Love for Allah... Ibadah...

Chapter 7- Bravery like Maryam A.S

7

Umar

3rd January, 2017. Desert near Riyadh.

The sweltering winds of the desert kissed his raised face as he lifted it to the skies. He stood in the perimeter of a small village cocooned in the ocean of sand. The village constituted of a number of large and small tents and some mud houses scattered here and there around a small oasis. The oasis consisted of a large pond of water and some date palms. There were some small sand dunes around the oasis that gave privacy to anyone sitting near the water.

This was where his foster family lived a part of their year at. He had been partially raised by this family of bedouins. They stayed in this oasis for a few months of the year and moved away to some other parts of the desert later. All the sons of their family were usually sent here in the initial some years of their life. This was where they developed their character, amidst the bedouins. They believed that the bedouins had strong character and pure speech. They were free of the materialistic greed that the city dwellers usually had.

Umar always visited his foster family and his foster mother, whenever he came home. He loved this place, where he had spent a major part of his childhood at. This was the place that had him learn the Quran and memorize it. He also had studied the Ahadith here with the help of his foster father. He had been given the basic training of sword fighting and archery in this very village by his foster father and uncles. He loved the simple food that they ate here and also the pure air that surrounded this place, along with the peace. And right now he was present here to think about the repetitive thoughts, that had rendered him speechless since some days.

The usually calm and strong willed Umar, had become restless since some days. Every time his eyes closed or he sat idle, his brain played a memory in a loop. The memory was of the muminah of the haram, who had been praying with abandonment. The memory brought him the slight ache of incompleteness. It made him feel unfulfilled and lost. Somehow he had began to like a woman, about whom he knew nothing. And along with the memory, accompanied the words of the woman from a day earlier, regarding marriage and wives. He had been forced to hear the calm voice again and again in his imagination. His father had given him the time to think about the issue of marriage, which he had been avoiding since some years now. But now he wanted to be married, so as to become the best partner to a woman out there, who was made just for him. And some credit went to that woman in the mall, who had ignited within him the need to fulfil all her words.

Umar sighed as he threw a small stone in the water and watched the ripples. He then laid back on the sand dune he was sitting on and watched the blue skies. The heat didn't bother him much. He was used to it. But the chaos within his soul caused him a deep discomfort.

"What are you thinking about Ya Akhi (brother)?" He heard Suhaib before he saw him. A second later Suhaib dropped himself beside him and laid back watching the same thing as him. Suhaib knew since the time Umar had decided to visit this place that there was something troubling him. This place allowed him to think clearly, whenever he was away from Makkah.

"A woman." Umar answered plainly. Suhaib looked at him in shock, not expecting that answer from him.

"What?"

"A woman." Umar repeated himself clearly and got up. He picked another stone and threw it. Suhaib got up too and faced him.

"What woman? Are you talking about the woman whom we heard in the mall? Is she the one affecting your peace with her words?" Suhaib asked. Umar smiled. Suhaib knew him very well.

"Partially. Her clear views want me to get married just so I can prove to her that men can imbibe the qualities of our Prophet Sallallahualaihi wasallam and make a beautiful home. They want me to get married just so I can love someone as deeply as she described. But she is not the only one on my mind..." Umar muttered uncomfortably.