ON HOLD The perks of being a Hafizah

When Plan A doesn't work..run!

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Akhi's POV (name released later!)

Laa ilaha illa Allah" I let the words finish themselves as they left an echo in the adjacent Masjid prayer hall. It took me a while to open my eyes and take in the surroundings. Ok, now it's time for the Iqamah so I switched off the mic and made my way to the prayer hall until I was confronted with what seemed like the world's biggest decision.

Okay now let's evaluate. Do I take four minutes around the entire building probably getting late and a glare from the caretaker and go through the main entrance or be a complete weirdo and take the two minute fast track by risking the presence of women via the women's entrance? Hmm... Like the typical desi I am, I took the risky route and ran for my life.

Okay so the girls at this Masjid weren't your average oh-my-gosh-I-broke-my nail type of girls but they were real extremists...as far as I was aware, they were. Either they would come hunting you down with a sniper for being haram or they'd probably start squealing at your presence (yeah bet you've got someone in mind when I describe it like that eh? Yeah? Keep that there) and so being the only 16 year old I was, I was damn terrified.

Oblivious of what the time was, I ran through the entrance and found myself being chased down by a group of small girls all bouncing off me. Okay so now, here's the other problem: how do I get to the door that is 5 feet away from me actually hurting any of these girls?

A solution came to me: yes, deep and intimidating voice activated.

"Girls, move out of the way at once, I shall be informing your teacher of your nuisance behaviour" they all fell silent, completely silent, exactly the way I wanted it and they quickly made a large path for me to silently escape. As soon as I shut the door, I burst out laughing. Ya Allah these girls; beautiful creatures.

I ran my hand through my dark slightly curly hair from under my cap and jogged towards the imam.

"She is no use I tell you. For all I know, she has made no progress in Hifz and is only wasting a place in the Madrassah. You are either going to keep her or you won't. It's a matter of decision ya'ni as there are so many students in the waiting list" the imam advised (more like persuaded) the other moulana (teacher).

I froze in my step, my stomach fluttered weirdly and I let out a silent gasp of...disbelief? She...Hifz. Hang on...what?? There is a girl doing Hifz, how is that even possible? I walked towards Abdurrahman who was revising his Sabaq (work).

"Akhi, Assalam! How's Hifz going?" I said, trying to make conversation before breaking out.

"Wa alaykum Salam. Alhamdulillah it's going okay but I forgot like five siparas/juz/chapters you know even after like all tha..."

I cut him off, "is there a girl doing Hifz in this Masjid?" I broke out. Wow, that sounded worse when I said it out loud.

"Oh yeah, her. I don't even know if she's doing it man, like properly. Everyone says she is but I don't think she really is. You heard Moulana innit? Well it's true. She is useless yeah and damn right needs to get lost" Abdurrahman said out of sheer hatred.

Anger bubbles up inside me when he says that. How can he even say that? Just how?

"Have you personally met her or like.." I retaliated before I could come up with any conclusions.

"Well I haven't bro, it's haram."

"Then how can you possibly make rational judgements about someone like that if you haven't met them yet?"

"Bro, I am giving my opinion on what is apparently true"

"Well it isn't apparently true. Have you seen her memorise? Do you know what she got in her exams?" I ask.