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Chapter 14: What do you do with an apology?

16th Feb, 2020

The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "Shirk among you will be more subtle than the footsteps of an ant, but I will teach you something which, if you do it, both minor and major shirk will be kept away from you. Say: Allaahumma inni a'oodhu bika an ushrika bika wa ana a'lam wa astaghfiruka lima la a'lam (O Allah, I seek refuge with You from associating anything with You knowingly, and I seek Your forgiveness for that of which I am unaware)."

Classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Jaami', 3731

Chapter 14:

What do you do with an apology?

The truth is, your past doesn't go anywhere. You can put it behind yourself, of course, but the pain, or the lessons, whichever you choose, will follow you to your present. This is why, Afreen was currently retracing her past, thinking back to the events that unfolded before her wedding and out of everything that occurred, she remembered two aspects vividly. One was her mum warning her, and two, it was Afreen, nevertheless, accepting a mediocre life with Zubair.

Afreen promised to live in any circumstance that Zubair offered, and for the most part, she was trying to stay true to her promise, but she was slowly starting to feel the pinch. When Afreen had gotten married, she had brought everything with her to this new home, but the supplies were now diminishing. Just yesterday she needed to restock her shampoo and body lotion, and while she had never thought of it before, when the cashier announced the amount and Zubair frowned, that moment had made her realize how expensive her choice of brand was. Probably next month she would have to compromise and look for cheaper alternatives, but the bigger problem of the disparity in mindset was hard to deal with.

Zubair was a good guy, her mum had failed to see that. It wasn't his fault that he was trapped in such circumstances, but he had a good heart and was striving to reach bigger goals. However, Afreen also realized, while she was giving him the benefit of doubt and letting him off the hook, things were getting difficult to handle. Day by day, putting up with Mubeena was getting challenging and Afreen was finding herself at the edge of sanity. Her mother-in-law needed to understand they were newly married and needed some privacy, she couldn't go around putting so many restrictions on them, it would eventually affect their relationship.

Such were Afreen's thoughts, as she sat on the swing, folding laundry when her free view of the distant sky was obstructed with a person gazing down on her.

"Did you ask Zubair to remove the black thread?" Mubeena questioned, without starting with any form of greetings, her voice laced with fury.

Mubeena hadn't ever directly spoken so brashly, she usually resorted to indirect means to taunt Afreen, so this was quite new and surprising, and it took a moment for Afreen to register her words, and when she did, she didn't know how to respond.

"I just told him what Islam teaches..." Afreen trailed off, intimidated.

"You don't have to teach him new things, Afreen, we've been following all this for years, so please stay away from it. If your beliefs are different, you don't have to transfer the same to my son. He will do what his mother tells him."

Now, Afreen had had enough of 'my son' territory that Mubeena always marked, and she decided this needed to stop.

"Your son is my husband too, Mummy," she replied, for the first time in this house, raising her voice against injustice. "I'm going to be spending the rest of my life with him, and he must know to differentiate lies from truth."