It's Not All Roses...

CHAPTER 8_ New me?

This chapter is in Zahra's POV (point of view).

"Aliyah wait" I said, she was dashing down the road immediately after class, not to mention the fact that the floor was slippery and it was still raining. Gosh I hate Autumn season.

"What is it, why are you running" I yell when I finally caught up to her .
"I don't want to be late for madting in the masjid" she replied. "Oh, the lecture...I knew I was forgetting something".

"Really?the others are already there" she replied as the bus finally arrived.
"At least we didn't miss the bus" I muttered under my breath.

It has been six months since I got here, six whole months have passed since I got here and I must admit I kinda like it. I have four roommates; Aliyah who's also a niqabi and is like the baby of the room. The reason is because she has a tiny voice and can act childish at times. Being half Sudanese and half pakistani she's pretty proud of her heritage. ( not to mention she's also quarter Egyptian);

Nusaybah, my sister from another mother, she has a cute smile and huge round dimples which shows anytime she smiles which makes her even prettier. (Allahumma baarik). She's also Nigerian (even though she was born there). I think I can relate with her the most because she can understand when I speak Yoruba. And of course... The twins Rodiyyah and Mardiyyah who the only thing they have in common is that they are identical. They are the most unidentical identical twins I know.
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The lecture hall was half full and the speaker (dawah man) was about to begin the Lecture.
"Alhamdulilah wasolatuwasalam alla rosulilah a'ma ba'd, Asalamualaykum warahmatullahi wabarkatuh, sisters:

So very quickly, what is the solution to the problems overall? If you walk out of here today and someone says to you what is the solution to the muslims suffering? You will give this answer: in the hadith narrated by Abdullah ibn umar , which is found in sunnah Abi Dawood. He said that the prophet saw said if you start to do riba (interest), and you become pleased with this duniyah and you leave off striving for the sake of Allah swt. Allah will send humiliation upon all of you. These are all sins. Riba, being pleased with the dunya, so on and so forth. These are all major sins .
And Allah Will not remove it until you come back to your religion.Let's be a bit more specific, what is the true religion?. In another hadith the prophet saw said return back to your original affairs. Another question who were the first?
Go to suratul Taubah ayah 100
The ones who were the first I.e the muhajireen .(those who followed the prophet saw from Makkah to Madinah). And the ansar (sahaba who helped him when he came to madinah) . And those that followed the sahaba I.e Tabi'een (the students of the sahaba) and the Tabi'tabeen ( the students of the students of the sahaba) . So believe it or not brothers and sisters the solution is to follow the Qur'an and sunnah according to the understanding of the salaf asolih (righteous predecessors)

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Two years later

Subhanallah...how much time flies. I'm really going to miss my room. After a series of goodbyes,hugs and tears, I was the last person to leave the room. Only my hand luggage was left. I picked my niqab up, running my

hands through the soft fabric . I put it on.

No... He wouldn't like it. I reluctantly took it off. Just the thought of him makes my heart race . A lop sided grin plastered on my face. A lot has changed in the last two years; I am totally different from the person I was two years ago.

The ride to the airport was a long one. I stared at my phone for the millionth time. No new messages. The driver was a nice old man who seemed friendly and cracked a lot of jokes. Even though I could hardly hear anything he said due to his thick Irish accent. I tried smiling inorder not to seem rude. I couldn't just bring myself to laugh . He hadn't called me since yesterday. Wouldn't he wish me a safe trip?

"Wake up mam we've arrived" I heard a voice say. "Darling...we are at Heathrow" . Heathrow!! "I am so sorry I slept off" . "Don't worry darling" the driver said as he helped me with my bags.

Gosh I hate traveling. My luggage is so heavy. I know I should have called Ibrahim to come; I shouldn't travel without a mahram and all but I wanted to surprise my family and friends.Okay...I admit my iman is not as high as it used to be, but that's pretty normal innit.

I finally checked in, waiting in the airport was such a chore. Scrolling through my phone again, still no new message. I stood up to check out one of the duty free shops.

Out of the blue...I bumped into someone. "Oh my days ... I am so sorry...
"Zahra?.." the voice said. Wait a minute... "Zaid?" . "Zahra it's really you, it's been such a long time" he said. "Yeah it's nice to see you, are you going to Nigeria?" I asked. "Yeah" he replied.

His phone started ringing, "it was nice seeing you again" he said before leaving to pick his phone call.

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I shut the book I was reading angrily. I was so frustrated, I can't believe he really didn't call me. The aircraft was going to land in about an hour's time and all I could think about through out the flight was the fact that he didn't call me.

The heart break I was feeling almost made me forget the excruciating ear pain.

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The plane finally landed , and I was waiting for a taxi. The sweltering heat washed over me, and my skin receptors felt like they were being roasted. I had forgotten how hot Lagos really was. Not to mention the fact that my ear was still quite sore.

I managed to get a taxi, and as the driver began the journey my phone made a beep sound signifying a new message.

"How was your flight dear, hope you didn't miss me much. Sorry for the late message though. Call me when you get home"
_Abdul Jaleel

A/N : sorry guys for the late update, been so busy.

Who do you guys think Abdul Jaleel is?

Bet some of you were expecting the mystery guy to be zaid innit.

Don't worry guys I have a lot planned for this book, bi idhnillah .