I Actually Married A Muslim!

2: Dating Ahmeds VS Dating Johns

Chapter 2: Dating Ahmeds VS Dating Johns.
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Whoever put the idea in my head that Muslims were terrorists probably forgot to keep convincing me of it.

Because I soon found myself forgetting all about my lifelong convictions, but that is before the New York attacks happened.

It was all over the news, a man who is said to be a follower of ISIS had driven into a bike lane, killing many people. Innocent people.

After that happened, I found myself thinking deeply about many things I'd never thought about.

Was Islam like this, ordering its followers to go around killing people in the so called name of Allah?

Or was it like the religion that She was following?

I just realized that I've been so engrossed in narrating my tale that I forgot to mention what her name was here.

Better now than never. Her name was Sarah Saleh. I once read that "Sarah" meant "Princess" . Some people really do live up to their names.

Around two days after the New York attacks, I got to actually talk to Sarah about it.

It was a long day at work, a client was getting too picky with the designing of his wife's house and I'd finished it a little later than usual. Just as I was headed towards my car, I saw a figure leaning in the bushes. I traced my steps back only to find that it was Sarah, feeding some stray kittens.

"Sarah?" I said quietly, "you're still here?"

Upon hearing my voice she jumped a little starled by my sudden appearance.

"Adam," came her reply, "yeah. I'm Just feeding these poor little creatures..." She trailed off.

I tilted my head a little to the side and stood there, admiring the beauty of the sight infront of me. A little happy smile was tugging at her lips and her emerald green eyes shined ever so brightly as she pet the kitten gently.

"You're Muslim." I stated.

"Yeah." She answered.

"But you're different." The words escape my lips before I could actually think about them. Now she probably thinks I believe all Muslims were trash.

Instead of blowing my head off or something like that, she actually remained quite calm.

"In what way?" She arched an eyebrow upwards, a questioning gleam in her eyes.

"Well. You don't go around Allahu-Akbar -ing and bringing peoples life lines to abrupt ends...".

Again the words were said before I thought about them.

I can still remember my thoughts from that day clearly. ....God. I'm done for. She'll definitely kill me...as a sacrifice or something like that, was the exact line of my thoughts.

I know. I know that by thinking that I was being a BIG islamophobe or whatever you call it; but hey, in my defense, I was really getting on my nerves, was I not?

She sighed. Like she was tired of hearing the same things over and over again and I can't blame her because I'm sure I wasn't the only person she'd heard this from.

"Adam. I would like to tell you that Allahu-Akbar actually means God is Greatest. And that anyone who does such terrorist acts has nothing to do with Muslims. Or with Islam." She was pronouncing her words slowly and carefully, like she was talking to a 5 year old who was bound to misunderstand her words.

"I'm sorry. I know what I said came of as offensive. And a little weird. But I still don't get it..." I trailed of. "I mean, those folks in New York the other day, were they not Muslim too? They said they were." I bit my lower lip in speculation.

"Well. Did you know that there's a verse in Quran that says," she paused shortly , building up suspense, "that if you kill one person, it would be like killing all mankind...? Likewise, if you saved one single persons life, it'd be like you saved all mankind?"

"That's in the Quran?"

She nodded.

"Well. Well..."

Jesus, what in the name of God am I supposed to say now?

"Well you go out with me?" I blurted.

They say that when one is at extremely stressful situations, they utter completely unexpected things.

I'd say that's what happened. At the time , I thought I was definitely more surprised by my outburst than she was.

Date? Seriously?

"Dang-it... I..." Again I was out of words.

How unmanly was that? I was usually a very verbose person. I was one of those people that said the exact right thing at the exact right time.

But when Sarah was around? I was a completely different person.

As cliché as that sounds, I really acted weird when she was around.

For one, I had a tendency to blurt out nonsense before even thinking about what I was saying.

I also had a tendency to act like a highschool kid would act around his crush.

"Oh Adam." She laughed till she was gasping for air, "so now that it's clear I am not a terrorist....you want me to date you?"

"No...no... It's not like that." I started

I was about to tell her that it was all a mistake , that I didn't mean what I said, when she raced me to it.

"I'm so so sorry Adam." Her lips were pressed in a tight, thin line, her eyebrows furrowed, "I don't actually do dating..."

And any hope I had of being with her went down the drain.

When I think back, I remember how angry I felt.

She was just telling me that she didn't date. It was obviously part of her culture. Or religion. Or whatever. 

Again, so many people around the world don't engage in premarital relations and mingling.

It wasn't that serious.  But it did make me mad. It made me feel... Rejected obviously.

But I also felt mad to hear her say that after I said such a thing. Pitiful.

"So what... You would've agreed to dating an Ahmed then?" It was obvious that I was quite pissed off from my tone and my ticking jaw.

"No. Adam... It's... I don't date Ahmad's or John's... It doesn't Matter to me... I never put a label on my relationships..." Her voice was soft. Like she was afraid I'd do something to hurt her. Did I look that angry?

"It's okay Sarah... I understand. I'm sorry I don't know what came over me." I placed a hand on the back of my neck and let a faint grimace take over my face.

Then I walked off, leaving a bewildered Sarah behind me, and yet a new plan to work on.

I definitely needed some Muslim guy friends. They'd tell me how to work things out.

Seems like I knew just the right person to help.

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Minor Edits on 2/16/24

A/N unbelievable. I said I won't update 'til I finish MTB but...guess I couldn't stop myself....

Btw i just found out that this story is at #907 in spiritual!

Yeah that's lame but omg at least I'm ranked somewhere?!

Tell me what you think in the comments and ofcourse... I wouldn't mind you voting if you'd like~

Tima E.

XXX