The Circle Of The Qur'an #2[The Arkaan Series|Book One]

20 |The Marabout's 1000 Profound Steps.[Five Secrets(1)]

AsSalaamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh, I hope you are all well and hearty. As promised, with some almost thirty minutes to end Friday where I am, your Friday treat:DDD!

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ABDUL BAQI'S POV

Through the crystalline dome of the masjid’s apex, showers the brilliant light of the celestial bodies. Tonight, the stars shine like a million diamond ores, encrusted unto the heavens above. The scintillating lights dazzle my eyes as I sit in the rows of the masjid, almost entranced by the scene.

Almost.

Looking down from the ceiling, my eyes are met with the aged and hunched back of the Grand Doyen. Strangely enough, even looking at his turned back, he has that ambience of scholarly sagacity exuding off of him. He stands up, and it's clear that his previous bent posture had not been due to any underlying withering by passage of time, but by the fact that he was before then, wholly engaged in his post Salah tasbih.

The Maghrib prayer had already been completed some minutes ago, and there was a tension in the air; hidden, but palpable.

As the ancient man walks towards where I'm seated in the rows on the ground floor, all eyes follow him unwaveringly to my direction. Simultaneously, a wave of murmurs sweeps through the crowd of students cascading into a flood, even to the top floors where more of the students are perched. Why was the Grand Sheikh moving towards him rather than beckoning him to himself, I heard some voices point out.

I myself was at a loss to that.

Needless to say, I knew that from this moment onwards, and at least till I had left the school, I'd be remembered as the newbie who got the Grand Doyen to step down from his lofty tower—even without my title as the Sayyidul Quraa'. So much for maintaining a low profile in this school.

The Grand masjid of Sky Legacy Haven had rarely been filled in this fashion before for prayer in any one night. The reason was because, by the time Maghrib had reached most students were in their minor Study Circles and groups at different locations in the school, for private learning. They said their night prayers there and rarely ever in the Grand masjid at night. When I had noticed this earlier on, I had decided to use such a time for retreat in the Grand masjid so I could read the Qur'an in solitude and not have anyone bother me, wanting to listen to my recital. However, this night it was full, and strangely also, on my account.

As the Grand Doyen approached me, I tried to look anywhere but his eyes. I never felt so humbled to be in any human's presence like I felt at that moment. Even my Ustadh Inaayat never sparked such awe in me on our first meeting!

The first look was when he started in my direction, and it was enough to make me shy to look there again. That being said, my eyes darted to the sides, only to witness a wide girth given me by those around me. Everyone avoided making eye contact. It dawned on me that nobody wanted to be caught up in the spotlight, especially since they knew not about what was to be my fate.

Finding nowhere to hide, I ended up lowering my gaze in front of me, pretending to still be immersed in the adhkar after Salah. However, this was a confrontation not to be averted.

I knew he was close by first when I felt the awe his monastic aura, even before his pale and calloused feet appeared to me, markedly cracked at all edges. You could tell from his feet that he had once gone on long journeys, travelling, perhaps in search of knowledge in his youthful years..The thought made me develop even more reverence towards him. The florid scent of attar (perfume) from his flailing garment was strangely assuasive; carried by the night breeze that came through the opened windows, and wafted into my nostrils, embalming my mind with an immeasurable calm.