Standing in front of almost hundreds of people and in total eight hundred people listening to me, for the first time I am nervous. I remember back in high-school I was used to be the most confident figure of the student body, never in my life I had prepared a speech and even then I have won huge amounts of award in my academic life be it school or auditorium in Yale, I have confidently stand up and talk in front of my office board where we discuss about our budgets and success but standing here in front of these people looking at me, expecting me to talk about and give them information about Islam, give them a speech related to Islam, my knuckles are turning white. When Abdullah bhai informed me or more like told me last Sunday evening that I have to speak today, I turned pale and pleaded him to call someone else but then he told me that there is no chance I am backing out because my name had already been given. I couldn't sleep that night, what are you suppose to tell some fresh minds about your religion when you are not yourself so sure, when you yourself are a beginner, I took the whole week gathering words, putting it in a paper and then putting it aside, this morning when I again went to apologize, he took me in a corner and ask to confidently tell about myself to them and that's what I have decided to do.

"Asalam O Alikum, brothers and sisters. I hope you all are good and are learning the beautiful messages our respected brothers and sisters gave, so firstly I'll take this moment to thank you Abdullah bhai and Brother Naeem for arranging this event and all the speakers to come and teach us and help us learning about our religion and guide us about what is wrong and right, secondly to all of you who take out time of their day and came here to learn, it's great to see so many young people and not so young even," I smiled a bit lightening up my tense mind earning a small laugh from kids in front row, " from every aspect of life, taking part and remembering about akhira in this rushed world.

"Okay so maybe a lot of you might know me, who have been here before but those who don't, I'm Wali Ahmed and if you are thinking I am already a speaker or I have spoke to a crowd like this before then I should apologize in advance because I have not, if you find any mistake while I'm speaking please just stand up and correct me, if you oppose to any of my statements you have complete right to object, because neither am I a perfect muslim who knows every aspect in great details of our religion nor I have prepared my speech I just decided to come here and do a face to face talk with you lot, and standing here looking at you all who are our future, most of you are younger than me most probably in schools and colleges and I clearly understand at this stage anyone talking more than two minutes in front of you is categorized as a boring person, am I right?" I stopped for few seconds to look at Abdullah bhai who was smiling at me and then at Irtiza who was in third row, smiling.

"Well today I have decided that instead of discussing about any specific topic I would rather tell you a story, and it's a real one and not just only real, it's about a person I know and share quite a lot of things with, and today we'll be looking in his life and I would like a bit patience and hope this story really helps you, The person is my friend with a difficult past and a troubled childhood, he was eleven when his parents got divorced and unlike rest of the children in this world that day was the happiest day of his life, now you guys will be thinking how is that even possible? well it is, because the sole reason of his childhood getting ruined, of him staying awake at night because of terrible nightmares was his own father, the person whose blood run inside his vein, when we look at our fathers, our old men, we found part of ourselves in them, because we know how much struggle they have done for us and we believe in their love but that boy only found coldness, hiding in basement since he was just three years old to save himself from his drunken father,"

"Excuse me?"

"Yeah." I turned to look at a boy almost sixteen to seventeen years old.

"Were they Muslim?" he asked me in a state of shock and my already white knuckles turned frozen and I simply nodded. "But how?"

"Well maybe because he never understood Islam." I weakly smiled and he sat.

"So the abuse continued on him and his mother, they couldn't tell anyone because firstly they were in different place from the rest of the family, secondly he was the reason at least they had something to eat, thirdly what a woman with a kid can do when most of the time they are locked in their house, years went by, the child prayed, his mother prayed but things weren't just working out, that became the first major step in him losing hopes in prayers, every night his father would bring any other woman in their house, that was the real torture, but a year before his parents parted, the major accident happened which resulted in their freedom, his mother started expecting another child that day both of them planned about escaping the place they called their home, but once again fate betrayed them all the duas never get fulfilled as his father came to know about his mother's condition and that day she faced the worst violence unlike other days though she lost her baby but the boy and his mother got a new home and a real family, he went to his maternal grandparents house, everything was becoming better, his mother re-married, this another man loved him more than a real father, but his father would visit him every night in the darkest hours, he would wake up screaming, no therapist nothing ever worked, his nanny asked him to offer namaz and Allah would help him, he did but no, nothing ever helped and now he was growing accustom to it, maybe because by now he lost all his faith in his God, in Allah, little did he know Allah test us to reward us, he was told he would get help if he bow his head down in sujood, but he was never told that he has to believe in his creator to have his confidence in Allah, that find his peace by focusing on his creators message, he was supposed to have faith and believe in it, to discover who he is, not to make his salah a get-away and obviously being a kid he was doing it selfishly, then like every other person he chose the easy way out, after high-school he decided to go to the university where he can't have influence from anyone in his life, where no one would know him, and he would re-start, he became part of the people who led him to his real disaster and he thought he was getting helped, four years of university was his real downfall, paryting, doing all haram and prohibited acts, in short what he thought was enjoying his life was becoming his biggest regret and during this he forgot his identity which resulted in freedom from his nightmare obviously that's what Allah says, shaitan beautifies our sin and we get dissolved in it,

"He was graduated from one of the best universities of US, he left his home and came to New York, a bachelor with a good paying job, what else does he need, he was having time of his life or that's what he thought, though a part of his mind would mock him now and then but he keep pushing it away but one day he got a call from his home, again his life was going to change but now for good," I smiled looking at the crowd who was quiet, looking at me intensely, And I was grateful to Allah for giving me enough courage to talk about myself without shaking, with a hope that it helps those who wants it.

"Before I continue the story I want all of you to remember one thing, remember the creator all the times, if you are going in sujood when you are in pain or when things aren't working out, don't forget to bow down in front of him while having the best time of your life, that's the mistake we do or let's say we are the most selfish beings, we start remembering him in our needs but what about all what he had given us without even us asking him?" I looked at them once again and found few of them nodding and then I looked at Abdullah bhai who gave me an appreciative look while Irtiza was giving me a confuse look, I am sure he have guessed who am I talking about.

" So coming back on the story, the call he got was from a hospital from his home town, he was informed about a accident, and he felt like the earth has slipped away from beneath him, both of his parents, his mother and his step-father or his dad were in hospital, his mother was in better condition but his father was in very critical condition, he took the first flight back home, the blood was drained out from his body, all his time he just did one thing or let's say whispered one thing 'Ya Allah I have been in enough pain I don't have a courage to lose them, Ya Allah, Ya Maalik, no doubt I have been the worst of sinners, Ya Allah just today for once accept my prayers, I am asking you, don't leave me khudaya, just for once and I'll chose your path, show me how merciful you can be.' He prayed, and maybe that was his chance, he went to the hospital his mother was out of danger but his father was still unstable, that day for the first time in his life he stepped inside a Masjid by himself, he cried in pain there, he prayed and he doesn't know how many hours he stayed there begging for his parents' life, asking his creator to accept his call, and Allah did not only grant his parent another life but also grant him another chance of recovery for his own soul, of finding himself in this lost world, he was still in Masjid when the Imam approached him and ask about his problem, hesitating first he decided to tell him the situation and he doesn't know what took over him that he confessed that he himself isn't a firm believer, he expected a very harsh behavior from the imam, or a loud call of Astaghfirullah from around him but NO, instead the imam smiled and said 'All this time you were looking at the religion how it was shown to you but you yourself didn't worked on discovering it, He is Allah, the creator he doesn't need your prayer, he has billions of Muslim bowing in front of him, my son, it's you who need him and when we need something we work till our last breathe to achieve it, so instead of going in sujood for your own self, for your need for once pray to get close to him, Have you ever read Quran and try to understand it?' He shook his head and Imam smiled and continued 'I know, right now you are not in the condition to concern on Quran but once your parents get healthier which In Sha Allah they will, I'll pray for them, try to discover Islam and get close to him for him, for knowing why you are being called a Muslim, what makes a Muslim, Muslim, it would be really hard in starting but I'll pray for you and Allah Subhanahu Wa-Tallah will help you my son.' He quietly listened to Imam and when once imam was gone he sat there thinking of how many time he has really prayed or even tried knowing Islam and a shiver run down his spine because the answer was in negative, the following day after Asr he was told that he could finally meet his mother and his father was out of danger and Alhamdulillah his parents doesn't have injury on any of their vital organs and in a month time they'll be fine, that night he went to home and for the first time he willingly picked up Holy Quran and let me tell you it took him more than one hour to find the holy book in his own home, he then went to his room and closing it, he sat and closed his eyes and opened the Quran with his eyes closed and as he felt the texture of the page, the first Ayat which got his attention was Ayat 268 of Surah Al-Bakrah, I'll tell you it's meaning if you don't know, "Allah does not impose on any self any more than it can stand. For it is what it has earned; against it, what it has merited. Our Lord, do not take us to task if we forget or make a mistake! Our Lord, do not place on us a load like the one You placed on those before us! Our Lord, do not place on us a load we have not the strength to bear! And pardon us; and forgive us; and have mercy on us. You are our Master , so help us against the people of the kafirun."" I swallowed the lump which was forming in my throat and I was grateful to my creator for picking me up and not letting me fall further in the darkness.

"Now I would conclude but before that I would like all of you to promise yourself, not to someone else but to yourself that if you have any doubt about Islam you'll question, you would not sit down thinking that what your parents, your friends, their parents, or the people in the Masjid you go would say you, because when Islam itself gave us the permission to ask question then no one has the power to stop us, Instead of following blindly and doing your usual reading pick up Quran and select a surah, go in detail and try to understand what Allah had said in that, we got Holy Quran more than fourteen hundred years ago, it's not in our native language not all of us can understand it, so let's start with small steps, let's see what we have been told in it, when we know that our Prophet (May peace and blessing be upon him) told us that the message in Quran is for every era than let's discover it. And I promise you that you would find help as if it's just for you in it."

I stepped down and gave the place to Naeem bhai, who patted my back and I went back to sit on my place and listen to him who was thanking to all the speakers and then when he turned to me, I nodded and mouthed JazakAllah and then after small dua the session was finally over, standing up I said salam to all the people and went to Abdullah Bhai where I found Irtiza waiting for me with him.

"Now was it too hard?" He looked at me.

"It wasn't that easy." I confessed with a weak smile.

"But look how much teenagers are looking at you and after Naeem informed about the tafseer classes, almost six students have already taken the form." He smiled.

"May Allah guide them." And with the final greetings Irtiza and I head out.

We reached to his car without speaking a word to each other, I leaned back on his car and he followed my suite while we wait for his wife to come out, I took out my cell-phone checking for any new notifications and finally my impatient friend broke the silence,

"It was you, wasn't it?"

"Wasn't it obvious?" I smirked.

"Man! I literally stopped breathing. Zulfiqar uncle-"

"Isn't my real father, yeah!" I chuckled looking at his face and then again silence, and I know him he was about to say something when Bhabi (brother's wife/ friend's wife) approached us.

"Wali bhai that was the most amazing thing I have ever listened, you wouldn't believe how many females were saying Masha Allah after you ended, and Khadija, Abdullah bhai's niece she was crying, I had never seen her in a stage she was in." Bhabi appreciated but one thing which forced me to look at her was the name she just said.

"Bhabi isn't it Fatima, Abdullah bhai's niece is Fatima I guess." I said or more like ask.

"No after I joined for the first time with Irtiza, I became friends with her and Fatima is what her family calls her, her real name is Khadija Fatima Badar." She said as it's just a normal fact and without knowing that with this little piece of information she just shook my world. She is here and she heard me. Would she believe me? Ya Allah! All those time when Abdullah bhai would talk about her niece he was actually talking about the girl I was searching for forgiveness, the niece who lost her parents is her! The niece who got betrayed be her own husband was HER! She was always here.

Ya Allah you kept her so close to me still I couldn't reach her.

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A.O.A

So finally we all know how Wali got changed from what he was and Khadija was here too!

Please give your feedback :) And if you are liking the story so share it with your friends, it would really mean a lot :)

And I also want to thank you guys for one more thing, Lost and Found had his highest ranking on November 09, 2015. Spiritual #292! so JAZAKALLAH KHAIR! ^_^
And yeah I like Sarwat Gillani as Khadija.

Same slogan,

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