Shirk in Disguise

PART ONE>>>>>Prologue

His question triggered off a series of activities in Azeema's brain, further dropping her into a pit of confusion for, try as she might, she couldn't remember performing any act so sacrilegious. In fact, all she remembered was that as soon as she announced her presence upon her arrival, the man screamed at her and she fainted in the process. So what was it she could've done wrong?

Even though she knew that she hadn't done anything wrong and, although being a very headstrong and determined woman by nature who would've protested decidedly against such an unfounded allegation under normal circumstances, she suddenly realized that circumstances could tame even the wildest person. Therefore, instead of behaving as she normally would, she found herself pleading with the savage-looking man to forgive her for no obvious crime.

After listening to her fervent pleas for some moments, the man decided to let her know the enormous crime she had committed – 'Salaaming' (saying the Islamic peace salutations) at his front door.

On hearing the so-called offence, Azeema's fright momentarily gave way to self-righteous indignation. Even though she was presently not too religious, she certainly knew that what she did was no crime at all! In fact, it was an obligatory duty on every Muslim which she had performed rather perfunctorily. She was even baffled that such an accusation could be made by a man who was said to be a highly respected Muslim Marabout . . . or wasn't he??

"But Master," she began, "I just performed a religious duty!"

Then came the throaty laugh again, followed by the man's utterance.

"Well, you can tell that to your Islamic scholars. Those 'Religious Duties', are not even in my dictionary. They're for 'goody-goody' people, and this place sure as hell isn't a place for the goody-goody."

Even though the so-called Marabout's utterances sounded sacrilegious to Azeema's ears and made every atom of her being want to leave that place, the desire to attain her goal was keeping her glued to her seat. She was now sure beyond all reasonable doubt that this old, wrinkled and savage-looking man was nothing but a traditional spiritualist without any inkling of Islamic belief. It's an Irony that they're given the reverent title of 'Malam' by some people. She knew that she should leave the place at once but alas! Her own selfish whims made her vulnerable to the devil's whisperings and made her stay, resolving rather weakly to pray for Allah's forgiveness at a later time. As if God was one who could be toyed around with!

She should've reasoned, if these scraggly 'Marabouts' could really do and undo, and even bestow riches, then why don't they start with themselves?! And yet, some people revere them, even attributing divinity to them though they clearly go against acceptable tenets. Some others shy away from taking responsibility for their actions and hypocritically make excuses by implying that these people are just 'helping out' through mysterious ways.

"Now listen carefully, young lady," the man warned. "Failure to follow my instructions to the letter will certainly result in catastrophic fatal circumstances."

"Yes, Master," Azeema dutifully replied. She went further to agree with all his instructions, already daydreaming through the man's incantations, of the luxury she hoped to attain on taking over her husband's fortune. Azeema's selfish desires drove her further to the implementation of the marabout's orders for the attainment of her goal of becoming a very rich woman. However, she had to offer a huge sacrifice – her husband's life.

Azeema left the old man's abode which was in the heart of a dense forest fully prepared to see her dream come true. Unknown to her, the All-powerful Lord had other entirely different plans.

Some months after the afore-mentioned encounter, on a usually deserted stretch of road linking the ancient city of Zaria to the economic city of Kano, there lay a heap of burned metal and charred mangled bodies against a very big Darbejiya tree. The accident seemed to be caused primarily by carelessness on the part of the driver as there was no threatening obstacle in sight. At that epoch, the road was devoid of potholes, uneven levels or multiple diversions.

A couple of hours after the accident brought numerous onlookers to the spot. Initially, they converged in ones and twos, wondering how such a rare occurrence could've happened on such a serene road. However, it was not until about half of the day had gone by that some people thought it necessary that the police be called. After another unfortunate delay, the police arrived the spot, took down some statements and proceeded to take the corpses to the mortuary in the Kano Metropolis. No survivors were recorded.

Interestingly enough, the police soon got tired of keeping the unidentifiable mass of charred human flesh in the mortuary as nobody had been reported missing, neither had anyone come forward to claim the bodies. They soon bundled up the bodies and buried them in shallow graves; unsought for, unidentified and un-mourned.

Azeema's plan had worked, but not quite in the way she had bargained for. And the marabout? He was nowhere to be found and certainly not in any position to help his naive customer who had put her trust in him, deep as he was in the 'World of Spirits'.

But of course it wasn't an open-and-shut case. There was surely a story behind the visit, as well as one after it. 'The Visit' was just a junction with entrances and exits, a minute segment of the complete story, 'Shirk In Disguise'. 

There goes the prologue👌
I hope it wasn't too scary or confusing...lol😉

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