The Quran That Survived the Tsunami
When the 2004 tsunami took everything, one thing remained — my grandmother’s Quran, open and untouched.
The wave came on a Sunday morning. I was nine. When we returned to where our house had been, there was nothing.
But in the mud where my grandmother’s bedroom had stood, her Quran lay open. Surah Ar-Rahman. The pages were dry.
I’ve been asked if this is literally true. Memory and trauma twist facts. But I know what I saw.
I’m thirty now. I teach primary school in Banda Aceh. Every morning, I open my grandmother’s Quran — the same one — and read a page. The edges are yellowed. The binding is tape. But the words haven’t changed.