Chapter 11

Deceptive World.

"What is the life of this world but play and amusement? But best is the home in the hereafter, for those who are righteous. Will ye not then understand?"

(Surah Al-Ankabut, Aaya 64)

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The world has a decisive influence on all human beings, whether young or old each person is involved in the rat race of this world. A world filled with temptations alluring us to persue and venture these temptations. A world filled with mutiny, revolt, rivalry and controversy. A world that seduces us with its glitter and glamour, a world that portrays to us modern day thinking, deceives us by assuring us that we will find success if we follow our whims and concede to the wishes of those who portray a 'perfect life'. A life that consists of fame, money, music, gambling, immodesty, adultery and following ones whims and desires. A life that has no straight path, a life that deviates us from Islaam and encourages us to abandon our religion's beautiful teachings, a life wherein immodesty is applauded and modesty is ridiculed, a life wherein there is no true purpose, a life that is lived to please the rest of the world and not our Creator.

How unfortunate we are, that we wish to persue all these deceptions, we wish to achieve the 'success' of the world, but we have forgotten our true purpose and existence on this earth. What about the hereafter? What about our final abode?

If we follow the straight path and obey the commandments of Allah Ta'allah, Allah SWT promises us an abode of peace, contentment, beauty, an abode with never ending happiness, and abode wherein there is no sorrow and no grief, no war and no death, no sadness and no tears, no sickness and no discomfort, an abode in which we will live forever. Jannah, an everlasting abode of eternal peace, yet we still foolishly hanker after the world and dance to its deceptive tunes.

We live in the world as if we will live forever, working and toiling for success of this world but neglecting the toil for the hereafter. How can we ascertain that we will achieve success in the next world when we haven't toiled hard enough to deserve success in the hereafter. Allah SWT is The Most Merciful, no doubt, but this does not give us the right to take advantage of Allah's mercy and live our lives breaking His commandments and then still wish to be entered into Jannah.

We should definitely hope for the mercy of Allah, but it is imperative upon us to also fear Allaah at the same time. A true believer lives between hope and fear, he who hopes in the mercy of Allah SWT, but at the same time he fears the punishment of Allah SWT. A true believer carries out good deeds to the best of his ability and stays away from evil deeds to the best of his ability, but still remains humble and regards himself to be the most sinful infront of Allah SWT.

Daily we have reminders from Allah SWT in every form, we have the teachings of our Prophet صلى ألله عليه و سلم and his warnings, yet we still do not take heed. Alas, how unfortunate we are!

Raeesa was once a devoted Muslimah, she tried her best to follow the teachings of Islaam, she aimed to become even better than what she was, she was firm on her deen and modesty was her motto, but unfortunately like how each person sways off the right path at times , a few years ago she swayed as well. She became so engrossed in her new career, so lost in fulfilling her dreams, so concerned about succeeding in her job that she began slacking in her religious duties.

She wasn't always such an incorrigible and implacable person , there was a time when she would accept advice, but now she refused to pay heed to anyone, not even her own husband. Slowly, but surely she began succumbing to her nafs , allowing the deceptive waves of the world to envelope her, to snatch her into its claws. She began drowning in the love of the world and becoming negligent regarding the hereafter.

Uthmaan's biggest concern was, would she completely drown in darkness and be left in despair, or will she be saved before her time in the world lapses?

Her Sissy boy heels echoed on the marble tiles as she walked towards the lift, her designer handbag swung from her left arm, a cup of steaming coffee held in her right hand, the long sleeve royal blue, Guess dress that she wore , clung to her body, showing off her voluptuous figure. Instead of tying her scarf the way she usually did, she tied her scarf into a turban with the assistance of a you tube tutorial, she was chuffed with herself, atleast her pretyy silver and royal blue earrings could be seen dangling beautifully from her ears.

She knew Uthmaan would freak out if he saw the way she was dressed, he didn't approve of fitting clothes, neither did he approve of the turban that she had worn today. She could already imagine him giving her lecture about how modesty is a branch of faith, that women should wear clothing that covers the body and not clothes that are wrapped around the body and that the turban is not acceptable in Islaam as it reveals the entire neck and Allah SWT mentions in the Quraan that even the chest should be covered.

She rolled her eyes as she stepped into the elevator, smiling at a few of her colleagues that were happy to see her back at work. She already knew all of that, Uthmaan needed to chill a little, it's not like she had bad intentions when she dressed up, she didn't do it to gain attention from the opposite gender, she dressed the way she did to keep up with the latest fashion and newest trends, to compete with the other women, she didn't want to feel left out, just because she was a Muslimah. She also wanted to enjoy her life and live it to the fullest, atleast she was still dressed decently compared to many others, she didn't show too much of skin, she wore fitting clothing sometimes but she was still covered! When she was older she would dress modestly, the way Uthmaan wanted her to dress, anyhow when she was odler she probably wouldn't even be proud to dress the way she currently did, she would be all wrinkled and parts of her body that she was proud to show now would sag then , maybe she would put on weight or lose alot of weight, both of which she didn't think was attractive, so covering up would be the best option then.

For now she just wanted to enjoy her youth, bask in the attention she got from women who praised her choice of clothing and smile in triumph at the envious glares she received from some women who felt like she was stealing the spotlight. She loved the attention she received once she began dressing differently from the way she used to dress initially.

When Raeesa stepped into their designing room, Basheera hadn't even noticed. She was so engrossed on the dress that she was working on , her lips were set into a grim line, the way it always was when she was occupied with something important, her eyes were pinned to the diamante on which she smothered abit of glue, before carefully sticking it onto the neckline of the dress. She stepped back, her gaze swept from the top of the dress to the bottom, a frown of dissatisfaction appeared on her face, suddenly, she yanked the belt away from the dress, throwing it onto the floor in frustration.

"This stupid dress! I've been working on it the whole week and it's still doesn't look like how I envisioned it to be! Useless Basheera!"
She stomped her foot on the ground, then collapsed onto the ground.

Raeesa was stunned when she buried her face in her hands and began crying

Wow ! She wondered what must be bothering Basheera, she never cried for such trivial things. She was either missing her best friends presence or it was something else all together.

Raaesa placed her bag on a nearby table, that was scattered with scraight pins and pieces of various matterial.
She dropped besides Basheera, enveloping her into a side hug.

Basheera immediately pulled away, panicked by the sudden presence of another human being. She relaxed when she saw who it was, if she was in the right state of mind, she would have asked Raeesa what she was doing here, but instead she hugged her, her eyes spilling another bout of tears.

After she had calmed down, dried her tears, blew her now blocked nose and tied her tousled scarf neatly once again. Raeesa enquired what was bothering her.

Basheera sighed. She knew she was being silly for crying this way, no sensible girl would cry rivers for such a thing, forget jumping with joy, she would sprout wings and fly with joy.

Then again was she ever sensible? Ofcourse she would cry like it was a major catastrophe that had transpired, then again it would be a major catastrophe, she didn't want history to repeat itself.

"My life is ruined Raaesa!"
She sniffled.

"What's the matter Bahsi, you're worrying me now."
Raaesa held Basheera's hand, concerned about her friend, what could be bothering her so much?

Basheera's teary gaze met Raeesa's concerned gaze.
" I received a marriage proposal!"

Raaesa sighed in relief then rolled her eyes. She squeezed Basheera's hand.
"You silly girl! You really scared me, I thought it was something serious!"

Basheera yanked her hand out of Raaesa's firm grasp.

"This is serious, okay!"
She lifted her chin in defiance, not meeting Raeesa's amused gaze.

"Why, did you receive a proposal from a wrinkly old man, who has a barbeque pack and false teeth?"

"Barbeque pack?"
Basheera questioned, confused.

Raaesa giggled.
"Yeah, ya know not a fit man with a six pack, a man with a barbeque pack, meaning a fat belly!"

"Ohh!!"
Basheera laughed, shaking her head.

"No, actually it's from a young guy, your husband's and my brother's friend to be specific."
Basheera grumbled.

"Oooh lala , which friend?"
Raaesa enquired, wiggling her eye brows.

"Their close friend, Khubaib."

Raeesa whistled in amusement.
"Haa, who would have thought he had a thing for you. He was always the shy guy, since our school days."

Basheera glared at her.
" I don't think he had a 'thing' for me,I think Bilaal was instrumental in this proposal."

Raeesa shrugged.
"Well whatever, so what ya gonna do? Accept the cute guy and make him the happiest man alive or reject him and break his heart?"

Basheera smacked her arm.
"Shame on you!  You're a married woman and you're speaking about another guy that way! Uthmaan will flip, if he hears that."

Raaesa grinned.
"He would probably fall unconscious, then gain consciousness again and give me a long bayaan on lowering my gaze, but you gotta admit from the three of them he is the most good looking. "

Basheera's eyes widened.
"Astaghfirullah, you are such a haraam person!"

"Is someone feeling abit possessive about her hubby to be?"
Raeesa teased, wiggling her brows.

Basheera narrowed her eyes at her.
" I always wonder how you still have eyebrows, they supposed to have fallen off a long time ago because of the amount of times you wiggle them."

Raeesa wiggled her eye brows once again and began clapping her hands.
"My Bashi baby is getting married."

"Oh what delightful news that is , congratulations Bashi baby! Hopefully you move far away so that I don't have to endure the torture of your boring lectures and be frozen by your icy glares!"
Mr Seth stated, walking into the room uninvited and closing the door behind him.

Raeesa laughed, Mr Seth grinned in return and Basheera stood up abruptly, a grim look replaced her initial jestful expression.

"Do you only barge into our privacy or are you generally this ill mannered?"
Basheera questioned coldly.

Raeesa stiffled a laugh and Mr Seth quirked a brow in amusement.

"Why would you accuse a gentleman like me for being ill mannered?"

She turned her back to him, picking up the belt from the floor, she tied it around the dress again.

"Well , you didn't knock before you came in!"
She pointed out.

"Actually I did knock, but you two were so busy celebrating your upcoming wedding that you both didn't hear!"
Seth defended.

"So you decided to walk in without permission, what was so urgent that you couldn't come back later?"

Basheera enquired, her back still facing him. She scanned the dress, pretending to be busy, she added glue to some of the diamnates that she hadn't stuck properly, re adjusting them. She was so distracted for the past three days , due to her distraction she was doing her work inadequately and this was frustrating her, she just wanted to chuck the dress out of the window right now!

Seth smirked at Raeesa.
"Well , I heard that the lovely Ray was back at work and I was overjoyed, I couldn't contain my excitement , I had to see her."

"I can't say she feels the same way."
Basheera stated icily.

"If it weren't for this hot girl in the room..."
Seth paused then pointed at Raeesa, causing her cheeks to colour in embarrassment.

"The temperature in this room would drop rapidly because of your icy glares and cold behaviour!"

Basheera sneered.
" Get lost before I really freeze you with my gaze then burn you to death! Raeesa is married have some shame !"

He chuckled.
" You know, if you were not so religious and God conscious I would have hit on you instead, I really admire feisty woman!"

Before he could utter another word, he saw her flinging a roll of cotton at him, he watched amazed as it flew straight towards his forehead, bouncing off his forehead, it landed on the wooden floor with a light thud.

Raeesa burst out laughing and Seth whirled around, he hurriedly strode out of the room before she became more violent and threw something bigger at him.

As he walked out he noticed Mr Simmons walking towards the room he just left.

"Be sure to knock and only enter when you are given permission, Mr Simmons!"
Seth yelled as he pressed the button for the elevator.

Mr Simmons glanced at him confusedly, but nodded nonetheless.

"I wouldn't want you to be a victim of Miss Kareem's violence, that is why I give you this advise."

Mr Simmons laughed.
"You're always getting on the poor girls nerves."

"Ah yes, it's very entertaining to see her riled up. You should try it some time!"

Mr Simmons disgareed.

" No thank you Mr Seth, I would like to keep my head."
Saying that, he knocked on the door.

"What do you want now, you jerk!"
Basheera strode towards the door and opened it witn such force, Mr Simmons thought it would fall off its hinges.

Her face was flushed with anger.

He took a step back and she gave him an apoplectic look.

"Uh, um I'm sorry if I am intruding Miss Kareem. I just came to inform you that the boss has a new important order that he wishes for you and Raeesa to design, he had requested that you both meet him in his office as soon as possible."

Basheera nodded.
"I'm sorry for yelling at you Mr Simmons, I was unaware that it was you and thank you. Please inform him that we will be in his offie right now."

Simmons smiled.
"It's a pleasure Miss Kareem. Have a good day."

He turned around, choosing to use the stairs instead of the elevator.

Basheera sighed in irritation.
"Why can't Mr Seth be like him!"

As they walked towards the elevator, Basheera grumbled about Mr Seth and Raeesa listened with a small smile playing on her lips.

It felt so good to finally be back to her old routine, where Basheera would sketch a design and she would bring the sketch to life with her professional and unique touch and together they would create glamarous outfits that people would swoon over.

The wind whizzed past him, as he opened the door for the nanny and bid her farewell. He shut the door behind him, then pushed the pram into the kitchen, fixing himself a quick sandwhitch for supper.

It was almost Maghrib time, which meant Raeesa would be home any minute. He was not going to play the over loving and extremely understanding husband role anymore, for she had taken advantage of his kindness. He had decided not to go to work as he didn't trust the nanny with his child, she was still new and she had never been left alone with his angel , he was also livid , so he had thought it would be better not to go to work and ruin everyone else's moods once again.

He was beyond angry with Raeesa, she didn't care that their child would be left with a nanny who they were not sure they could trust, neither did she care about preparing meals for him when she was at work before and he knew she would expect him to forgive her in a blink of an eye and probably prepare supper for them as well, but he would not.

She needed to understand that he was not preventing her from doing her dream job, he didn't mind if she worked from home, that way she could see to their daughter and if she wanted to still keep the nanny, by all means she could. He was preventing her from abandoning their child when it wasn't imperative for her to work, when she had no reason to leave her alone in the presence of a stranger. He was mad at her for putting her own selfish needs above their daughter's needs.
He strongly believed that if a woman wasn't forced to work and her husband earned well, she should see to the upbringing of the children, for no nanny would do it the way a mother would.

Just as he rinsed his plate and glass and placed it on the dish rack , he heard the lock of the front door turning. He immediately picked up sleeping Munnawara and walked briskly up the stairs , not bothering to greet Raeesa or spare her a glance.
She hadn't noticed that he had ignored her, as her eyes were fixed upon the screen of her phone, her fingers typed furiously, she was discussing her plans for the weekend with Basheera.

She dumped her bag onto the couch, flung her phone beside it, then untied her turban from her head, draping the scarf on the couch. She walked into the kitchen, hoping to find some food. When she found nothing, she glanced at the time, then decided to order Romans Pizza.

She strode up the stairs, praying that Uthmaan wasn't too angry, but oh boy she was way too hopeful, Uthmaan was beyond angry. She had never ever witnessed the peak of his anger before and today was the day she would see another side of her husband.

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Nafs - carnal desires.

Bayaan - lecture