Faith On Allah... Imaan (Ibadah Book 2)

First step towards Allah Azzawajal

Nawal

Asweera woke up with a start and a gasp. She rubbed her hands over her face and sighed. 'Again the same dream!' She thought to herself and shook her head and searched the side table for the bottle of water and came up empty. She sighed again, debating whether she should go drink water or just try to go back to sleep, but the thirst proved to be stronger and she groaned in irritation as she covered herself tightly and began walking towards the kitchen. The dimly lit hallway looked quite scary after her dream. She bit her lip and contemplated going back again, but chided herself and moved towards the fridge, before opening it and taking out the water bottle. She quenched her thirst and turned back towards her room.

She heard whispers as she neared the room. She got startled and began to search for the source of the whispers. A part of her brain was cowering due to the unknown whispers in the dark and another part of her brain was curious to know about them. Her eyes landed on the open door of Rubdha's temporary room. She frowned and walked towards her sister's room and peeped in.

She felt goosebumps as she watched the scene in front of her. Her heart began thumping loudly in her chest. The thumps of her heart were so loud that they felt like thunderstrokes and yet these thunders couldn't drown the whispers, whose source was her sister and brother-in-law praying tahajjud. Her being stilled in front of that door and right then and there she wished she could be like her sister... In love with Al Khaliq... She wished she could find love in a person who loved Ar Rahman. She wished... and she wished...

She hadn't realised that she was crying soundlessly, but she was. She wiped her tears and left the Lovers of Al Wadood in their privacy and turned back towards her room.

She hadn't prayed Tahajjud like her sister...

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Ma'arij

Ma'arij was waiting for someone at the beach. He stood regal on the sands and watched as the waves hugged the shore again and again. A little distance away stood a bunch of girls giggling and throwing not so subtle looks at him. He smirked and closed his eyes as he turned his face towards the sun and let the late evening rays caress his face. Somewhere behind him he heard someone sigh.

His attention was focussed on counting his breaths and till now he had reached eighty five. His patience was on the verge of impatience. He was a very punctual man and hated tardiness. And right now the other party was eighty five breaths late. An awful first impression... But that was what he was looking for.

"Ahem!" He heard behind him and turned. "Sir! I am here for the job!" A man of about twenty eight stood before him. His posture slack and voice meek. He seemed nervous. Perfect!

******
Nawal

"Di?" Asweera called softly. Rubdha who was washing plates turned slowly and smiled at her little sister. Her lips were in constant movement. Asweera became lost in her sister. Rubdha laughed softly and shook Asweera. "Sorry! I wanted to ask you something!"

"Ask me what?" Rubdha asked.

"How do you keep on doing Dhikr?" Asweera asked. "I mean I have never seen your lips stay still! They are always in movement!"

"I found peace in Dhikr, when I had lost hope in the whole world! And then I made sure I didn't stop Dhikr... I put stickers of Dhikr on the walls of kitchen and the doors of cupboards! I began to research the advantages of Dhikr and it's rewards and that motivated me to do Dhikr! And then I began feeling closer to my Habeeb, my Allah and so I strived more harder! I didn't fall into habit in a second! I took ages... But now I feel incomplete without it... I feel like I can't breathe when I stop Dhikr!" Rubdha replied. Her eyes were moist and lost somewhere else. Asweera always felt there was more to her sister's past then she had revealed but Rubdha never told her and she didn't want to prick at her sister's closed wounds.