INFINITY

Chapter 23: The Morning Star

17 Nov 2021

Umm Salamah (ضى الله عنها) narrated: "I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) saying, 'When a person suffers from a calamity and utters: We belong to Allah and to Him we shall return. O, Allah! Compensate me in my affliction, recompense my loss and give me something better in exchange for it', then Allah surely compensates him with reward and better substitute." (Muslim)

CHAPTER 23
The Morning Star

As Shazin sat on her bed waiting for the taxi to arrive, her thumbs mindlessly scrolled past one online post after another. They came to a sudden halt as her eyes caught sight of a certain caption that had nothing to do with the image captured. Her eyes went rolling to the ceiling at the cliche coincidence.

Home is now behind you and the world ahead, it read.

That was enough scrolling for the day, she decided and tossed the phone on the bed before reaching for her new favourite toy- his diary.

Letting her mind idle meant the longer she would have to listen to the repetitive thoughts that nagged her all day long. She would rather it be occupied with anything under the universe but her own thoughts.

"So what?" came Yazdan's voice, "She doesn't get to live once he dies? She's supposed to mourn lifelong? When I die, I want people to be happy. No not like THAT. I mean...I want them to carry the happy memories of me as in all the happy memories we have shared together, all the things we have accomplished and most of all, they gotta remember how awesome I was," he concluded with a wink, leaning back on the couch.

Shaking the memory from the day of the sleepover out of focus, her mind came running back seeking solace in the thoughts linked to Irin. Within the span of the past week, Irin had unexpectedly turned out to become one of the most respected and adored people in Shazin's books. They would meet up every day at the same spot at the same park. It had become a routine for her. Words that came out of Irin always had a magical effect on her, they worked like a balm to her weeping soul. Even when no words were exchanged, Shazin could simply feel at peace in Irin's comforting presence and the Lord knew she needed it now more than ever. Shazin couldn't even fathom reaching that level of faith and peace after having gone through one of the worst losses one can experience in their lifetime.

They would spend hours together, talking about everything under the sun yet it was amazing how not a single minute of their conversation strayed toward's commenting about another person's life. Shazin did not even think that it was possible for her to go a day without judging another person, even if it was for something as silly as the way they dressed.

Conversations with Irin made her realise that we were all just sinners commenting about others' sins. But the best of those were the ones who realised their mistake and worked on rectifying themselves than pointing their dirtied hands against each other. In the limited time with Irin, she had also shown Shazin that nothing was ever far too gone when it came to God. That nothing was beyond Allah's control to be mended and restored. Nothing was ever broken without it having a meaningful purpose for being so. She had learned that with time, combined with a little effort and prayer, everything in nature could heal itself, by the will of Allah. And that included her as well. So perhaps, she wasn't a lost cause after all. After all the pupa must be patient enough to emerge out of the larva to soar up in the sky and finally become what it was meant to be all along. Maybe shattered and once ugly hearts could heal to be something beautiful too...

Hence, Shazin found in Irin everything she saw missing in the world. Hope.

On their last day together as Irin mentally prepared herself to say her farewell, Shazin had impulsively sprung the news on her, taking her by surprise.