The Circle Of The Qur'an #1[The Arkaan Series] ✓

Crescent 15: The Locket and Key(1)

AsSalaamu alaykum wa rahmatullah wa barakatuhu.

Okay, so in shaa Allah, this will be my last update till after exams.

Hope you enjoy it.

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"...No sage could understand His perfect grace,

Nor seer discern the beauty of His face.
His creatures strive to find a path to Him..."

[ The Conference of Birds ]

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"The girls are going to win this round." Lady Zulaykha said this calmly as she espied Lady Maryam.

Lady Maryam who knew from the corner of her eye, that Lady Zulaykha was looking at her, just smiled, a calm expression on her face.

"Why do you say so, Elder sister? It's obvious Zak has the advantage of being personally trained by Sheikh Al Iskandarī himself. Are you implying the Sheikh did not teach his disciple well" Her lips turned up in a knowing smile.

"Of course Sheikh Al Iskandarī taught Zak well. But, - you personally trained Maryam. Even though her younger sister goes to Al Qamariyyah Halaqah for her Islamic studies, she has not yet reached Maryam's level when she was this young."

Lady Maryam smiled,"Elder sister praises me too much. I'm only one who learnt from my Mistress at the Veiled Sisters halaqah."

"Tsk tsk," Lady Zulaykha continued,"Don't play humble with me. The Veiled Sisters halaqah is certainly number one in the whole of Al Qalb-ul-Ard, for ladies. The Queen and the ladies of her household go there, and it's even on par with Sky Legacy Haven!"

"I'd never known that." Bibi Fatima exclaimed. One thing she knew was that her grandson's youngest wife was so learned in the Dîn, no one dared to raise objection over her presiding the Sunday's Taalim meetings for Ladies in the whole city Tâ Hâ.

"Mother, because you've retired from worldly matters for sometime now, you didn't know." Also that position was attained in the recent years through countless ventures undertaken. Bibi Fatima had retired from worldly affairs for a decade now.

"Younger sister Maryam here was not just any disciple of Veiled Sisters halaqah, she was a legacy apprentice of the Head Mistress herself!"

Hajj Ya'qûb smiled in pride. He'd known that all his first wife, Lady Zulaykha was saying was true. Afterall, this was one of the things that endeared him to the woman by his side, apart from her otherworldly beauty.

Acquiring her hand was just a grace bestowed by Allah, especially considering the fierce competition with others who had heard of her beauty.

It's said that, even the King wanted to add her as his second wife, but failed; some say because of the Queen's scheming, especially since he never had another wife after her. Others say, the Lady Maryam herself rejected his proposal.

Either way, in the end, he won her heart, and she didn't mind being his third wife. He smiled as he remembered the story of how he won over a lady whose heart was famed to be made of glass, emotionless. He smiled as he remembered a story of 'A locket and key'.

Lady Maryam was the Legacy student of the esteemed Veiled Sisters halaqah on the mainland. This halaqah was independent, to the extent that even the Royal family would find it not-so-simple in getting in. They'd also revered the halaqah that much.

The head Mistress of the esteemed Veiled Sisters halaqah had made sure that their halaqah become number one in the whole country for Ladies, of course with Allah's help. It was said that, within the halaqah, ladies focused on learning to the exclusion of everything else, such that some of them never even thought to marry.