Bismillahi Rrahmaani Rraheem.

My Lovely readers.. I hope you are in best state of health and faith.. and if Not.. May Allah cure your hearts and ease your affairs.

As I write today on 10 May 2018, one of my close friends is seriously ill.. She is in pain SubhanaAllaah.. I beg you to please remember her in your dua's

That.. May Allah grant her cure, remove her pain, grant her and her family swabrun jameel. I pray that she reaches Ramadhan in sound health and faith. Ameeen.

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Tasneem was talking to her husband Aliy in their sitting room as they were having dinner. The couple had both agreed that eating on the floor was much better and cuter, so they left the dining table for guests only. After all it is considered as sunnah.

And it was narrated that the prophet may peace be upon him said: "I eat as a slave eats and I sit as a slave sits."

Categorized as saheeh by Albaani.

It was also narrated that Anas ibn Maalik said: "The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) never ate at a khiwaan or a sikrujjah, and he never had any soft bread." I said to Qutaadah: "What did he used to eat from?" He said, "A cloth (spread on the floor)."

(Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 5099).

A khiwaan is a kind of tray on which food is placed.

A sikrujjah is a vessel in which appetizers are placed.

Like the case in many families, there too, dinner was the only bonding moment, Ali's busy schedule made it hard for them to talk often. There was a moment where they had felt so distanced until their counselor suggested that come rain come sun always and always have dinner together.

Tasneem was a teacher at one kindergarten in their neighborhood whereas Aliy worked as a business manager in one of his father's shops. He was in charge of two of his shops which sold motor vehicles' spare parts and various machines. In addition to that, he had enrolled in an evening classes diploma course on business management. That explained how he came home very exhausted.

"One chapati only?" Tasneem felt hurt on his husband's new behaviors. "Come on! Add at least one more." He used to finish three.

"Habibty, am on diet, remember?" Aliy was avoiding her gaze, something he would do every time he was giving half-truths.

"Ok, then a half." She pleaded.

Aliy raised his eyes and looked at her. He needed to find that person who stated that wives were an accumulation of friend, sister, brother, buddy, mother and father all in one and give him a gift. That mother part was the truest of all.

Her eyes were pleading making it hard for him to resist. He held her hand giving it a soft brush. "Please my wife..." he hated to say it, but there was no other way out, "I can't."

'My wife' That term was only used when Aliy was in dead-serious mood. Tasneem started sniffing as if she was trying hard not to cry.

"All shall be well, habiby. Just trust Allah. Remember Tawakkul is trusting that Allah shall open a way for you, just as you trust the sun to rise after Fajr."

"Let us increase our Istighfar and decrease over thinking, cause Allah opens through istighfar (seeking forgiveness) doors which do not open through over thinking."

Several days back, Aliy had come home truly shaken. For the first time since they got married a couple of years back, Aliy refused to eat. That was when they had been growing apart, something that had a great effect on Tasneem.

Tasneem had asked him various times on what was troubling him, but he would tell her to just bear with him, and he would explain when all was solved, leaving Tasneem with no option but spending sleepless nights begging the Almighty to protect her husband.

"My wife.. Am really sorry for hiding this from you. I really thought I would be able to handle this. I was wrong." He came home one day and started narrating.

Tasneem knowing there was a long story following, decided not to interrupt.

"One of the shopkeepers had betrayed us and stolen a lot of money. He left us with a great debt to clear." He took a long silence, unsure how to go on.

"Can't you sue him or something?" She timidly asked.

"No. He was so clever that he left no proof. No clue."

"The debt is worth five thousand dollars. With a great risk of both the shops coming down. I have worked two years for this. Two years and when I am yet to eat the fruits of my hard work, he had to do this." One could feel how shattered his heart was from the way he spoke.

"Have Swabr my habiby. Allah is testing us. This is all part of His plans." Tears were already prickling her eyes.

"In Shaa Allah." He was determined to let out all the secrets to his wife. "When I told my parents about you, my dad's first instinct was to refuse. He told me he had not married any of his daughters to jobless irresponsible men and he wouldn't want that to happen to any of the daughters outside." Aliy was 20 then, quite a troublesome young lad and jobless.

"I pleaded to him to give me a chance and after my sisters succeeded in convincing my dad and my elder brother he placed conditions that I felt like the Hindu God asked to walk on fire."

"One, I had to take over any of his shops, he said nobody would want to employ me anyway.

Two, I had to get an education concerning business.

Three, he should never hear that I beg anyone for financial help. I used to spend from allowance I received from my sisters.

Four, the day I depend on your money is the day he is displeased with me.

His last words before I signed the nikah papers were, 'young man! Go against your word AND you shall never be able to bear the consequences.'" If Aliy, was an actor in some Bollywood movie, he would have been crying by then.

He pulled to her his side and embraced her very tight, resting his chin over head, as if her warmth had the capability of chasing all his doubts away. Tasneem was surprised, shocked and utterly touched, she had no idea her husband had undergone all that.

"I was willing and determined to have you. I have told you before, and will continue doing so as long as I live, I can never express my joy when you said yes, despite all the odds." The odds he referred to were; the age difference, 20 versus 24, jobless versus employed, religious versus nothing.

" I accepted the challenge 'you' being my main source of motivation." This time Tasneem was doing the hugging.

"Dad gave me his shop which I managed well the first few months, money was flowing in easily like I had never imagined, that made me greedy, I asked dad for a second shop with the excuse that I needed to fund for my education."

"All I did was a short certificate course only to convince him. Two months back, when I started to sense the loss in my business, with no idea where they came from, I quickly joined a diploma course as I regretted cheating on old man." Old man was how they all called their father.

"Stress and studies turned out to be a great toil. And that's how the distance came. Am sorry my wife."

"Noo. It's okay. There is nothing to apologize for, nothing at all." She caressed his face. There was nothing more painful than seeing those you love in pain.

"I am trying hard to be a perfect husband. An ideal one, but it's out of my control. There is my old man. I won't be able to face him if he finds out. He had warned me against trusting anyone with financial records."

"Allah has never left us." It was lovely how she treated his problems as hers.

"Today I received warnings from the stakeholders, the company whom we owe the money. And a deadline."

"Let's tell father then." Tasneem advised innocently.

"NO!" That was the last thing he wished. "No. No. Not just father, anyone in the family should not know. I vowed to take care of you, to provide for you, I vowed to be responsible. We cannot do this. You have no idea what pain this puts me through. And to think it's my own fault."

"What about Yahya?" That was his elder brother.

"It's not possible habibty. Telling him is as bad as telling old man."

"But..."

"I will take loan from a friend and pay them. Then my friend will give me a longer time to pay him back."

Tasneem broke from her chain of thoughts. He only managed to get a thousand and one hundred dollars, the balance was yet to be paid. That made Aliy busier as he started working overtime seven days a week. They both knew that was the reason why he wasn't eating well.

"Let's just tell father." She suggested that again and again receiving the same negative response. As he was about to sing his anthem, he was cut off, "Old man is a good man!" she shocked her husband by using the nickname, old man.

Aliy chuckled. The world must be ending, the good daughter-in-law Tasneem calling her father 'old man'.

"What? You too." He smiled, raising his eyebrows making Tasneem realize how badly he missed his smile.

"Just do it, please, habiby." With a weak smile, she never gave up on him.

"It's fine if he lets it out on you, he is your father! Not some random boss you despise. I will support you in whatever punishment he gives, and though I can't promise you, but I will do my best to persuade him to forgive you." She had heard how bad old man gets, when it came to punishing. She had seen the scars on his husband's back, yet she was willing to try. She laid herself on his thighs, as he massaged her temples.

"Go and have a bath, your pajamas are on the bed already. I will clean up and join you." As she said that with all love and care, Aliy's hurt was touched.

Despite his shortcomings, his wife never let him feel less of a man. Although in the past months he always came home tired, his wife always took good care of him and she would always give him that 'Wow. I am the man' feeling.

She ever gave him support and encouraged him. Today as she lied on him, he noticed how fragile she looked, how tired and how sad. She had always played brave as she believed Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala rewarded any woman who went to sleep with her husband pleased with her, and if she dies in that state Allah will admit him to Jannah.

The man's hoor L Ayn would curse any woman who was troubling her husband, saying that it is only a few days that he i.e the man would join her i.e the hoor, and that it makes them pretty upset that he has to suffer or bear with his wordly wife meanwhile. As jealous as she was, she was not ready to let the incompetent (in beauty) hoor to have an upper hand in that field.

As she lied there, it clicked Aliy on all that his wife persevered for his sake. Food had become scarce as he was trying to save as much as possible for the debt payment. And there was no earthly way he could feed from his wife's earnings nor pay the debt. His attention, his compliments, his care and his love. He had been such a horrible miser.

"Tell me about your days? How is school? How is Salma, Mama Husaynah?" Mentally scolding himself as he couldn't recall the last time he asked such questions.

"Uhmm.. How are mamma and baba?"

Tasneem had to hold back tears as those unexpected questions touched her so deep that her heart melted. "Alhamdulillah, nothing exciting." She was as bad in telling half truths as he was, or even worse. But how could he insist that she elaborates more, after all that he had done.

Time to rectify your mistakes. He thought to himself. "Tomorrow in sha Allah we will meet our old man, and spill it all out."

"Wallahy!?" Tasneem abruptly sat up not believing her ears. "Ooh thank you! Thank you habiby." He squeezed her cheek with his.

Encourage all single guys out there to marry fast! Where else would you screw up, be begged to rectify and receive a shower of hugs and kisses when you finally stop being kiddish and start acting mature. Only in Nikah land where Love is Halal. Aliy noted.

"Two, may I have the honours to do the cleaning, milady?" He bent and picked her palm in the most civilized way he could and placed a light peck, "please?" he ended with a twinkle in his eyes.

"No, sire. Your post is towards the bathroom." Gosh! Salma was right, she did suck in acting. Aliy giggled.

"Then allow me mademoiselle. Or should I say senorita?" Some Frenchish-Spanish demons in him had woken up, or were they angels? He got up and with one arm under her thighs and another below her head, he lifted his beloved towards their bedroom.

After getting Tasneem to promise that she won't go back and clean their mess, he entered the washroom and took a bath. Typical men style, instead of starting with the cleaning first.

Later on, he was dead sleepy. Right as he was preparing to sleep, Tasneem spoke, "Am not feeling sleepy." Aliy took some deep breaths. Nobody mentioned of a husband being a mother, sister, brother, father thing in one. A husband was a husband perhaps with an addition of friend. A dead sleepy husband was a husband only full stop.

"Habibty." He feared saying something like, 'let's talk' that will end up in him committing himself to stay awake more.

"Am thinking of Salma, poor girl." Wow. Girl problems was the last thing he wanted to hear. He had enough sisters to know what was going on in a woman's head when she referred to her friend as poor girl. A minimum of one hour was what it would need for her to be totally done with the sympathizing and pitying.

"Ooh Salma." He was still avoiding commitment.

"Yeah and Mama." You can't ignore Husaynah, his subconscious warned him. Husaynah being their counselor had been a great help in all the stress they have been going through as a couple.

"Is she not okay?"

"She is good, Alhamdulillah. But please, if you come across any potential husband tell me." She moved closer to him seeking some cuddling. "As for now, let's meet in dreamland. I know you are tired. Recite du'a and have some rest."

"I will tell you more tomorrow In Shaa Allah." Pheeeeew. Alhamdulillah.

Astounded by her loving caring act he prayed, "Oh Allah I praise and thank you for giving me such a beautiful, lovely, friendly, sweet, kind, amazing, smart, caring, trustworthy, cute..."

Before he finished, off he went to dreamland, unknowingly. Perhaps he would complete whatever he had been saying then when they would meet in dreamland.

Tasneem was beyond happy that her husband had agreed to face his father and apologize, she felt like Allah had lifted a heavy load off his chest. All thanks to the Almighty.

Since she was too happy to sleep, she took her phone to check on Salma. As she opened her Whatsapp, sliding to the right on the status bar, she spotted her husband's updated status. It read,

"Hellow singles, welcome to Nikah Land, where Love is free and halal."

Another one had a picture of red roses saying, "When I first met her, I knew there was something I needed from her. What I didn't know then was that, she, was all I needed. #my_princess"

Lastly, there was a short clip of their kitchen, and below it was written: Yo! Guys, Help your wives, it is sunnah. #DoItSoonNah?

She laughed at that as she replied to all his statuses. She especially loved this side of her husband's, the playful humorous side.

Back to her initial plan of texting Salma, she clicked her name.

Tas: Assalamualaykum..

Sallu: Waalaykumussalam.

Tas: ha ha! Little night runner, chatting huh? Are you done with your chores?

Sallu: *pretending am not shocked that a married woman is chatting this late.*

Get me married, so he does them chores for me, like someone I know. *the get me married is a big big joke :p*

Tas: Hahah. Sis.. you are crazy, you know that, ryt?

Sallu: Nah! Am I?

Taas: Hhhmmmmm...

Look, I learnt something new today, wanna hear?

Sallu: Yes sis! I'd love to.

Taas: Allah! He is indeed The Most Merciful. With each delayed response from a prayer we made, comes a great bundle of joy and immense happiness.

The longer you stay awaiting his mercy, the more you are happy when it finally happens.

And He is so generous, that you immediately forget how the days were before you were granted what you ask.

Sallu: SubhanaLlaah habibty, that's so true. I read this quote by Yasmin Mogahed, just a few minutes back:

Taas: Anha..

Sallu: In him, hope is never dead...

In him, love is never lost.

Taas: Allahu Akbar! That's so true.

Sis, never lose hope, all your troubles shall be solved, by The Wise and The Subtle.

Sallu: *smiling* In Shaa Allah ukhty. Jazaakillah kheyr for everything.

Taas: Ameen wa Iyyaki. May Allah protect your dad wherever he is. May you reunite soon. *hugging you tight.*

Sallu: Ameeen.. Ameen.. *not hugging you* My brother-in-law can have the honours. *tongue-out*

If you insist though, Salm-hug can be reserved for you.

Taas: Noooo way! I surrender. Lol.

*covering mouth with hands* Tomorrow in Shaa Allah sis.

Sallu: Yallah.. May Allah protect you and your loved one.

Taas: Ameen.

She did not wish to wait till sleep overtook her while chatting, as she was then attempting on completing all the before sleeping Adhkar (prayers). Something she was working on since the previous Ramadhan. So far, she had been good with the exception of Suratu Ssajdah, she would always doze off before reciting it.

Opening her Hisnul Muslim, down to the Before Sleeping Adhkar's section, she recited her prayers and eventually drifted off to a peaceful sleep.

Bismika Allahumma Amuutu wa Ahyaa.

O Allah in your name I die and I live.

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My friends... did you know that?

Babies are to breastfeeding whereas Growing writers are to feedback from their readers.

Comment for me please, I'd love to learn how to improve myself.

(@musinglyhigh Jazaakillah kheyr for the directions you gave me on how to improve.. You such a sweetheart..

Personally, I feel these last two chapters are kind of more matured)

Do you my readers???