In His Love... {Eternal Ishq #2}

Ch-22 Reality of Families

       In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

'Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon our beloved Prophet and Master Muhammad (s.a.s), all his blessed descendants and noble companions.'

- Aameen.

Dedicated to the patient ones :) Jazak Allahu Khair ❤

Chapter Twenty-Two

Reality of Families

Minnesota, U.S.A

These days Maryam felt as if she was floating among the clouds; Ever since she had been introduced to her large family, she was filled with immense gratitude to her Rabb ta'Ala, He Who had answered her Duas a hundred times better in subtle amazing ways that she couldn't even have dreamed of.

Her days fled by, busy and happy. Her cousin sisters were an endless source of amusement and enjoyment, even though Maryam vaguely felt that something wasn't right, she brushed it off repeatedly, yet the sensation persisted when she took part in their conversations, and all these girls talked about were movies, actors, food, clothes and of course boys, yet Maryam wondered why she felt restless, why doesn't these girls ever talk about Islam, their struggles against dunya, their hopes of pleasing Allah SubhanaHu wa ta'Ala?

All of this Maryam talked with her three friends, Tas, Maiza and Bilqis easily but when it came to speaking about Deen with her own sisters, they casually brushed her off. It was complaints about the studies or about their parents, or gushing about actors or crushes, these girls who were about Maryam's age and younger did not seem to care much about Islam. Maryam struggled to figure it out, she had thought that Muslims who grew up knowing about Islam were proud of their religion and wanted to do their best, yet, yet, does her large family really follow Islam? Maryam tried to ignore such questions and still understand her family, yet day by day it was becoming difficult.

At school, her project with Tony was finally coming to an end and she hoped their hard work would succeed. Maryam had done her best to maintain a good rapport with him without breaching limits. Sometimes he seemed to respect her rules but there were times when she felt that he considered her as a bore. She genuinely enjoyed his conversations and there were moments when she felt herself being attracted to him. But she knew she would gain nothing from pursuing a relationship with him. He was slightly curious about Islam yet he had no intention of marrying anyone anytime soon. Unlike her, his dreams were big – of creating a famous designer label. But Maryam, even though once she had wanted to become a super model, now merely set her goals in a realistic manner.

She wanted to complete her course and open a nice, cute boutique doing what she had always loved to do. Design and sew clothes for others. She and Sufyaan sometimes talked about it, he assuring that there would be some savings left when her college finally finishes and Maryam planning to do a part-time job in the coming vacation so that she could save more for her dream boutique.

It all seemed far away, and both father and daughter's lives went in the normal busy patterns of routine and contentment. Until one day, when Maryam felt as if her whole happy life was tearing apart, crashing all around her. It had begun so normally, casually that she couldn't say when it had gone overboard.

It was her conversations with her cousin brother Mansoor, her Luqman Chacha's son. Initially, all her cousins had chatted with her in groups and of course, privately. But gradually, it had declined, especially, from the boys. Tabrez, an Aalim and whose conversations Maryam had found funny seemed to have become busy and didn't chat with her anymore. Talha, his younger brother too became withdrawn in his replies except for their short chats during video calls.