The concept of the ‘glass slipper’ is a familiar one. We all grew up to Walt Disney, and it left its mark on most of us. We learnt that we shouldn’t lie by watching Pinocchio, also that we shouldn’t talk to strangers by Snow White and that love is blind by Beauty and the Beast.

Every story in the children books we used to read, or the movies we used to watch delivered a certain message that we have implanted in our subconscious mind. The reason why I chose to speak about Cinderella is because it was the one I loved most.

Cinderella was the story I could relate to most, as I’m sure a lot of women can too. Abused, mistreated and under appreciated, but at the end of the day, a prince on a white horse whisks her away and they live ‘happily ever after’. That’s what we grew up to believe; that one day our own special prince will find us and carry us away to ‘lala land’ where everything is hunky dory.

What the story failed to tell is was that along with love come pain, hurt, heartache and a hole that’s left in your heart and that men nowadays aren’t what you’d call ‘Prince Charming’. It wasn’t just the stories that mislead us; it was our upbringing along with our innocent inability to know what fiction and reality are and the difference between them. Our parents failed to inform us and we grew up believing in a fictional notion that love is forever and has no boundaries. What they also failed to do as Muslims was seed our religion into us so we could follow the light instead of walking blindly in the dark.

Now comes the question, is it our fault? Can we really be blamed for pursuing love and looking for forever? For having such a deep desire to have that glass slipper fit? My answer is no, it’s not our fault at all. We didn’t know what we know now and what we should’ve known then. We didn’t know that ‘Prince Charming’ would leave us with a broken heart. We didn’t know what our religion begged us to know. Now we pay the price for a mistake that wasn’t ours.

The message I’d like to send to women all over the world is a direct and clear one. Those who still have that child in them who believes in the idea of love like I do. “It’s not about having the right foot to fit the right shoe. It’s not living in a real pessimistic world either. That inner child doesn’t have to die. That inner child needs to hope; it needs to wish and dream of brighter tomorrows. We just have to teach ourselves how to do it the right way. Here’s when you ask me how? A dear friend of mine once told me “Believe.” And that’s exactly what I’m going to tell you. Don’t believe in love. Believe in Allah. Believe that Allah has the ability to turn your fantasy into reality so hold on to that with both hands and never give up. In a world of lies and deceit and negativity, all we need is faith and faith will take us to the highest mountains and deepest oceans, maybe even to the land where ‘Prince Charming’ awaits us, just around the corner.”