A Muslim's Romantic Journey

Chapter 10.

Yusuf’s POV

Things were going fast. I’d received an invitation to play football with Hamza on Sunday. I was supposed to have been painting Maryam’s room but she brought a friend around and told me we could paint her room next week. So with nothing to do, I took up Hamza’s offer. Bad idea. For two days my ankle was in pain. It was only when I got there I understood the real reason why Hamza had invited me. I was impressed with Safia’s attitude. She didn’t just reject me, well that would have been unfair, so she wrote out questions to get to know me. I tried to be as honest and open as possible. It was quite unexpected. I thought she’d ask for my family to come around to her house. But I assumed she didn’t because of the incident with the other guy which took place only a week before. I still had no idea what had happened but I’m guessing it wasn’t good.

Only the day after I went to play football with Hamza, he gave me text telling me he had Safia’s ‘answers.’ I told him I’d drive down to his local mosque to collect them. I found Safia’s questions amusing and they made me smile. Some sounded intelligent like the smart girl I knew she was whereas others sounded like she was a little kid. She seemed to have a very good idea of what she was looking for. This made me slightly nervous.

I drove down straight after work for Isha salaah. After we prayed, I was standing by the gates waiting for Hamza.

“Asalamu’alaykum bro.” I heard him say.

“Wa’alaykumsalaam.” I replied shaking his hand.

“How’s the ankle?”

“Better now Alhamdulillah.” We briefly spoke about life before he cut to the chase.

“Here’s what you came for.” He told me, taking a piece of paper out of his pocket. I thanked him and took the paper. I wondered whether I should read it on front of him or take it home. “Why don’t you open it and read it instead of staring at the folded sheet.” So I was to read it in front of him. I opened it slowly, wondering what it said. Then I read through the answers.

1)     What are your views on women working? For example, a woman becoming a teacher.

Maybe I should have reworded the questions. Great, now I felt stupid. That should have said ‘what are your views on working?’ By the time I had finished answering her questions on Sunday, the match had ended so I had to rush. I did think her questions were good and I wasn’t being too lazy to write my own, but maybe I should have reworded them. Well I’m sure it wouldn’t make any difference. It was okay as long as I could get to know her a little better.

   As you may have figured, I’m aiming to become a teacher. But I completely agree with you. A woman’s priority is her home and her family.

 

2)     Do you get along well with children?

    My life is revolved around children. My niece Sara and my nephews Musa and Zidan are currently some of the most important people in my life.

 

3)     What sort of humour do you have? Are you a serious person or fun?

    I really find it awkward to speak to serious people. I know Islamically life isn’t supposed to always be fun and filled with laughter but I don’t think that means we should be serious all the time. The Prophet (peace be upon him) wasn’t completely serious. I love the stories about him and Aisha, for example, when they were racing each other. That’s the relationship most Muslim girls’ dream of having. I do enjoy serious conversations though, but not all the time. I prefer to just talk about funny nonsense. My humour’s a bit strange. It’s a bit like Hamza’s.