N i n e t e e n
This one is for habibty11
:)

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Also, Lubbaina suggested we should have cast members. Do you want that?

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When you're going through something hard and wondering where Allah is, remember a teacher is quiet during a test.

-Nouman Ali Khan-

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Mashal

I didn't see Sanan after our small 'talk' in the morning. Not that I wanted to. I kept my mind off him and the story that he told me. It was way too much for my nerves. It was something so private, a hidden aspect of Sanan's life and I couldn't fathom why he would tell me that.

He said that we would be going to Syria today and I thought by 'we' he meant the whole camp but turned out, he only meant me and him.

I didn't know this when I was praying Maghrib alone, while the women were out preparing dinner.
I was praying, completely engulfed in the surah that I was reciting. The door opened and then closed again but I didn't give any thought to it as I was engrossed in my salah.
I was reciting surah Fussilat because it always prevents me from being ungrateful.

"Man does not get tired of asking good (things from Allah), but if an evil touches him, then he gives up all hope and is lost in despair." I recited this verse out loud because this was the one which always saved me.

Then I bowed down and finished my three rakats. As I stood up, folding the blanket I had used to pray on, I heard someone say something from behind me. I turned around in horror, knowing that it was Sanan's voice.

He was standing there with his large arms crossed over his chest, staring at my every move. "Was that Quran you were reciting?" He asked softly.

"Yeah....I mean did you expect me to sing a one direction song in my salah?"

What did I just say? I'm an idiot.

Sanan looked unfazed by my sarcastic reply, still staring at me with his steel like gaze.
That is when I realised, I wasn't wearing my niqab. I panicked, quickly turning my face away to the opposite direction as if I was on fire.

"If that was because of your veil, then let me be honest, I have already seen you last night." He stated as soon as I turned away.

I knew that! He did see me. It was impossible for him not to see me. I felt guilt rise in me. If I hadn't gone out at nigh-

"So that surah...." He began speaking again, interrupting my thoughts. "What were the last verses about?"

So that means he was was watching me praying. This is such a breach of privacy! I need to get out of here as soon as possible.
And even though I had been ignoring this nagging thought for a while, I have to accept it now that the only reason I'm calm here is because I know Zeyara will come to my escape.

Like he always does.
The thing bothering me though is, Why. Is. He. Taking. So. Long?

Oh no! What if he decided to stop caring about me after the way I treated him and called him a liar?

Sanan cleared his throat to get my attention again. I had totally forgotten that he had asked me something.

"It was Surah Fussilat...." I trailed off, recalling the surah in my head. I was still facing away from him so I used my excess headscarf to cover my face and looked at him to have a proper conversation. "Allah is telling us how we always ask Him for good things such as wealth, a long life, love but when we get a single bad thing, we forget all the good things and become depressed as if good will never happen to us again and as if Allah is not watching, as if He doesn't love us and will not take away our grief. Its like seeing a thousand roses and not smiling but only seeing one thorn and crying."

Sanan was carefully hearing my words with his full attention. He didn't even blink once until I had finished my long explanation. He was like a student in his favourite class. His face was intense and full of an emotion I couldn't recognise.

However, as soon as I finished, his soft face changed back to the usual stern, emotionless look.

"Good. Now if you're done praying your extra long taraweeh, we have to reach Syria to activate those bombs and kill the-"

"That was not taraweeh!" I frowned interrupting him.
Seriously, if he thinks my prayer is long, he should see Zeyara praying.

"Yeah sorry. Even longer than taraweeh." He muttered, rolling his eyes. "Move now!" He bellowed, reminding me that he was a terrorist and I was his captive.

I think I had totally forgotten that.

"So you could use those nuclear weapons? Think about it yourself Sanan. Do you think that is right?" I asked with eyes full of hope.

I had seen kindness in Sanan, I knew he had a heart. If only he could understand that what he is doing is wrong.

His eyes blazed up in rage. "Don't teach what is wrong and what is right! Move now or I'll be forced to use my weapon." He spat with gritted teeth, causing me to tremble, thinking of the consequences.

I did as he said, moving out of the door which he had held open, into the open sky. Everything was normal out there; the same pyre of wood in the centre and the women cooking on it, the terrorists scattered all around, talking, laughing, drinking and practicing with their weapons. Everything, except the helicopter at the far end of the camp.

Seriously?
A helicopter?

"This way." Sanan ordered me, pointing towards the path that led to the helicopter.

I stopped and looked at him in disbelief. "How on earth do terrorists get helicopters?"

He looked at me amused, as if I had just lost my mind. "We have our own suppliers. And don't call me a terrorist again."

Suppliers?
"Like Donald Trump?" I asked, raising my brow expectantly. I mean yeah....who else would fund terrorists?

Sanan glared at me, giving me a look which said, 'not another word now.'

His glare was so deadly and he looked so furious that I couldn't help but shut up and continue walking towards the helicopter.

Where are you sheikh?

"Get in."

I obeyed him knowing I had no other option and moved into the helicopter. I knew it was a grave time and I shouldn't have been thinking of having fun but it was my first time in a helicopter. I rushed over to take the window seat.

Sanan came in after me quickly and glanced at me, telling me to buckle up. Groaning, I obeyed that order too.

Gradually the helicopter rose up, it went vertically up just like a lift.

At that time, the sky was a dark blue shade with tiny flecks of pink and orange. My eyes drifted to the sun setting at the horizon. The last orange rays of the sun were making mine and Sanan's face glow orange. It was so beautiful. There's just something different about the skies at Maghrib and fajr.

Sanan had put on some kind of headphones which I guess were mandatory for all pilots. He couldn't hear me and I was getting bored, sitting there doing nothing so I decided to recite surah Shams.
Just because I was seeing the shams in front of me.

بسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ

وَالشَّمْسِ وَضُحٰٮهَا
"By the sun and its brightness"

وَالْقَمَرِ اِذَا تَلٰٮهَا
"And [by] the moon when it follows it"

وَالنَّهَارِ اِذَا جَلّٰٮهَا
"And [by] the day when it displays it"

وَالَّيْلِ اِذَا يَغْشٰٮهَا
"And [by] the night when it covers it"

وَالسَّمَآءِ وَمَا بَنٰٮهَا
"And [by] the sky and He who constructed it"

وَالْاَرْضِ وَمَا طَحٰٮهَا
"And [by] the earth and He who spread it"

I was just too absorbed in my recitation, oblivious to my surroundings. I had already recited half of the surah when I looked towards my right at Sanan.

I gasped to see his teary face.

He had his headphones off and he was staring at me, with a complete loss of words and his mouth agape.

I was too shocked, not knowing what to say or do. I sat there staring back at him.
Suddenly his lips parted and he spoke, making me lose my breath;

وَنَفْسٍ وَّمَا سَوّٰٮهَا
"And [by] the soul and He who proportioned it"

فَاَلْهَمَهَا فُجُوْرَهَا وَتَقْوٰٮهَا

"Then inspired it to understand what is wrong and (what is) right for it,"

When he reached this verse, he kept on repeating it while I was still lost in his breathtaking voice.

"Then inspired it to understand what is wrong and (what is) right for it,"

"Then inspired it to understand what is wrong and (what is) right for it,"

"This.....bombing people cannot be right." He muttered finally, staring ahead at the sun. His voice was still laden with tears.

This was the second time I had seen a terrorist cry.

I smiled a little to myself when those words escaped his lips. Yes, there's good in everyone of us. Even when our hearts get covered by the filth of our sins, Quran can pierce through that hard cover and reach the soft spot.

Such are the words of my Lord.

"Sanan how do you know this surah?" I asked slowly, not wanting to wake him up from the spiritual trance that he was in.

"I...used to be a hafiz." He answered, still lost in the words of Allah.

"Mashallah!" I mused, my eyes glistening with the newly formed tears.

"What have I done?" He asked to no one in particular with horror all over his face.

"I've killed people!" He shrieked, this time he looked at me with his red eyes. "Mashal I.....I killed people!" He put his hands in front of him and glanced at me in panic. "I killed people with these hands thinking it was right!"

I was about ro reply when the helicopter somehow lost its balance, tilting to a side, it started going downwards, probably to crash.
I immediately realised the reason of that, it was Sanan who was driving the helicopter and now that he wasn't using his hands-

"Sanan! Your hands, the helicopter!" I screamed, trying to stay balanced in my seat.

My words snapped him out of his regretful state and brought him back to the real world. Swiftly, he grabbed the helicopter controls again and turned it back to balance it.

"Alhamdulillah." I sighed, relieved that we were now safe.
Sanan however, didn't look relieved at all. His eyes were still wet and face damp. He wasn't saying anything, just staring away in front of us.

"Are you okay?" I asked him a little while later.
He just nodded, without glancing at me. He was too lost in his own thoughts to say anything.

An hour passed like that, me sitting there as he piloted the helicopter. The sun had set completely now and darkness had now surrounded us like an infinite envelope.

"Sleep. Two hours are still left." He whispered, finally breaking the silence between us.

I took this chance to look at his face. His eyes were still red and puffy. His face looked exhausted and begging for mercy. It was kind of funny how a single verse effected him "You need sleep more than I do." I confessed.

"I don't deserve sleep." He replied dully, "And I need to keep on driving."

"Sanan....where are we going?"
I was genuinely confused now. If he had decided not to activate the bombs, then why was he still going to Syria?

"Syria."

"Do you still want to-"

"No." He murmured. "I'm going to surrender to Alnihayya."

A slight smile made its way to my lips. He had actually changed.

Contended that he wasn't going to do anything suspicious, I let myself fall asleep. I don't know why I had began trusting him, but I had.

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The downwards descent of the helicopter woke me up two hours later. My eyes blinked momentarily, adjusting to reality and then I scanned my surroundings.

On my left, Sanan was carefully handling the helicopter controls for a smooth landing and on my right, from the window, I could tell, even though it was dark that we were landing on rough rugged rocks.

Probably a Syrian mountain.

"Why here?" I asked instinctively.

He glanced at my direction for a second. "You woke up?" He asked in his slightly better voice than before. Time healed him a bit. "Yeah we're landing here. Do you want a helicopter with ISIS logo on it to land in the middle of the city so people could kill us?"

Oh yeah. Sanan was still officially a terrorist.

The helicopter met the ground finally and Sanan turned it off. The annoying sound of its rotating blades finally died out, leaving us in peace.

"Mashal..." He spoke, getting my attention and I faced him. The way that he had pronounced my name, focusing on each syllable made my stomach churn. That was a very weird feeling.

"When I first saw you, I expected you to wail at my coming, fall to the floor and beg for mercy just like any other woman would. Instead I was confronted with a women who had stood and defended herself.....and changed me in the process. Changed me completely. Please, please I know Allah loves you. Would you please ask Him to forgive me." He was speaking in a soft deep voice, with his angular face facing me.
Every word was so full of emotion.

I was going to argue about If I had been able to defend myself, how did I end up here and also that Allah is the most Merciful and He would surely forgive.

Just then the sound of gunshots filled the air. Startled, I looked around to the source of that sound.

Someone had fired multiple times on the helicopter door, causing it to fall off. Fear rose in my throat as men dressed in black commando pants which looked so familiar, stepped into the helicopter, armed with rifles and snipers.

As soon as they stepped inside, they shot once again. Everything was happening so quickly. I squeezed my eyes shut in fear, thinking that the bullets were going to hit me but when I heard a scream from my side, I gasped in horror.

My eyes opened in panic and fled over to Sanan who now lay motionless on his seat with a bullet on his shoulder, one on his abdomen and one on his leg.
Blood oozed out of the fresh wounds as he struggled to breathe.

"Sanan!" I squealed, my voice even more sharp than the gun shots.

This could not be happening.
This could not be happening.

I got up from my seat hastily, attempting to move closer to him but before I could do so, someone stepped in the space between me and Sanan, blocking me off.

"Move away!" I scremead, still caught up in my intense emotions. I was just about to push that person away when he spoke and his voice made me go stiff.

"Mashal calm down. You're fine now."

"Z-Zeyara" I barely mouthed looking up at him.
It indeed was Zeyara with his curls and dark beard. His dark eyes stared back at me and he smiled as if he had done a really good job.

Contrary to his expectations I shook my head violently "You and your men shot him! He's gonna die. He needs help!" I pleaded, my voice loud and clear even though my eyes had started tearing.

Zeyara looked at me baffled. "Mashal he's a terrorist." He stated coldly in an air of despair.

"He's not! Please help him!" I begged in a softer tone this time.

He stared at me in disbelief for a second but my eyes kept on pleading so he couldn't resist. He finally gave in and ordered his men. "Give him immediate medical assistance. Don't let him die. I repeat. Don't let him die."

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This would be unexpected I guess. 😂

Oh and guys you know what? Two students from my college were stabbed outside the college. There was a huge crime scene!
But I got the day off so I'm happy.

Have a happy day!

-Muskaan