I remember being a young girl, our communal prayer session with my late Grandad would always have a dua (prayer) for the freedom for the people of Palestine and Kashmir. Somehow, somewhere they became like two twin sisters for me, who I loved dearly. Kashmir I got, after all it was my heritage and the motherland, but Palestine I didn't really understand until years later.

I learnt most of my knowledge about the Middle East peace process as part of the syllabus for my GCSE History. It wasn't talked about in mainstream media and nor did we have social media back then.  I am showing my age now! But my teacher Mrs Brown, did an amazing job of teaching this emotive subject without bias. She always ensured that my passion for peace and harmony was always at the forefront and would happily answer my million and one questions on why how what and where? Nothing changes even now! It is the only way I learn.

Somewhere she even installed empathy within me for the assassination of Yitzakh Rabin. Though in principle I did not see the Oslo Peace Process as fair or equitable and was dubious of the intentions of both Rabin and Yasser Arafat, it was a small step in the right direction, for which Rabin had paid for by losing his life. This always reminds me of one of one of my favourite hadeeths about Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ - Peace and blessings be upon him, all the Prophets, their Companions and their Families). It is noted in a hadith that he and several of his companions were sitting down along a street in Medina. Suddenly, a companion spotted a funeral procession approaching the group. In respect of the dead human body, Muhammad stood up as the procession crossed in front of him. At that moment, a companion, who was still sitting down, said to the Prophet, "This is a funeral of a Jew. He is not a Muslim." Upon hearing these words, Muhammad became upset and said to the companion, "Is he not a human soul?" The message here is clear: Prophet Muhammad respected human beings irrespective of their religion. He taught mankind that every human soul is important, whether alive or dead. This is Muhammad’s concept of dignity. He defended humanity.

And then life went on and I forgot all about this, until one year, a dear friend of mine went to Jerusalem. Though she did not go into detail of the ins and out of her trip, I was halal jealous! The love for Palestine arose once again. It was a metaphysical affair which I could not explain. My family had grave concerns about visiting Palestine, so it was something that had to go on the bucket list.

As life would have it. I kept on meeting Palestinians, be it on a holiday in Dubai, an encounter in a lift in Madina, so I decided I would broach the subject again. This time I chose Makkah to be the place I would ask. I had a dream to do Hajj from Al Aqsa but I knew that asking my family to do this would be impossible, so as I compromise I asked if I could take my mum for her 60th birthday to visit Masjid Al Aqsa. This would be around four months before we went on Hajj and would kind of fulfil my dream.

Ironically, when I told my friend I was going, she decided to come with me and bring her mum too. It was beautiful to experience this journey with the woman who reignited the love of Palestine for me again. Another friend joined me too and this was the start of many adventures for the two of us. We even went back together for our second visit.

On our trip, I had one request of the tour guide which was to meet a Jewish person I could interview. I wanted to hear their perspective. Living in Leeds, I had Jewish School teacher at middle school and he never treated us any different. In fact, Mr Kaminsky was one of the kindest men we knew. However working in law, on two significant occasions I was treated extremely badly by Jewish counterparts. I wanted to know how this experience would be in the Holy Land. A place where once Jews and Muslims lived side by side as one.

Our tour guide thought I was nuts and said he couldn't help. I asked if I could go to the wailing wall, again this was declined. He could not jeopardise my safety. However he did take us an 'eastern wailing wall', that people would go to that was safer.

The day we went to the city of David, I was really disappointed. If you know me, you know I do like a good cup of coffee. We had been out most of the day, so it was really needed. A young Jewish boy was giving out free coffee to people passing by. I forgot where I was and smiled at him. He abruptly turned his face from me. I was shocked. Young people normally love me, why did he feel this way. Was it because I looked like an Arab to him or because I was simply muslim?! This played heavy on my soul. Maybe this is why I got an opening.

As we walked out of the City, and we went to visit the area known as place of the ascension of the heavenly banquet for Jesus (Esa Alai Salam). Our tour guide turned to me and said ‘Do you want to meet someone to interview’. I thought here we go again, he's mocking me, so I snapped back 'of course I do'. He smiled and introduced me to a man who was selling bread. This man was so sweet. He walked over to my mama and offered her some bread that he was selling on his stall. This was out of respect for an elder. I asked the man if I could record him on my snapchat as my friends had been following my journey to Palestine and asking a million questions and they would love to hear what he had to say about the whole situation.

The man grabbed hold of a young boy next to him and said 'I am a Jew and this is my nephew. He is muslim and nothing divides us.' He explained to me that it was all propaganda and hidden agendas and he had lived all his life amongst muslims and they were his family. He was really happy to be given this opportunity to express his views as he did not like how the media had divided them. People who were once persecuted were now repeating this to another community, forgetting the sacrifices once they had to make. He was the Jewish people I knew, the ones that had the same spirit of Mr Kaminsky. This was the difference between a Jewish person who was loving and sincere and a Zionist who was oppressing innocent Palestinians.

On the last day of our holiday, I thought my heart was going to be ripped out. I had fell in love with every nook and cranny of Masjid Al Quds, the old city and the surrounding streets. I had never cried leaving a place before other than Madina and here I was crying like a baby. Our tour guide said to me ‘the soul knows where it belongs and yours clearly belongs here’.

Once home, all I dreamt about was of Al Aqsa. Each morning I would wake up disappointed I was back home in the comfort of Leeds, but I started to notice that all my sincere prayers uttered in Al Aqsa had manifested. One of my prayers was to return in Ramadan and the following year that came true. My friend and I were on a deployment to Jordan and decided to finish the last few days of Ramadan in Masjid Al Aqsa.

On this trip I saw the beauty of unity once again. They say your perception is your projection and this was definitely the case. We were at the place of Jesus ascension and a young Catholic woman was crying with devastation and devotion. It hit me so I reached out and offered a hug. Grief I understood. She was shocked at the gesture but welcomed it too. Once she was calmer, she asked me why I was there and why had I been kind to her. I explained Jesus was our Prophet too and we loved him too and though we may differ on whether he died on the cross or not, the love for him bound us. She was overjoyed by this and kept on hugging me for loving Jesus.

The three Abrahamic faiths had so much to offer in Unity, yet here in the holy land it was used by the powers that be as means of war and destruction. However, at ground level, when you are free of prejudice and bias, then you notice Abraham (Ibrahim Alai salaam) was the glue that kept us together.

On our second visit my friend and I travelled to Hebron via public transport and had to wait at checkpoints. It was interesting to see it from this side. For when we travelled in a tour bus, it seemed relatively safe. Yet having to enter and wait at checkpoints required patience. The guards were not approachable or pleasant to say the least and clear favouritism existed. I noticed my red British passport had certain liberties that my brown face didn't. I was forever grateful for this blessing and to be able to use for a greater cause of pilgrim to the holy sites and not just a nice holiday in Dubai.

To return home, we had a ‘Jewish’ airport drop off service, and the driver was very pleasant and very vocal about his opinion on the injustice to the Palestinians. The conversation was frank and honest.

However my friend and I were pulled off quiet rudely at one checkpoint. There were Germans, Americans and other nationalities in the Van. Nobody else was asked any questions, yet the two muslim girls were checked. Once back on the van, nobody acknowledged what happened. At the airport, a lady who was on our van, approached me. She told me she was appalled by what had happened, however she was scared so she had not responded. She was truly sorry that we had to experience that. I told her not to worry because at least we were safe and had nothing to hide.

I think for me the irony of it all was that, the Palestinian people asked for nothing whilst we were there, not charity, nothing. In the souks, they would give you discounts and randomly invite you to their homes to break fast. One shopkeeper said to us 'all we ask is come and visit us, reassure us we are not alone, the ummah is with us, spend in our markets so we can be self-reliant'. They simply wanted love and to be acknowledged to exist like everyone else in the world.

What did the visit to the holy land teach me?

It taught me unity amongst discourse. The freedom muslim women had to worship freely in Masjid Al Aqsa, that even the west did not give us. The freedom for women to worship is so beautiful. To touch the places (maqaam) of the Prophets and sit so close was beyond words; it is indescribable. And the spirit of the oppressed people, who simply ask that we visit them, show them we stand with them in their time of need with love and mercy.

Can we do that? I intend to visit again and again for my soul belongs there.