The March 8 celebration of International Women’s Day unveiled a huge surprise when Saarah Hameed Ahmed was revealed as India’s only Muslim pilot. There are 600 women employed in India’s aviation sector but only 25 year-old Saarah was able to rise high enough to be pilot, breaking stereotypes and being a living symbol of India’s move towards gender equality. India is often regarded as the country where the gap between men and women is the largest.
Alone in Her Dream
The Bengaluru-born Ahmed’s journey towards flying people started as a solitary one. Nobody in her family or even in her entire community supported her and simply dismissed her dream as futile and unattainable. For a long time, it has been taboo for a woman to take a career that requires her to frequently be away from home and live along without an escort. Everyone simply thinks women are not strong enough to survive on their own. Her father, Hameed Hussain Ahmed, thinks that being a pilot is a lot riskier than his occupation as a professional photographer.
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Atif Fareed’s Life-Changing Advice
Hameed first thought of Saarah’s dream as a problem. No father wants to support his daughter in what he thinks is a wild goose chase. Saarah’s resolve, however, leads Hameed having second thoughts on telling his daughter to choose a different path. To help himself make a decision, Hameed decided to seek the advice of his friend Atif Fareed, an American Muslim who is a senior pilot in the United States. Atif advised Hameed to be delighted instead of troubled. A lot of Muslim girls have low self-esteem and do not dare to dream big let alone dream of flying. Atif’s words cleared all doubt from Hameed’s mind and Hameed decided to give his daughter his full support.
A Final Message from God
Saarah was 18 when she proceeded to apply for a US Visa so she can enrol at flying school there. Her application went without a hitch and Hameed took it as a final confirmation from Allah that her daughter is in the right track, considering most Muslims can’t even get a US Visa.
An Inspiration to Muslim Girls
Hameed shares that the proudest moment of his life was during a wedding the Ahmed family attended. A group of girls recognized his daughter and they surrounded her and asked for tips about how they can also become pilots. At that moment, Hameed realized that his daughter not only made her dreams come true, she also became an inspiration. Saarah is now living proof that Muslim women can make their dreams a reality.