Freeing or Fleeing

Chapter six - The Perfect Opportunity

Chapter Six

A week later, I wasn't even half way through Surah Yusuf. Whenever I settle down to read it, something always came up; mainly, it was Mum interrupting. Turns out she can't stand it when I'm not cooking, cleaning or something to do with taking care of the house or her. I had just returned to my bedroom after Mum called me to her room to make her a cup of tea, which I did and took it to her room. It was her forth cup of tea within two and a half hours. Just as I sat on the bed, in came Eijaz with a grin on his face and his hands behind his back.

"What are you up to?" I raised an eyebrow, suspiciously.

He sauntered over to me, his smile growing wider. He stopped right in front of me.

"What?" I asked again when he didn't say anything.

"Guess what I have?" His teased.

I shrugged, not sure what he wanted me to say. I never make guesses because I'm usually so bad at them. He brought his hands to the front and held out a book in front of me.

"I got you a Qur'an!" His smile turned into a toothy grin.

I would have liked to report that I was excited as much as he was but I wasn't. Maybe I should have been, but I couldn't see why he was excited about something he had already gotten me before. When he first gifted me a Qur'an, I was over the moon; I didn't hold back my happiness in back then.

"Thank you?" I said, putting on a smile, still sceptical.

"Open it!" He urged, handing it over to me.

"On a random page?"

He nodded, taking a seat on the bed in front of me. He looked at me expectantly.

I opened it and actually squealed this time. I would have done more than that if the Qur'an wasn't in my hand.

"It's Arabic and English! JazakAllah khairan, I've been struggling so much reading it on my phone; the text is too small on there. This is so helpful."

I would have hugged him if it wasn't for the Qur'an. He leaned over and kissed the top of my head.

"Wa iyyaki," he responded. "Move up a little!"

"Why?"

I narrowed my eyes at him while he took the Qur'an from me. He slightly shoved me over and sat right next to me.

"You were reading Surah Yusuf, right? Let's start from the beginning of that Surah and recite together."

To say I was shocked was an understatement. I got emotional, unable to recall the last time we recited together. My vision blurred but I quickly blinked away the tears before he could notice. It took me a few minutes to locate the Surah but once I found it, we recited a few verses each in turn for almost ten minutes.

Eijaz placed the Qur'an alongside our other ones on top of the wardrobe as it was approaching Zuhr. At this point, I had learnt that Prophet Yusuf (AS) had a dream and his father, Prophet Ya'qub (AS) told him to keep it a secret from his step brothers. His Step brothers conspired against Prophet Yusuf (AS), first suggesting to kill him but then decided upon throwing him down the well. They convinced Prophet Ya'qub (AS) to allow him to go play with them. They, then, proceeded to throw him down the well while they were out and returned to their father, showing him his top smeared with blood, claiming that a wolf had eaten him. A few travellers found him at the bottom of the well as they went to draw some water and took him. They sold him to the governor of Egypt for a very small price. As time went on, Prophet Yusuf (AS) reached maturity and the wife of the governor sought to seduce him. When he refused, as he was being chased to the door of the room, the wife had torn his shirt from the back. The Governor was at the door and, immediately the wife played innocent, asking what the punishment was for someone who intended to do evil to the wife of the governor.