Something Fairytale-ish

Something Rapunzel-ish

Once upon 1400 hundred years ago, in the holy land of Arabia, there lived a pious girl named Ruqaiyah. She strived to be like the grandmother of her namesake in every way, religiously, intellectually, socially, and personally. She and her family were devout followers and lovers of the Ahlulbayt.

For all her life, Ruqaiyah dreamed of going to hajj and thereby fulfilling her duty of attending the holy pilgrimage at least once in her life. So, when she was given the chance to finally go, she had no reason to refuse. Unfortunately, on her way to Mecca, her caravan was attacked by a group of bandits! All the men were killed, their property looted, and she and the women were all captured and to be sold as slaves! Ruqaiyah would not settle for this turn of events. She couldn't die before going to hajj! So, she made several attempts at escape with other women, each time ending in failure. At last, the bandits could handle her no longer, so they settled to lock her into a tower high up in the air, where there was no way to escape except by means of death.

So there she was sent, and to her death was inevitable, for they had no intention of keeping her alive. This is where our real story begins; in the depths of despair. Ruqaiya's room was a circular chamber. She had no spacial intelligence whatsoever, but even she could tell by one look out of the window that if she were to fall from the top of the tower, she would die a horrible death. The room was bare except for a bed and a dresser full of nothing but hijabs--hey, if she couldn't go to hajj, she could at least die while maintaining her modesty. But that did little to comfort her, for she was alone in this tower and had no one to wear hijab for.

Ruqaiyah paced around the room, alone with her thoughts. How was she to escape this predicament alive, she wondered. Was there someone out there that could save her? She sighed and decided that the only option she had was to turn to Allah (SWT). So, she spent her days in the tower praying and praying and praying. She only paused to sleep and to eat the food that was set for her by her bedside every morning mysteriously. Who was her secret caretaker, she wondered. Oh how she wanted to meet them! Maybe they would give her a way to escape. The only problem was that she was never awake whenever the secret caretaker came by. Thus, she decided to stay up all night to see who it was that kept her alive.

Ruqaiyah stayed up all night, but as the moon ceded to the sun, her eyes grew heavy with drowsiness. She couldn't stay...up--but the secret...caretaker...make snoring sounds. She woke up with a sudden jerk only to be blinded by the powerful sunlight shooting through her window. It was morning and she had missed both salaat al-fajr and the chance to meet her secret caretaker. For God's sake! She ate the food that had been set for her and preceded to do her qadha and then pray some more. She prayed till zuhr when Allah finally answered her prayers... or so she thought.

"Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!" a grand and pompous voice rang through her window. Ruqaiyah was shocked. She rushed to the window in excitement. At last, her saviour was here! She looked down the tower and saw a handsome and princely man standing at the side of lovely, white mare. Upon seeing the face of the lovely damsel in distress, the prince once again repeated, "Rapunzel, let down your hair!"

Excuse me.

It was then that Ruqaiya realized that this man's character was not one commonly found in the sweltering desert of Arabia. He sported a European-styled armor, with heavy metaled everything. He was blonde and green-eyed, traits that are not generally found in Arab DNA. Oh yeah, and one more thing: he told her to "let down her hair". What's up with that?! No Muslim man in his right mind would dare to say such a blasphemous thing to a non-mahram woman. The nerve!

And her name was Ruqaiyah, not Rapunzel! Did this man take her for some sort of German D.I.D (damsel in distress)!

In anger, she shouted at the rude foreigner "My name is Ruqaiyah, not Rapunzel! And no, I will not let down my hair you rude and disrespectful man! Go back to deutschland to your deutsch princess in your deutsch fairytale you deutsch fool!" By the way, "deutsch" is german for "German". Also, although Ruqaiyah strived to be like Fatima Zahra in every way, Fatima Zahra would not have yelled at the prince in such a way; even though that seems obvious, I thought I should clarify that for any Ahlulbayt-haters out there.

Anyway, the prince was shocked at her response. Nervously, he said, "I am bound by my honor as a man to aid any maiden should she need it."

"Thank you, but no thank you; I can help myself," Ruqaiyah insisted.

"But--"

"GO!!!" she shouted. The prince--some prince was he--turned around and galloped cowardly away on his mare. Ruqaiyah stormed towards the dresser that contained the hijabs. Boy were there a lot-- enough for her to make one long rope out of them to climb down the tower.

"Why didn't I think of this before!" she muttered to herself fiercely. In a matter of minutes, she had finished making the rope and was on her way down the tower. Her mouth ran dry from all the du'as and ayahs for safety she recited. The climb down was dangerous, with thick gusts of sandy wind coming at her from all directions. She nearly let go twice and would have died a horrible death had she not caught on to her modest rope on time. When she finally reached the bottom of the tower, she ran for sweet freedom!

She ran and ran until finally she could run no more. By then, day had turned to night, and she had stumbled across a travelling caravan. Long story short, they agreed to take her home, and when she did return home, she and her family were happily reunited. Awww, the end.

Not yet! What happened to the other women that were captured? Apparently the bandits had all died in one night due to unknown causes, so the women were able to escape and seek refuge. The end, right?

Not yet! Who was the secret caretaker? I guess we'll never know... but know this: Allah will always be by your side, even in the most unexpected ways. After all, Ruqaiyah was able to escape using her head, and who was it that gave her the idea to use the hijabs to build a rope? O.K, lesson learned. The end. For real now.