One Minute: Hausa Love Story

OM 29

From Mu'adh bin Jabal, radiyallahu 'anhu, who said: I said:

"O Messenger of Allah, tell me of a deed which will take me into Paradise and will keep me away from the Hell-fire." He said: "You have asked me about a great matter, yet it is, indeed, an easy matter for him to whom Allah Almighty makes it easy. (It is) that you worship Allah without associating anything with Him, that you perform the prayers, that you pay the zakat, that you fast during Ramadan, and that you make the pilgrimage to the House."
Then he said: "Shall I not guide you to the gates of goodness? Fasting is a shield; charity extinguishes sin as water extinguishes fire; and a man's prayer in the middle of the night." Then he recited: "Who forsake their beds to cry unto their Lord in fear and hope, and spend of that We have bestowed on them. No soul knoweth what is kept hid for them of joy, as a reward for what they used to do". [Qu'ran, Surah al-Sajdah (32): Ayah 16- 17]
Then he said: "Shall I not also tell you of the peak of the matter, its pillar, and its topmost part?" I said: "Yes, O Messenger of Allah." He said: "The peak of the matter is Islam (submission to Allah), the pillar is prayer; and its topmost part is jihad." Then he said: "And shall I not tell you of the controlling of all that ?" I said:" Yes, O Messenger of Allah". So he took hold of his tongue and said: "Restrain this." I said: "O Prophet of Allah, will we be held accountable for what we say?" He said: "May your mother be bereft of you! Is there anything that topples people on their faces (or he said, on their noses) into the Hell-fire other than the jests of their tongues?"

[Related by Al-Tirmidhi, who said it was a fine and sound hadith]

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She stared with apprehension, her eyes jumping from one place to another as if a solution was going to jump out of nowhere. She wiped the sweat that was gathering on her forehead, she couldn't remember the last time she had been this worried over a trivial matter.

Hajiya Iya had called earlier saying that she was going to come and visit them and out of courtesy Aysha had asked her what she wanted her to cook for her, biggest mistake of her life, hajiya Iya had then gone on to say she wanted semovita.

She knew that woman was out to get her and visiting her was just the perfect excuse to do that. It was like she knew Aysha couldn't cook semovita to save her life, she always had the fear that it'll create lumps so she never tried.

The moment she finished talking with Hajiya iya she had ran downstairs to the kitchen not caring that it was 8 in the morning and she was only wearing a knee-length nightshirt. Fahad had followed her minutes later and she had quickly explained it to him while she tried cooking, keyword being 'tried'. She stared at the boiling water not having an inkling of what to do next.

"What are you doing just standing? Make yourself useful and help me" she said to Fahad.

"Calm down. You don't have to get so worked up let me help you with pouring the powder while you stir" he said as he came forward.

It had been a week and a half since they got married and slowly but surely they've started getting along so well, learning small things about each other. She now knew he hated any food with garlic in it and that he's a fitness freak.

"Wait let me check YouTube for instructions" she searched for videos using the TV that was in the kitchen. She followed all instructions given by the chef and it was going well until when it came to stirring that it turned into a totally different thing.

"I think its too watery for you to be stirring it this fast" he told her as he watched her stir it aggressively.

"Why don't you come and do it" she eyed him turning back to the pot, "hold the pot handle please" she said as she continued assaulting the pot.