"There is no goodness in people who don't give advice, and there is no goodness in people who don't like to be advised."
- Umar Ibn Khattab, Radiyallahu anhu.
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Assalaamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh, yaa Qawm!
Hope you're all doing well:D
Today's update, Maasha Allah:))) Sorry in advance! XDDD
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At a position within the nucleus of scholars were three students. These three were considered among the elite, and were of the top four best students in all of Sky Legacy Haven. Presently they all had different expressions on their faces.
"The next results will determine a lot of things, not just for we who are within the top four positions, but also, will affect the entire flow of edification and aspirations here in Sky Legacy Haven.
It would perhaps also usher us from our ongoing era of boredom, and being a complacent and not-so-competitive group at the top who lord it over all, to a new era of rivalry and intense competition! By Allah! I already feel so jittery thinking about it!" Prince Firdaws said, his ever-present smile only widening by the second.
The other two Mureeds chuckled.
"He's right, you know. What would you do if prince Reyaz happens to displace your position as the Number Four Mureed, T'sham?" Shabaan asked, a sudden suspense and intrigue present in his usually calm eyes. He seemed to be contemplating the question to himself internally. What would he do if he were displaced?
"It's simple, isn't it?" Ihtisham said with a staid face, and without batting an eyelid. It seemed he had long had his answer in mind before even being asked such a question by Shabaan.
As a child growing up in Baladus Sulaymân, Ihtisham had always been in the process of constantly being groomed for Kingship. Being the elder son and crowned prince set for inheriting and ascending the throne, he had to always be at the best of his game. Whatever he did, he had to be extraordinary, or at least, be among those who were considered as being exceptional.
Both in class and at his personal training, before and after he lost his family and country, Ihtisham had always aced in all subjects. Even when he was undergoing so much after the tragedy, there was never a time when his grades or performance fell below what was expected of him.
In Sky Legacy Haven where there were other genius students and even princes with exceptional minds and talents, and the aptitude for securing success, Ihtisham's name was a constant to be mentioned whenever anyone was discussing them.
The Nine Mureeds were considered to be the most elite students of erudition in all of SLH. They were brilliant and well-groomed in all subjects, no one could hold a candle to them. But among them, there was actually a huge disparity between the lower five, and the topmost four, in both popular knowledge and true latent talent: Those four at the top were the true exceptional prodigies of the school. They were the ones who would be called upon to represent the school, whenever there was any external competition the school really wanted to dominate all others in!
..
Because of the wide gap between his score and the fifth Mureed's, Ihtisham had never thought the day would come before he had left the school, when his position would actually be under a threat, and that he may be displaced. Yet, when the Sayyid and the five lower Mureeds were competing fiercely on the 1000 Steps pyramid, and Firdaws had informed him about the aspirations and preparations of prince Reyaz, he had already began to mentally prepare himself. There was this feeling that appeared in his heart, one that he had never felt before; ..the fear of being overtaken.
Then he thought about how he'd feel towards the prince Reyaz if he'd overtake him, and he realized that the calmness and composure he had always thought he felt, that contentment that things were always going to go his way, ..was actually a brittle wall of fallacy he had built around himself, perhaps, because he had never felt the need to compete with anyone before. He realized it was a feeling he'd feel against someone who wanted to compete with him on basis of equal right, for the rulership over his country!
So it was without a doubt, what answer he would present when Shabaan asked the question. It was no surprise, that his blood also boiled with competition.
"Challenge the quest again, and rise even higher." He answered, his voice was firm, and his gaze held an undersurface steely look that made Shabaan to feel a sort of pressure, even though he did not let it show on his face. Considering Ihtisham had never once before showed this competitive side of himself, he wondered why he had remained dormant at the position of Number Four, and not once shown discontent and rivalry towards those immediately above him. He had always thought of him that he was like prince Firdaws, who was eccentric, and only saw competition as a kind of play, like sparring with a fellow colleague for pointers, and not something of a feud. Had he only been okay because, he was still considered among the most exceptional - The Top Four, and had thus decided to lay low out of the exhaustion from all the rivalry??
He looked at the prince Firdaws to see his reaction, only to witness the ghost of a smile shimmer from the first Prince's lips.
"Well, it was about time for this resolution, don't you think?" Prince Firdaws muttered to himself, his tone quiet.
"Pardon?" Ihtisham turned to him, looking taken aback. All this takes time to write about, but happened in no more than a dozen or so breaths of time.
As if the prince's statement was the cue, the Doyen Sheikh Tariq concurrently announced,"It so happens that we just completed a compulsory official challenge of the quest, but will have to organize another one so soon.."
"Ahn!" Prince Firdaws exclaimed, murmuring to his two companions,"Why would the Doyen say so?"
They equally had blank expressions on their faces. It didn't take but the next moment for the prince's eyes to glow in comprehension.
"Unless.." Even though uncommon, ties had occurred before in the hundred years history of Sky Legacy Haven, and whenever it occurred among the Mureeds, the scholars would appoint a day for an official challenge of the Qur'an quest in order to break the tie, and every Mureed would have his unique individual ranking.
"There's a tie among the Mureed positions!" He said it at the same time the Doyen spoke those same words.
"The fourth Prince has tied with the first Prince's score, and has subsequently displaced Ihtisham to the Number Five Mureed position with a score of 739 ãyaat." The Doyen said slowly, and solemnly. His words rang through the crowd for a momentary silence, before which the bedlam of voices arose.
"Ihtisham was actually displaced! Yaa Salaam! Sooner or later, trust me, there's going to be a war of the elites here in Sky Legacy Haven!"
"Yaa Allah~! Prince Reyaz is really that good! To have actually moved from the position of Number Seven Mureed to topple the Number Four Mureed, and contest for the position of Number Three Mureed-that's what we call an epic rising in ranks!!!
He'll be remembered for generations to come!"
...
"Subhanallah! Even though we all saw it coming, who knew the ranks of the elite Four Mureeds of Sky Legacy Haven would be broken into like that!?
This reminds me of the legendary - 'singlehandedly breaking into the lines of the enemy'! Now, not only is the Number Four displaced and would have to challenge the quest and make a comeback, but the Third would also have to defend his title too!
A battle royale between the exiled crown prince of Baladus Sulaymân, and the first and fourth princes of Qalb-ul-Ard! A battle of the royalty among the elite, and a three-Mureed face-off!"
"Do you think it was intentional?!"
"What?! You mean scoring exactly 739 verses as Prince Firdaws had done?!
Even though a person can deliberately solve to attain a certain set number, I highly doubt Prince Reyaz was aiming for that.
After all, the princes are not fighting, are they?!"
"Well you never know. For all you know, it may have been a premeditated act! Haven't you heard the rumours going around?!"
...
"What rumours?!"
"Even though Prince Reyaz does excellently well in all subjects on the matters of the State, because he's the fourth in line and nephew to the King, the eccentric Prince Firdaws is still going to be enthroned when the time comes!"
"What!? They're really going to leave our country and all our lives in the hands of a child!!? You must be kidding me!
They must be really treating the kingdom of Qalb-ul-Ard as a child's plaything to actually think of handing it over to a childlike figure like Prince Firdaws!
Why wouldn't Prince Reyaz be angered, leading him to do this!?"
"There's nothing we can do after all. Qalb-ul-Ard is ruled by the monarchy, and so was Baladus Sulaymân before the throne was usurped by the mages.
No matter what you think, in these our countries, the Kingdom is treated as a family inheritance. However, I'll always vouch for Prince Reyaz anytime!"
...
That was the extent to which the word on the street had deviated when it got to Kahf. Kahf mentally face-palmed, a sorry smile on his face. He really couldn't believe the students of Sky Legacy Haven. The place was like a nest for breeding rumour-mongers instead of erudite scholars of nobility and propriety.
"But more importantly.." Kahf said to himself, brooding,"It means that Reyaz didn't succeed. Had he succeeded, he probably would have had an answer different from the gathered ãyaat on the 1000 Steps quest.."
Sighing, he added,"But, even if he didn't manage to solve the secret of the quest, he had trained quite extensively to decipher at least a number of the inscription verses reaching into the 800s.
..What could have happened to him on the quest?" Kahf muttered, with eyes lowered in bemusement. Lightly chuckling, he breathed to the air around him,"Neither did you find the secret of the quest, nor did you beat my score.
Why do I feel such disappointment, even though people are praising you so.
..The irony."
Turning to face the direction of the Nine Solitary Gates, he thought about the results of the five Mureeds so far. Murmuring, he said,"Once the season for the GQRC draws nigh, the dawn of fervent competitions and aspirations would be upon us..
Now that two Mureeds have fallen from the heights to the very bottom, with one of their positions hanging by a flimsy thread, people would seek to make use of the opportunity and rise.
The performance of Ashraf, Isra and Reyaz would break the mental barrier that one cannot progress within the ranks of Mureeds due to the strong opponents at the top.
Isra's own would particularly inspire those who relied on hardwork alone, but undermined their abilities due to the social differences and the notion of the cheat that having the knowledge reserves provided.
With the annual GQRC near at hand, and the more imminent preliminaries and sub-regional competitions between the various Northern Madaaris, this would be particularly helpful to our school. Two years ago, due to a peculiar reason, the top four Mureeds could not attend the GQRC as representatives of the An-Nûn province, and even among the lower five, random people were selected, and the rest augmented from the general school populace. Even though Prince Firdaws was called to face the Sayyid and the Unmatched Qaari at the semifinals of Hâ Mîm, he did so not as a representative of SLH and the Capital An-Nûn.
Thus, we lost to Yâ Sîn, as the top representatives of the Northern Provinces', and also at the finals.
Ever since, our scholars declined sending us Mureeds for the GQRC competitions, whilst hyping us four at the top and saying we were a trump card they were saving for a time when worthy opponents from all the regions of the country arose; least it be decided that SLH had no strong students to face the elite Yâ Sîn, and that Yâ Sîn was the leading province of Quraa' in the North.
The scholars have dragged this out for two years.. but they can't keep it up, considering the pressure from Yâ Sîn for competitions. This year, with the Sayyid in our school, we've more geniuses at hand to use for the face-offs. I expect things to go lively, but.. there's only one factor left, to raise the flames of intellectual war here at SLH and hone our strengths.
Even defeating me won't do the trick.
Would you go out of the way, to show your actual worth to Sky Legacy Haven, Sayyidul Quraa'?" Kahf voiced, looking in the direction of the Nine Solitary Gates.
...
Abdul Bâqi looked at the indifferent prince's face, to see his reaction towards the declared results. After all, per what Prince Firdaws had said, he must have been aiming higher. Abdul Bâqi suspected his ostentatious act on the Steps was perhaps, a factor to the prince's failure to achieve his set goal. The Prince stood straight and unsmiling, even as all the comments were made on his performance. He was surprisingly calm.
Did he really anticipate such results? Ah~ Then that's good then, right? I thought he'd be mad at me for disrupting his flow on the quest.
Sighing, Abdul Bâqi turned to look around. It was at that moment he spotted the three other Mureeds. Standing in an arc with the pantheon of scholars who surrounded them on all sides, Abdul Bâqi recognized the princes Firdaws and Ihtisham. The third, a blackrobed boy, had a colourful tassel fastened to a scroll-carrying belt at his side. It was a queer fashion, made for the convenience of students. Abdul Bâqi had realized most of the students of SLH who had it, used it to keep the minimum amount of learning material they needed, as they moved about the school. The intricate designs of the dark satin rims of the belt, stood in stark contrast to the almost glowing colours of the tassel now in the waning light. Judging by the colourful tassel, Abdul Bâqi knew that he was one of the top three Mureeds.
Could he be the Number One then, or the Number Two?
Abdul Bâqi happened to raise his eyes up, only to see the Mureed had been intently looking at him.
Eh??!
A While Ago.. (Firdaws, Ihtisham, and Shabaan)
"I really thought he would have defeated Kahf." Prince Firdaws said flatly,"Well, thanks for jinxing it, Shabaan. Now Ihtisham and I have to go and prepare for an upcoming Qur'an quest."
"I believe in Qadr, not jinxing." Shabaan said monotonously.
"Yes, Your righteous Highness." Firdaws said in mock humour. But then, suddenly turning to face Ihtisham with a cheerful goofy grin, he said,"Well, I guess you would probably just join the challenge between myself and Prince Reyaz when the day is assigned, wouldn't you?
What do you say, a challenge between we princes!?"
"Sure, in shaa Allah!" Ihtisham answered with a zeal almost similar to that of the young prince, his eyes reflecting his contagious smile. His sense of honour without a doubt had been hurt. He had this strange bitter feeling in his heart, but Firdaws' words just now, reminded him that it was not yet over. There was still a chance and he was not going to let it up. After all, he wasn't an inferior student to Reyaz. He had to be composed, or he did lose the battle even before it started.
Even though he wouldn't openly admit it, Prince Firdaws was quite happy with the turnout of events. Seeing the fire had been lit in Ihtisham's eyes; something he hadn't seen in a long time, he would not have wished any other outcome for this quest, even if his position was on the line. The following days in SLH were going to be filled with striving and competition!
...
Tension and apprehension filled many a heart in their wait for the next mention of results.
Prince Firdaws suddenly remarked, in a casual observation of the thoughtful expression on Shabaan's face as he looked at Abdul Bâqi who was standing carefree among the other four Mureeds even though his case, as precarious as it was, was yet to be decided,"It seems to me that, whatever the Grand Doyen sent you on must be very important and related to the Sayyid."
His words were however cut short by the Doyen Sheikh Tariq who signalled for silence, and the whole place became quiet so you could hear a pin drop.
"Young lad, don't you think it's time that you revealed to us how you traversed this quest?
I'm sure someone must have adequately informed on you the method of traversing, including the fact that the ãyaat are to be written and left behind at each archway you pass." The first one to question him from among the scholars, was surprisingly not the Doyen Sheikh Tariq...
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Next update is next week Monday in shaa Allah:)))
Till then, fee Amanillah!
Wassalaamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu!