.

Pg. 107

I was ten when the Taliban came to our valley. Moniba and I had been reading the Twilight books and longed to be vampires. It seemed to us that the Taliban arrived in the night just like vampires.

Pg. 111

They looked so dark and dirty that my father's friend described them as "people deprived of baths and barbers."

Pg. 111

"You must meet Maulana Fazlullah," people told him. "He's a great scholar."

"He's actually a high school dropout… this so-called scholar is spreading ignorance."

Pg. 114

First the Taliban took our music, then our Buddhas, then our history.

Pg. 123

They took over the Emerald Mountain with its mine and begin selling the beautiful stones to buy their ugly weapons. They took money from the people who took down our precious trees for timber and then demanded more money to let their trucks pass.

Pg. 124

Only learn what God says. His words are divine messages, which you are free and independent to interpret.

Pg. 134

It was school that kept me going in those dark days.

Pg. 135

When we decorated our hands with henna for holidays and weddings, we drew calculus and chemical formulas instead of flowers.

pg. 135

Attiya used to tease me by saying "Taliban is good, army not good." I replied, "If there is a snake and a lion coming to attack us, what would we say is good, the snake or the lion?"

Pg. 137

I can't say that was the worst day. Around the time of Shabana's murder every day seemed like the worst day; every moment was the worst. The bad news was everywhere: this person's place bombed, this school blown up, public whippings. The stories were endless and overwhelming.

Pg. 148

Leaving our home felt like having my heart ripped out.

Pg. 176

She also said I must leave my school bag because there was so little room. I was horrified. I went and whispered Quranic verses over the books to try and protect them.

Pg. 178

Some people believe that the Pashtuns descend from one of the lost tribes of Israel, and my father said, "It is as though we are Israelites leaving Egypt, but we have no Moses to guide us." Few  people knew where they were going, they just knew they had to leave.

Pg. 179

To my joy of I found my school bag still packed with my books, and give thanks that my prayers had been answered and that they were safe.

Pg. 190

We people of Swat were first seduced by the Taliban, then killed by them and now blamed for them.

Pg. 192

My father argued..."My only ambition," he said, "is to educate my children and my nation as much as I am able. But when half of your leaders tell lies and the other half is negotiating with the Taliban, there is nowhere to go. One has to speak out."

Pg. 216

I knew that any of the girls in my class could have achieved what I had achieved if they had had their parents support.

Pg. 216

We don't know what the doctor injected her with, but she went into shock and died. My father said the doctor was a charlatan and this was why we needed to keep struggling against ignorance.

Pg. 217

I sat on the rocks and thought about the fact that across the water where lands where women were free. In Pakistan we had a woman prime minister and in Islamabad I had met those impressive working women, yet the fact was that we were a country where almost all women depend entirely on men.

Pg. 218

Nowhere is it written in the Quran that a woman should be dependent on a man. The word has not come down from the heavens to tell us that every woman should listen to a man.

Pg. 219

Some of Jinnah's, [Mohammed Ali Jinnah, Pakistan's founder], most famous speeches were displayed. There was one about people of all religions being free to worship in the new Pakistan. And another where he had spoken about the important role of women.

Pg. 222

It was hard to visit that place and read those pages without thinking that Jinnah would be very disappointed in Pakistan. He would probably say that this was not the country he had wanted. He wished us to be independent, to be tolerant, to be kind to each other. He wanted everyone to be free whatever their beliefs.

Pg. 222

She begged him to give some cooked rice to the poor, as we believe that if you give rice, even ants and birds will eat the bits that drop to the floor and will pray for us. My father gave money instead and she was distraught, saying that wasn't the same.

Pg. 236

Then I would pray to God, "Bless us. First our father and family, then our street, then our whole mohalla, then all Swat." Then I'd say, "No, all Muslims." Then "No, not just Muslims; bless all human beings."

Pg. 237

I love physics because it is about truth, a world determined by principles and laws no - messing around or twisting things Iike in politics, particularly those in my country.

Pg. 238

We believe that Allah listens more closely to the white-haired.

Pg. 249

My father tried not to think about the past and whether he had been wrong to encourage me to speak out and campaign.

Pg. 255

"It is my belief that God sends the solution first and the problem later," replied Dr. Javid.

Pg. 269

My only regret was that I hadn't had a chance to speak to them before they shot me. Now they'd never hear what I had to say. I didn't even think a single bad thought about the man who shot me - I had no thoughts of revenge - I just wanted to go back to Swat. I wanted to go home.

Pg. 282

She told me there were sacks and sacks more, about 8,000 cards in total, many just addressed "Malala, Birmingham Hospital." One was even addressed The Girl Shot in the Head, Birmingham," yet it had got there.  There were offers to adopt me as if I had no family and even a marriage proposal.

Pg. 288

Rehanna told me that thousands and millions of people and children around the world had supported me and prayed for me. Then I realized that people had saved my life.

Pg. 288

I realized what the Taliban had done was make my campaign global.

Pg. 288

I couldn't wait to tell Moniba. I didn't realize then I wouldn't be going home.

Pg. 289

I reassured my mother that it didn't matter to me if my face was not symmetrical. Me, who had always cared about my appearance, how my hair looked! But when you see death, things change.

Pg. 292

I began with The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, one of a pile of books Into Me by Gordon Brown. I loved reading about Dorothy and how even though she was trying to get back home she stopped and helped those in need like the Cowardly Lion and the rusty Tin Man.

Pg. 295

We human beings don't realize how great God is. He has given us an extraordinary brain and a sensitive loving heart. He has blessed us with two lips to talk and express our feelings, two eyes which see a world of colors and beauty, two feet which walk on the life, two hands to work for us, and nose which smells the beauty of fragrance, and two ears to hear the words of love.

Pg. 300

It's as if you planted a tree and nurtured it - you have the right to sit in its shade.

Pg. 305