Uncle Nour's POV
The hallways, the smell of detol combined with spirit, the sad faces of Muklis' family, the doctors and nurses running up and down, the gloomy atmosphere and everything else in the hospital reminded me of my dad's death seven years earlier. I prayed for my dad and mom before praying for Muklis.
I saw Najib's text asking me why I missed the Maghrib to Isha Qur'an recitation that we usually did. After replying that Hameeda's classmate had an accident and we were currently at the hospital, I put my phone back in my pockets and took a look around me.
Muklis' mother was seated in between her mom--Muklis' grandmom--and his 12 year old sister. Her daughter's head was resting on her shoulders and their hands were intertwined. The grandmother's two hands were raised and she was moving up and down praying. Muklis' elder brother was talking to a doctor and shaking his hand slightly. All his other relatives were seated either praying or crying.
I saw Hameeda's Indian or half Indian female friend and her other male friend sitting opposite me. The Indian friend was hugging her knees and had her chin on top of the knees. Her brown eyes that always shined in my class were so red with bags underneath them from all the crying she did. Her face was wet from tears. She had been biting her lips such that they got cracked. I quickly looked away from her face muttering "AstaghfiruLlah."
I heard her giving Hameeda a story which made my heart sympathise with her. She would never forgive herself if Muklis dies. She would forever remember him and what she said to him in their last encounter. It reminded me of the hadith of the Prophet (SAW) in which says: "Whosoever believes in Allah and his messenger should either speak good or keep quiet." If only she kept quiet and did not say they will party if he dies, she would not be this hurt.
Hameeda's friend, Bilal had his legs folded on the chair and both hands on his cheeks.
Hameeda and her other friend, Hamdan, were by the window of Muklis' room. I hated seeing them together. It reminded me of what I saw in the mall which I always tried hard to forget about. Only two things stopped me from telling her mother everything and being so strict on her. The first one was that it was partly my fault that made her do what she did. If only I did not convince my sister to let her go to Leena's house, the incident would not have happened. Also, if I had not abandoned her because of a silly fight, she would not be what she was now. We still would have been very close and I would have made sure she is the best Muslim girl in Nigeria. I would have taught her the importance of covering up and the consequences of lying and every other thing she is supposed to know. That was my main reason for coming back now.
My second reason for not telling Yaya was that I believed the more strict your mom is on you, the more you lie to her and the more you keep hiding things from her. I was not asking her not to be strict on her but she should not be too strict on her. Hameeda should be free to talk to her on everything. That way, Hameeda would feel secure enough to not bother much while being cautioned by her mom to be a better Muslim.
Whenever I remembered what I saw, I would pray to Almighty Allah to forgive my niece and guide her to the right path, change her for the better through an easy way, and bless her with a loving and caring husband who would love and cherish her and who will make her stronger in her deen.
A young doctor came out of the room and walked towards us. Hameeda and Hamdan followed behind him.
"Where is Muklis Lamido's Family," he asked.
Muklis' brother went forward followed by his mom and grandmother. His sister was already asleep. It was almost midnight and we had been here for over five hours. Bilal, Leena and I also followed them.
"We are very sorry we couldn't do anything for him. His brain bleeding was too much. We've lost him," the doctor said removing his glasses.
For a moment everyone was quiet trying to process what he just said and trying to believe it. It was Hameeda who broke the silence.
"How could you say you lost him. Why didn't you try your best? You could have done something. You shouldn't have let my friend die," she all but shouted.
It was then that everyone understood that Muklis was really dead. Cries of "InnaliLlahi wa inna ilaiHi raaj'iuun"--We are from Allah and to Him we shall return--went off. And then we all started praying, "Allah Ya Jikanshi. Allah Ya gafarta mishi. Allah Ya sa ya huta. Allah ya bamu hakuri." All these were du'as for Allah to have mercy on him and give us the fortitude to bear his loss.
"Thank you doctor. When can we take the body?" Muklis' brother asked, his voice cracking a little bit.
He finished talking with the doctor before hugging his mother and grandmother.
"Umma be strong, Umma be strong. He is in a better place in sha Allah," he kept muttering.
I started admiring him. He was so strong.
His mother just nodded her head saying, "InnaliLlahi wa inna ilaiHi raj'un. May Allah have mercy on my son."
Tears were flowing down freely from his grandmother's eyes. His other relatives were also crying and praying for him.
Bilal broke down and started sobbing like a baby. "Allah Ya jikan abokina. Allah Ya jikan Muklis, Allah Ya jikan mai so na." (May Allah forgive Muklis--a friend that loves me).
Hamdan started hitting his head on the wall muttering, "I wasn't a good friend to him. If only I had stayed today and heard what he wanted to tell me."
I was surprised when I saw Leena seated quietly on a chair. When I looked at her closely, I noticed she was holding a container and trying to swallow a tablet. Her hand was so close to her mouth when I quickly held it and said, "Don't do that."
She was surprised to see me holding her hand and she quickly gave me the container filled with suicidal drugs and then broke down crying telling me the story of how she said she will party if he died.
"If I didn't say that, it would have been better. But now, a day won't pass by without me remembering those words," she said crying.
I almost hugged her. I quickly refrained myself from doing so. I had never been in this kind of situation in my life. I really wanted to comfort her but I did not know how to. If it was Hameeda or my other Mahrams, I could have hugged them and told them that everything was going to be okay and I would always be there for them. I had never come across any hadith that told you what to do in this kind of cases. The only time one is allowed to touch his non mahram is if their lives are in danger.
I released her hand, sought Allah's forgiveness for holding a non-mahram and quickly ran off to look for Hameeda. She was nowhere to be found. Soon I sighted her wrapper in Muklis' room. I did not even know how the doctors let her in.
She was sitting on a chair next to where Muklis' body was lying. She was deeply in thoughts such that she did not even notice when I came in. I stood behind her and heard her saying, "Muklis you can't die now. Please wake up. You have to repent. You told me you would repent before you die. You can't die being Mr world. Muklis please. You have to seek Allah's forgiveness before you die."
She kept saying this calmly. However, her mood changed when the nurses came in to take the body.
"Don't take him to the grave. He is going to wake up and repent. Muklis wake up! Don't let them take you to the grave where you can't repent," she started shouting while shaking him. I took her hands and hugged her.
"They are going to take him to the grave and he hasn't repented for all the sins he did. Don't let them take him to the grave," she told me.
I hugged her telling her to pray for him. But all she kept telling me was, "He was Mr world. He died being Mr world. He told me he would repent in his old age before he died but he didn't."
That was how she fell asleep. I gave Muklis' family my condolence and prayed for him before taking Hameeda to my car and driving home.
Najib called me just as I parked the car asking about Muklis' condition.
"He has passed away," I told him.
"InnaliLlahi wa inna ilaiHi raaji'uun. May Allah have mercy on him. How is Hameeda coping?"
"She is okay I guess. She is sleeping," I said turning around to look at her sleeping figure on my passenger seat.
He took a deep breath before saying, "AlhamduliLlah. Please send my condolences. Where is the janazah taking place?"
I told him the place and he assured me he would be there. I turned around and saw that Hameeda had woken up.
"He died, didn't he," she asked. She had forgotten all that happened.
I nodded my head before putting my hand on her shoulder. "Every soul must taste death. He is in a better place in sha Allah. Just keep praying for him. May Allah have mercy on him. May He grant him Aljannatul Firdaus. And may He grant you and his family the patience to overcome his loss."
She nodded her head and opened the door.
The next morning Baba--Hameeda's dad--the twins and I went for the janazah. We met Najib there.
After praying and taking him to the grave together with Najib we came back home.
We were eating breakfast in the dining table when Hameeda came downstairs. She greeted her parents and sat on a nearby chair. Rukky hugged her and prayed for Muklis. Her eyes were not red so she hadn't been crying but there were bags underneath them which showed she didn't get enough sleep. From seeing her you would know she was not her normal self. Deep inside , she was hurting and not letting anyone see it.
She didn't ask why Najib was eating with us nor complained he was sitting on her seat. She didn't even hug her dad welcoming him back nor ask for chocolate even though he travelled two weeks ago and just came back yesterday night. I was trying to know what she was feeling but she didn't allow me to. She didn't let anyone in.
"Hameeda, I've heard that Alhaji Lamido's son was your classmate. May Allah have mercy on him and may He grant him Aljannatul Firdaus. Let's pray for him," her father told her.
She nodded her head and muttered "Ameen."
"Allah yajikanshi, Ya gafarta mishi, Ya sa ya huta, Ya kuma kyautata namu karshen," her mom prayed for him.
Najib concluded the prayers with an Arabic dua before telling Hameeda, "Be strong, okay? He is in a better place in sha Allah."
She just nodded her head and continued playing with her food.
" e was such a nice boy. He used to buy ice cream for us whenever we went to pick Ya Hameeda from school," Hassan said.
"Yes he was so cool. I liked him so much. More than I like Hamdan and Bilal." Added Hussain.
"He was the best football player in the school. He promised to teach us."
"Remember when he taught us how to score through free kick in FIFA?" They kept talking but throughout Hameeda did not say a word nor even look up from her food.
"His father was my primary school friend. The family is so strong. You have to see the way they were receiving guests," Baba was telling Mama.
"Yeah. Especially Muklis' elder brother. He is a legend. He was the one even comforting some of Muklis' friends. He is very strong. He was even trying to smile."
"Oh Allah Sarki. Aheed right?" Rukky asked and we nodded our heads.
"It is not easy to loose a young man. A guy full of dreams and ambitions."
And that's how the chat about Muklis and His family continued with Hameeda not saying a word and not looking up from her food. The only time she looked up was when her dad said, "Many people turned out at the janazah and were all praising the young guy. I heard many good things about him."
She stared at her dad before taking her plate that was untouched to the kitchen.
"Hameeda, get ready. We are going to their house in an hour," her mom shouted after her.
I heard her faint voice in response.
"You told me she is okay. She is not. She is not letting it out. She is hurting deep inside. She needs to cry and let it out," Najib told me.
I nodded in affirmation, "I know."
An hour later we were at Alhaji Lamido's residence. The whole street was filled with cars. I managed to find a parking space. We entered the house which was filled with people. There were canopies in the compound and the men were sitting on carpets and tabarma(mats) underneath the canopies. Immediately we entered the house, Muklis' brother, Aheed came and greeted us.
"Be strong Hameeda, okay? I know how close you were. He is in a better place in sha Allah."
Hameeda nodded her head at him and together with Mama and Rukky they headed inside the house where the women were. I sat down next to Aheed who kept telling me stories about Muklis.
"He was the best brother on earth even though we were always fighting, there was a time..............."
He told me so many things before concluding with, "You know even though I know he didn't take his deen seriously, he changed a little bit a few weeks ago. After the ritual bath, his face was so bright. And there was a small smile on his lips too. For a moment I thought he wasn't really dead," he told me and from seeing his face you would know he was happy but also missing his brother.
I smiled a little saying, "May Allah have mercy on him."
"Ameen ameen," he said.
Just as he was about to tell me another story, I saw Hameeda coming out so we exchanged phone numbers and bade each other farewell.
Hameeda was leaning by the car watching the sky when I came out.
"Where is Mama and Rukky."
"They are still inside."
"Why are you out then?"
"I am tired of hearing the wails of women and different lies. Can you imagine that someone died yesterday and they are busy lying about him? Aren't they afraid of death too?"
She said two full sentences for the first time since Muklis' death. I was a bit happy that she was opening up. But then later on understood she was just talking about that just to keep her mind away from what was really happening. I was going to ask her which kind of lies but I just kept quiet. She would tell me if she wanted to. And she did.
Still looking at the sky she started, "You know Uncle Nour whenever someone dies all I hear about him is his good behaviours. I don't hear a single bad thing he did. I wonder whether he was faultless or is it because he has died that everyone seems to remember only his good deeds. Can you believe that all the people inside are talking about how Muklis was so nice and kind? How he used to help old people in the street and how he used to share a lot of money and food in the neighbourhood? No one said a thing about how he did not always pray Jumu'ah or how he used to go back home late. How do expect me to believe all they say? I knew Muklis very well. I know what he was and what he was not. I know how nice and kind Muklis was. I would be really happy if all they say is true. But deep down I know it's not. Must they lie because he has died? I now have the answer to my question," she paused with a sigh. I was about to comment when she added, "People are funny I swear. Can you believe the people inside are saying he said the shahada before dying? As if I wasn't with him when he died. Wai his face was so bright after the bathing and he was smiling blah blah blah."
"I think they are all saying the truth, Hameeda. Maybe you just know the other side of him......"
Before I could finish, Hameeda opened the door clearly showing she was not interested in anything I was going to say.
"I am tried of hearing people saying he is in a better place. Allah na tuba (I seek your forgiveness, O Allah) but I am not really sure about that," I heard her voice from the window.
I turned around and saw her face. It was empty and emotionless, the way it had been since when we came back home yesterday night. I wanted to know what she was thinking.
Is she not missing her best friend? Does she really think he is not in a better place? Does she want him to come back and be her friend again or to come back and repent?
I let Hameeda be and started thinking about what she and Aheed said. If what Aheed and the people were saying was true, then Alhamdulilah. If it was not and what Hameeda was saying was the truth, then may Allah forgive and have mercy on him.
The day had been a very long one. After our Magrib to Isha recitation of the holy Qur'an with Najib, I immediately crashed into bed. I was so exhausted. I woke up around 2 a.m. feeling very hungry. I went downstairs, warmed up dinner and ate it. As I was coming back to my room, I heard silent whimpers from the door opposite mine. I knocked and entered Hameeda's room to find her lying on the floor with her phone in her hand and for the first time since Muklis' death, crying.
I sat next to her saying nothing. She looked up from her position and seeing it was me, she unlocked her phone and passed it to me. I wanted to know what it was but I did not ask.
"I was wrong, they were right," she said in the midst of her cries.
It was a picture, a picture of a paper , I zoomed it and immediately started reading it.
"Assalamu alaikum wa rahamatuLlahi wa barakatuHu my dear brothers and sisters.
If you see this, then I must have died. I don't even know where to start from. I am so sorry I can't talk to you about this now that I'm alive. I can't just face you and say all this so I decided to write it down. I have a feeling that my time in this world is almost over and I want to make the best use of it. I want to tell you that I really love and want what is best for you in this world and in the hereafter inside this letter.
These two months I've spent with Uthman have made me realize life is not just about the fame and riches nor about the popularity like I used to think. There is so much more to life. The happiness you get from making your parents and family happy, the happiness you get by feeding a family that hasn't eaten for a week are much more than all the glory we get. An old woman's prayers when you help her cross the street is much more than all the fame. Let's not talk about the reward you will surely get in the hereafter from doing all these things.
My most beloved position these days is in sujood asking for forgiveness from my Lord. Do you have the slightest idea of the feelings you get after spending the entire night praying to your Lord or reading the glorious Qur'an, especially if you know the meaning? The feelings are just too...... they cannot be described. To me they are the best feelings ever.
I want to plead with you, my dear brothers and sisters, to change before it is too late. I once learnt from my wise friend, Hameeda, that it is better late than never. For me, I have done my part, Alhamdulilah. I changed just before it became too late, and I pray that it is for the sake of Allah and that Allah will forgive me for all the things I did in the past. I want you to change too. I love you for the sake of Allah and want what is best for you. May Allah continue to guide you. Ameen.
I also want to beg you that please when you hear about my death, do not mourn but instead pray for me. I am in a better place in sha Allah. Continue with your normal lives and have halal (permissible) fun. Always Remember Allah and seek His forgiveness.
With love from your brother, Muklis."
Before I finished reading the letter, a tear rolled down my cheek. I looked back at the phone and saw the message Uthman sent to her.
"And Hameeda, the last thing he said to me was that I should please help you change and make sure I give you this letter. He made me promise to do that. And the last thing he said before going unconscious was the shahada. He died with a shahada, a smile on his face and was buried on Friday. He in sha Allah went to the place of eternal happiness before us. All we can do is pray for a death like Muklis' because I don't think there can be anything better than that."
I heard Hameeda's whisper, "May Allah have mercy on Muklis. May He make us better Muslims. And may our death be as beautiful as Muklis'."
Helloooo dearies,
How have you been? My exams had been amazing alhamduliLlah . Thanks for all the prayers.
Please I want to beg you to tell me if you see anything not correct about Islam so that I can correct it. Or if you have a better or different view about something. We are all leaners. We can benefit from one another.
This chapter is dedicated to the talent pool. Thank you so much for all the votes and comments. Much love. If not for them, I wouldn't have updated this soon.
This is the third time I wrote this chapter. First I wrote it in Hameeda's POV. I deleted it and wrote it in third person and I deleted it again and wrote this one. I am not so happy with this too. I would have deleted it if not because of how Eesherh and Maryam Akeel have been disturbing me to update. And Yasmeen I hope you haven't forgotten the plot yet.
Show some love by tapping the star button and commenting please.