Alnihayya

||M a r w a||

E i g h t

"Who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle."

-Lewis Carroll,
Alice in Wonderland-

☆

Mashal

"Okay Marwa now you can start reading." I smiled at the little brown eyed girl sitting across me on the dining table.

"Really?" She squealed in excitement making her chair totter.

I nodded a yes and she began reading, with her finger on the words "Alif.... Laam... Meem......Is this correct?" she asked in her cute low voice and her brown eyes looked at me expectantly.

"Yes it is Marwa! Congratulations you've just read your first words from the Quran!" My voice contained all the happiness and enthusiasm that I felt. It was just the first day of me teaching her and she already picked up a lot. Maybe it was because of her eagerness and love for Allah's book. Ever since Uncle Suleiman dropped her here, I had been teaching her how to join the letters to form a word and now she could finally do it.

"Yipeee!" She shrieked in excitement and jumped up from her chair. Her eyes glowed with happiness and her face shone from her black hijab.

But then suddenly her face fell as if she realized something and she stared at me gloomily.

I couldn't understand how her sudden happiness changed into sadness so I asked, "What's wrong Marwa, aren't you happy?"

"Alif laam meem is not a word. It doesn't mean anything" She sulked down into her chair "You're lying. I still don't know how to read."

It took me some time to register what she meant and then I grinned at her happily "You know arabic?"

"Mhm."

Yep Mashal you're an idiot. She's from Syria so obviously she would know arabic. Another imaginative slap for me please.

"Cheer up Marwa"
I couldn't help but give her a peck on her cheek. She was just so adorable. "Yes alif laam meem is not a word but it is in the Quran. You read it perfectly."

She stayed like that for a moment with a frown on her face and arms crossed. Then she finally uttered "Why would Allah do that? No one else does that."

I chuckled at her innocence and replied "Because only Allah can do what no one else can."

Hopefully my answer made sense because Marwa grinned in amusement and happiness washed over her face again as she pecked my cheek. "You talk like my sheikh!"

"Your sheikh?"

"Yeah! He tells me a lot about Allah. He's the best!"
Marwa's eyes glittered as she talked about her 'sheikh'. It was obvious that she really liked him.

"He even told me that you're a good girl." She added.

"Oh really? Your sheikh knows me?"
My eye brows knitted in curiosity. Now I was really surprised.

"Yep!" She giggled.

I scanned Marwa's face trying to get a clue about who that sheikh was. "What's his name?" I asked.