"I was crossing a road near a police station when I heard an enormous sound and saw smoke. I fell on my back and felt a lot of pain all over my body. I couldn't move and I noticed my left leg was badly injured. Where I come from, we believe in destiny and what happened to me is Allah's will. So I accept it and I keep on my life." Mohammed Rafiq, 20, newspaper seller, injured in Swat Valley, Pakistan on 29 June 2008.

In recent years, Pakistan has been rocked by hundreds of attacks on civilians. From roadside bombs to suicide bombings and target killings, attacks take place on an almost daily basis in cities across the country, as a result of terrorism, sectarian conflict, and a mix of political, religious, and criminal violence. In the last ten years, over 5,000 people have lost their lives and some 10,000 have been injured in attacks perpetrated by militants in Pakistan. Of those lucky enough to survive, many carry physical disabilities or mental scars for the rest of their lives.

Suffering is far from unknow in a part of the world with a high rate of poverty, and also often hit by natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods. However, many devout Muslims embrace those tragedies as their particular fate. Pakistan is a majority Muslim country, where faith is the most sacred and precious thing in many people's lives, and where the devout believe in al-Qadr (Destiny) - that all that exists or happens is an expression of Allah's will. Believer's accept their fate because they trust in His will.