LEFTOVER KHICHRI

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

"The Ansar and Muhajireen were very different in their lineage, lifestyles and even nature of work, but Allah brought together their hearts," Sister Noureen explained, pointing to the hand drawn map of the journey between Makkah and Madina. "Love is the agreement of hearts, and it is only Allah, Al-Wudood, who puts love in the hearts of people for one another."

"So, like, crushes are by Allah?" Humna wondered, courageously taking one for the team.

As expected, their barely nineteen year old Ustadha, a former graduate of the masjid Summer School and Sunday School program, rolled her eyes. "You guys always know how to sneak in these queries, don't you?"

"It's a valid question," Humna said, keeping her tone stable, while all the other girls saw her hands shake in fear.

"No. The love mentioned in this verse is real love. It's not infatuation, it's not attachment, it's not attraction. The love Allah places in the hearts cannot be bought, it cannot be forced. Allah says: if you had spent all that is in the earth, you could not have brought their hearts together; but Allāh brought them together."

"Subhan'Allah," Fourteen year old, starry eyed Shasmeen whispered.

"Indeed, He is Exalted in Might and Wise," (8:63) Sister Noureen recited. "Say Sadaqallahul Azim girls."

There was a chorus of Sadaqallahul Azim, one that still echoed in Shasmeen's ears years later.

Ya Rabbi, so is this love or is this mere infatuation? She thought, watching the slice of pizza rotate in the microwave for the third time that night. Did You place him in my heart because he's my naseeb? Or this another trial?

"Didi," Maaz called out, peeking into the kitchen. "Is my pizza warm yet? It's almost my turn."

"Give me a minute," she announced, glancing back at the microwave timer. "And call me Maasi, okay? I'm a week older than your mom," she whispered the last part, knowing he had left already.

The boys were in the living room, glued to their shared games console. Mueez was animatedly pressing the buttons to complete side tasks in the game, while Maaz watched with exemplary focus.

"Here's your pizza." She slid the plate in front of him before plopping down on the next couch.

Abeer wasn't big on screen time, so the twins were taking full advantage of Shasmeen's generosity while their parents were out on a corporate dinner. Frozen pizza, an animated movie or some games, and then story time in bed, the twins loved having Shasmeen babysit them on nights like those. They would ask her about their mother's antics from high school, and about how she looked or things she did, or even the mistakes she would make. But most talk was when they were supposed to be going to sleep, and their questions were just a desperate attempt to stay awake. The bulk of the evening though, they liked being left to their own devices, leaving Shasmeen reading a book or flipping through TV channels like she had been for the past twenty minutes.

Nothing interested her, no show kept her attention for more than a few minutes. It had been like that since she had first started hifdh. At first she had abandoned shows and TV on purpose because she had recognized a link between her attention levels while reciting the Quran in ratio to the amount she spent watching the shows. It was an inverse relationship, the more she reduced her TV time, the more focused she remained to her hifdh, and vice versa. Soon after her desire had fallen off completely.

Finally turning the TV off, she unlocked her phone and went to her chats, checking for new text messages. Abdullah hadn't texted her since Tuesday, the day her father had called him and invited him for dinner. His silence felt to her like perhaps he now only wanted to converse after things got official.