“What! What is it now?” She almost screamed as she heard him knock on her door.
“It’s time for salat” he said “I am going to the mosque; thought I should wake you before I go”
Sitting up angrily on her bed, she checked the time to find it was just about 5:30. “Who told you to wake me up,” she asked angrily, “I said I would start praying didn’t I. just let me do it in my own way.”
He chuckled softly, “it doesn’t work that way, but since you are already up, shouldn’t you just make best use of the situation?” He tried to reason with her.
“Whatever” she snapped lying back angrily and muttering her frustrations. She heard his steps as he walked down the stairs
She fumed angrily for a few seconds before forcing herself to go and perform her ablution when she was done, she realised she didn’t even have a prayer mat or a hijab, frustrated even more, she paced up and down the room fighting the strong urge to go back to bed. Reluctantly, she walked to his room looked around and found a prayer mat. She went back to her room and spread it, “Where was the direction of the Qibla even?” She couldn’t remember, could she pray without covering herself properly? “Whatever” she scoffed angrily; she didn’t really care, anyhow was good enough for her at the moment. Facing the direction that came to mind, she said the takbir and proceeded to pray but at that moment, she discovered something and it shocked her to the marrow. She realised; she couldn’t even read the Fathiha. Hard as she tried, she couldn’t remember, slowly she sank to her knees, feeling the shame envelope her, “when last did I pray?” She asked herself. She couldn’t remember, it had been almost 9 years. “And now, I can’t even read the Fathiha,” it scared her so much. “How did I get to this point?” She wondered almost in tears. “O! Allah,” she whispered, “please forgive me, help me find my way again, help me to change.”
That morning, Farhan noticed to his surprise that breakfast was edible, toasted bread with hot tea and egg. As he sat down, he kept expecting something to go wrong. Nothing was ever as it seemed with this interesting girl.
Just eat in peace, nothing bad will happen, not now anyway” she said when she noticed his apprehension.
He observed her, something seemed to be bothering her. Everything ok? He asked.
She looked at him as if debating whether to tell him what had happened, but her shame was too great, so she just shook her head and said nothing.
As if reading her mind, he said, I was thinking about what you said yesterday, about me helping you, what do you think about having someone tutor you on Islam? Since I will be busy most times.
Pretending she didn’t care, “who?” she asked nonchalantly.
Hanifah was an Islamic teacher before she started working at the company, maybe she will be willing to put you through when she is free
“Hanifah?” She raised her brows sceptically “who is that?”
He looked at her to see if she was joking, when it appeared she was serious, he said, “do you remember the girl you wanted fired that day at the office? That’s Hanifah.”
“What is it with you and that girl?” she fired up instantly. There was something dangerous about her voice now. “Besides, isn’t she in Abuja? You expect her to come all the way here just to teach me? Or is it that you have something else in mind? She eyed him suspiciously.”
Not even getting her implied meaning, he replied, “Hanifah is here in Kaduna, she works at the company, we were transferred here together actually.”
“I don’t want her” she said angrily, “find somebody else.”
“There is nobody I know other than her, she is very knowledgeable and very patient may I add, if you really want to change, you have to put up with it,” he said.
She started to argue but stopped, “if I don’t like her, you will regret it.”
He just laughed, “you threaten too much Risha, not everything can be achieved through force you know.”
“So far, so good,” she answered, getting back to her food.
“So far, so wrong” he countered. They ate in silence.
* * *
“You are a lot more different from what I expected,” Hanifah smiled at her as they finished their lessons for the day.
“What did you expect?” Risha asked her suspiciously.
“Well, I heard so many things about you, really awful things. And after that day at the office, I started to believe some of them myself,” She said.
“And now?” Risha asked smiling a little.
“Well, you are not that bad” Hanifah said winking at her.
They both laughed
Hanifah had been taking her lessons on Islam for almost two weeks now. They had these lessons only on Saturdays and Sundays, but still Risha was making great progress. At the beginning, she treated the girl with so much contempt and scorns, but even for someone as crazy as Risha, she found it quite hard to stay angry at Hanifah. She had such a friendly way about her and her patience just like Farhan said was almost super-human. Despite everything Risha did to annoy and upset her, she took it in a friendly and matured way, sometimes, it made Risha feel silly when Hanifah just smiled or made a joke about something cruel she said or did to her. So, despite herself, Risha found that she was beginning to really like the girl. She was her age mate but Hanifah treated her like a big sister Risha found herself looking forward to the weekends when Hanifah would visit. Hanifah had a way of making everything fun, she was not the type with the read all, cram all ideology. Sometimes, they would just discuss and chat about the topics they touched. On some occasions, she even used movies to make her point and she never scolded, she preferred to show Risha the error of her ways through introspection. So, most times, she just asked leading questions, letting Risha fill in the Gaps with her own ideas, so doing, coming most times to her own truth. When she didn’t agree with something Risha said, she would sympathise with her point of view, then present hers in the most logical ways possible, leaving Risha to choose for herself. And the results were tremendous, even Risha despite her stubbornness was forced to admit to herself that she was making reasonable progress. She was beginning to read the Quran again, and slowly beginning to regulate her daily prayers. Deep down, she knew she was changing and she liked it a great deal, but she refused to say this out.
“You know, you are different from what I expected also,” Risha said. “When Farhan first recommended you, I hated him for it, I only accepted because I had no choice.”
“And now?” Hanifah asked winking.
“Hey, don’t push your luck too far.” Risha warned jokingly.
Again, they both laughed.
“I have to say you have surprised me at what fast learner you are.”
“You praise too much.”
“It’s true,” Hanifah told her honestly.
“I still want to improve a lot” Risha said, “there is someone I want to become like.”
“Who?” Hanifah asked.
“Farhan” Risha said simply
Hanifah looked at her, a strange expression came into her eyes, but it was gone instantly. “He is quite something isn’t he?” She smiled at Risha, “you know, to tell you the truth, he is the reason I am doing this, he has done so much for me, I can’t say no to him.”
Risha was silent for a few seconds, Hanifah started to feel she had offended her. But when she spoke, her voice was very gentle.
“You say you are doing this for Farhan and I understand, but now, I have a request, I would like you to do this for a different reason, as friend instead, as a sister. As she said this, her hands reached for Hanifah’s to hold them fondly.”
“I can do that” Hanifah said smiling.
“So, friends?” Risha asked a little hesitant.
“Sisters” Hanifah replied hugging her.
They both laughed happily.
“There is something else I want to ask” Risha said smiling, “can you cook?”
“Cook?” Hanifah chuckled, “I dabble a little,” she said.
“Can you teach me?”
“Sure, why not? I even attend a cookery class; would you like to join?” She asked.
“I would love that; I am tired of ordering food and eating snacks”
“Ok, don’t worry we will go together next time, so you can register.”
“Thank you so much,” Risha smiled truly pleased.
***
“Assalamualaikum,” Farhan announced as he stepped into the house.
“Hey!” She responded from where she was watching the television. She didn’t even bother to look up at him.
Coming to sit down, he smiled, she was sitting on the rug her attention totally on the TV. “You are supposed to say wa alaikum salaam,” he said dropping his briefcase and the nylon bag he was holding.
“Yes,” she replied not really listening to him, her attention still focused on what she was watching.
“I got you something,” he said indicating the nylon bag he was holding.
“Yea,” she said again absent minded.
Without another word he reached for the TV remote and turned it off.
“Hey, what did you do that for?” She snapped at him.
“Oh! Were you watching that?” He asked innocently.
“What do you want?” she asked unpleasantly, reaching for the remote. He smiled and moved it out of her reach.
“What?! What?!! What?!!!” She demanded.
“I offered salaams; you didn’t reply” he smiled.
“I did” she countered.
“You said Hi.”
“So, what?”
“You are supposed to say wa alaikum salaam wa rahmatullahi wa barakat, its compulsory you know”
“Wa alaikum salaam” she snapped, “is that all? Now give me the damn remote please.”
“Not so fast,” he said, still moving it further away from her reach as she reached for it.
“Listen…” she started angrily.
“I got you somethings” he said pointing at the nylon bag.
She stopped and looked at it. “What?”
“I mean I bought some stuffs for you,” he said.
“What is it?” She demanded looking at the nylon suspiciously.
“Check and see,” he said
Nonchalantly, she reached for it and opened it. “What is all these?” she asked as if she couldn’t see for herself.
“I got you a prayer mat, some interesting books, some durbab and a Quran with translation.”
Still looking at him suspiciously she asked, “why?”
“I thought you need these things” he said simply.
She looked at him deep in thought but said nothing
Trying to break the awkward silence that followed, he said, “is that food I see on the table?” Standing up, he tossed the remote her way and walked to the table, rubbing his hands together.
Without even waiting for her reply, he sat and pulled the plates closer, fried rice and chicken, he smiled and he reached for the spoon.
Risha watched him from where she sat, her face clouded with uncertainty as if she was struggling with some thought inside. Then she said, “stop, don’t it eat that,” he was just about to take his first spoon.
He stopped instantly and looked her way, “sorry?” He asked puzzled.
“Don’t eat that,” she said again, as she stood up and walked up to him, to his dismay she pulled both plates away and carried them to the kitchen leaving Farhan salivating and looking longingly at the plates as she carried them away.
He was about standing up, when to his surprise, she returned with two different plates of the similar contents.
“Eat this instead,” she said smiling at him.
Puzzled, he looked at her suspiciously, “what is wrong with the other one” he asked.
“Trust me, you don’t want to know,” a mischievous grin played on her lips.
Hearing this only made him more apprehensive. He looked at the food suspiciously but did not touch it.
She watched him for a few seconds noticing his hesitation, she laughed softly and without a word, she went to stand behind him bending over, she took a spoon full and ate it. As she did this, her hair fell over, its tip tickling his face. The contact startled him, but he didn’t move. The fragrance from her filled his senses, trying hard to breath, he smiled at her as she went to sit and reach for the remote.
Farhan was surprised at how much her closeness affected him, he found himself looking over at her before quickly looking away. Needing no more reassurance, he started eating. As he finished, she looked over at him and they both could not help but laugh at what both knew would have been a totally different outcome, had she not changed her mind. As they both laughed, he couldn’t help wonder at how familiar they were becoming.