From the Worship of Death to the Encanto (Miracle) of Islam
“Even in our darkest moments there’s light from where you least expect it” — Mirabel, Encanto
Like most families, we love to have our movie nights, but few times in my life have I been transported through a series of emotions and memories like when I watched the latest animated film from Disney, Encanto.
My name is Amor, I was born and raised in México in a small pueblo. Although Encanto takes place in Colombia the realities of the film are felt throughout the Americas where drugs being distributed mostly to the United States have created war, displacement, and destruction all over from Tijuana to Columbia. Encanto starts with the matriarch of the family's husband being murdered by unnamed assailants. My family faced similar hardships in Mexico, as we see in the film, when the cartel kidnapped me, tortured me, then killed my husband. He is one of the more than 300,000 people who have been killed in Mexico since 2006, with an additional 73,000 people missing due to the increased violence from the cartel drug wars.
At that time I was what some call a “death worshiper,” or Adoradores de la Santa Muerte. Death worshipers often give offerings to the saint of death, “La Muerte,” for protection, wealth, and health. Just like in many other countries this practice does not have anything to do with witchcraft. This is a common practice in rural areas where Catholicism has damaged the communities through centuries of colonization, a general lack of accountability, displacement of indigenous practices, and so much more.
My spiritual journey started when I was kidnapped, that day when I thought my life was over. I was standing blindfolded ready to face my fate, I had a gun held against my head and I could hear the person saying It was my time. Then suddenly the person next to me was shot dead. At that very moment, I said one last prayer to the only one who could truly rescue me. That’s when the miracle came to me, their boss told them not to kill me and it was like being born again all I could see was light. At that very moment, I realized that no statue would rescue me. These beliefs were powerless, they had no control over my life, nor could they help me in that moment of need.
After I was let go I went into hiding to protect my family. I was pregnant with baby number three. With no support from anyone and with a price on my head by the cartels to find me dead or alive I made the impossible decision to leave everything behind in our beloved homeland, to start a new life in another land. When we moved to the United States I knew I was being guided to something that I couldn’t fully understand at first but I could perceive the essence of my new “miracle.” In many ways, we were just like the Madrigal family in Encanto who were given a miracle, but our miracle was guidance to Islam.
I had come across a video about Islam and I started to follow Spanish-language Muslim channels, where I learned more about the faith. The moment I saw it I knew that what was missing in our lives was this ‘miracle” of Islam that came to me as a gift and a second chance. Just like the family in the movie I needed to preserve the miracle and pass it on to my children. In the end, this gift is for the future generations to truly know God, to be rooted in a strong tradition, and to come together and build strong communities. We must make sure that everyone knows about our miracle and how it saved my family.
Allah brought me and my family to safety and guided us with his light throughout the darkness, I started to break free from that generational religious trauma just as the central character in Encanto, Mirabel did.
We praise God for everything we have been through because just like Encanto reminded us we are more than just our traumas. We are loved and Allah blesses us with miracles we could never imagine unfolding in front of our eyes. Alhamdulilah for our Encanto and all it has done for us.
This article is a part of our Islam in the Americas & Border Mosque work at the Center for Global Muslim Life
