This Ramadan, MuslimMatters reached out to our common (and not-so-regular) crew of writers asking them to share their reflections on numerous ayahs/surahs of the Quran, ideally with a concentrate on a selected juz – people who could have impacted them in some particular approach or have influenced how they strategy each life and deen. Whereas some contributors are well-versed in at the least a part of the Quranic Sciences, not all essentially are, however replicate on their selections as a approach of illustrating that our Holy Guide is approachable from numerous human views.
Introducing, A Ramadan Quran Journal: A MuslimMatters Collection
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Belief Fund and a Yellow Lamborghini
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By Wael Abdelgawad
The Fools
Amirah heard the automobile coming from a distance. It couldn’t be mistaken for every other automobile, as her brother’s Lamborghini uttered a growl like a tiger with its hackles up. She walked by way of the spacious foyer, preceded by the refrigerator-sized bodyguard, Bryce. Regardless of his bulk, he wore a fantastic go well with and walked with grace. She was paying him by the day for this short-term gig, and he wasn’t low cost. Not that it mattered a lot. $500 per day was a drop within the sea, however nonetheless, why be wasteful?
The foyer was embellished with vintage Arabic plates and hand-written copies of the Quran in glass circumstances. Bryce insisted on strolling forward of her always. The person was taking the job to extremes, and Amirah was getting irritated.
The hulking bodyguard swung open the huge entrance door and stepped out to face, cross-armed, in entrance of it. Amirah adopted. Their massive property had a protracted, winding driveway that got here up from the gate beneath, and right here got here the Lambo, hugging the curves, going too quick as all the time.
The smooth driving machine sped into the round driveway in entrance of the home and hit the brakes too late. On the final second the automobile swerved, sliding sideways into the round flower mattress on the heart of the driveway, crushing the flower bushes and throwing up gouts of soil.
Her brother Thabet – his associates known as him “Wager” – stumbled out of the automobile, laughing, wine bottle in hand – as all the time nowadays – and was adopted a second later by his two associates, Ziggy and Croc, as they known as themselves. Ziggy held a tall can of beer, and Croc’s face was surrounded by a cloud of smoke as he puffed on his vape. They bandied insults with one another till they caught sight of Amirah and Bryce.
“Yo, Wager,” Ziggy stated. “Your sister has a brand new boyfriend. Seems to be like an NFL linebacker.”
“Your sister is getting down,” Croc added.
“Shut up!” Thabet snapped. “That’s my sister, have some respect.”
“So what?” Ziggy countered. “You run her down on a regular basis.”
The three males started to stroll towards the door.
“Cease,” Amirah stated firmly. “Thabet solely could enter. You different two should name an Uber.” Belying the firmness of her personal phrases, she tugged on her ear nervously. She’d set this complete factor up, however didn’t really feel assured about it.
Take the Lambo
“Don’t be silly,” Thabet stated. “It’s my home too.” The lads had been about to push their approach in when Bryce stepped ahead and shoved all three again with one arm. Thabet dropped the wine bottle, which shattered on the paving stones. Ziggy’s beer sloshed in his face. Croc started to cough smoke.
What adopted was a wide range of curses, insults, and indignant objections, all tempered by the look of metal that Bryce gave the three males. Lastly, giving up the combat, Thabet tossed the automobile keys to Ziggy, who dropped them.
“Take the Lambo,” Thabet stated with a beneficiant wave. “However you deliver that sweet again with out a scratch or I’ll break your neck.”
On cue, Amirah took a small digital machine from her pocket and pressed a button. The Lamborghini uttered a chirp, and the doorways locked routinely.
“I don’t suppose so,” Amirah stated. “I shut it down.”
“Wha?” Thabet was baffled. “How?”
“I pay for the South Star service, keep in mind? I can use it to close the automobile down in case of theft.”
“Your sister is trippin’, Wager,” Croc commented.
Ultimately, the 2 associates ordered an Uber and Thabet stormed into the home alone, shouting for Amapola, the maid, to make him one thing to eat.
Slamming the Fridge Door
Amirah adopted, motioning for Bryce to stay behind. Her coronary heart was beating quick. Thabet may very well be impulsive and even violent. She’d bailed him out of jail greater than as soon as for combating on the street. He’d by no means been violent towards his personal sister, however he wasn’t above breaking issues, even costly issues. This was the primary purpose she’d employed Brice. She wanted backup for this confrontation. She discovered Thabet within the kitchen, trying round.
“The place’s Amapola?” he demanded.
“She’s on trip. If you would like one thing to eat, you’ll be able to prepare dinner it your self, after which I anticipate you to clean the dishes. Should you don’t clear up correctly, the fridge shall be emptied and there gained’t be any extra meals.”
Thabet rounded on her. “Have you ever misplaced your thoughts? High quality. I’ll go keep on the Ritz. A minimum of these folks know learn how to deal with a person with respect.”
Amirah shook her head. “You’re no man. And I’ve terminated your bank cards and shut off entry to the belief fund. You don’t have a penny to your identify.”
Thabet turned pink. “You may’t try this! Are you insane?”
“You don’t get management of your fund till you’re twenty-five. Within the meantime, I’ve full discretion.”
“You may’t do that!” Thabet seized the fridge door, opened it, and slammed it shut, then many times. A plastic field of grapes fell out and broke open, the grapes rolling in each route just like the heads of executed criminals. Thabet stomped on the grapes, which squirted juice throughout the ground.
Amirah flinched. “Don’t make me name Bryce. I’ll have him put you out of this home. You may go reside on Ziggy’s sofa for all I care.”
“Is that the hulk you employed? You bought one thing going with him?”
“You already know higher than that.”
What Do You Need?
For the primary time since his drunken arrival, her brother paused and took a breath. He studied Amirah’s face. A glance of shocked alarm crossed his options. “You’re critical about this,” he stated. “Why? What would you like?”
Amirah sighed and tugged on her ear. “I would like you to develop up. You’re clever. Your IQ examined at a genius degree. However what have you ever carried out since highschool? You didn’t go to school. All you do is hang around with these fool associates, drink, and play video video games. You might be twenty-two years outdated, for heaven’s sake, and also you’re throwing your life down the tubes. Consider all that you simply and I’ve survived. Was it for this? What that means does your life have?”
At the same time as she stated this, Amirah questioned what that means her personal life had. She was thirty years outdated. She had a level in finance, and spent a lot of her time both cleansing up Thabet’s messes or managing the household wealth, all of which – together with this home – had been left to her and her brother by Ammu Rahman. She’d acquired a number of marriage proposals, however when one had as a lot cash as she did, it was tough to belief the sincerity of a possible accomplice. Cash, cash, cash. Every little thing all the time appeared to return again to cash, and she or he hated it. She’d by no means dreamed of being wealthy. She needed a contented household. But her life consisted of managing a ridiculous quantity of wealth, and dwelling in perpetual anxiousness about what her free cannon brother may do subsequent.
Alhamdulillah that she had her deen. When the loneliness was an excessive amount of to bear, she had the Quran, which was a mountain spring that revived her coronary heart daily. She had dua’, with out which she couldn’t survive. She had Allah , who she believed needed good for her, despite all of the hardships she’d confronted. After all, anybody else would discover her pathetic, speaking about hardships when she lived like a noble, she realized that. However everybody struggled on this life, in their very own approach.
A World of Horrors
As these ideas handed by way of their thoughts, Thabet had been watching her, his face rising pink. “Which means?” he lastly stated quietly, intensely. “There isn’t any that means, expensive sister. This can be a world of horrors. It’s a slaughterhouse, and we people are the cows being led to the abattoir. It’s all vacancy. Why ought to I waste my time with college? I’m already wealthy. All that’s left is to have enjoyable earlier than they pile the grime on my face. I learn Shakespeare in highschool, keep in mind? ‘Life’s however a strolling shadow, a poor participant that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, after which is heard no extra.’”
Amirah was shaking her head. “Don’t say these items. We had been created by Allah for a function.”
“I’ve seen the aim!” Thabet screamed. Amirah thought for a second that he may begin breaking issues, however as a substitute he collapsed right into a chair on the huge cherrywood kitchen desk, his shoulders slumped. “I noticed all of it, keep in mind? You had been unconscious after the crash, however I sat there hanging the other way up and crying, and I noticed the blood pouring out of Baba’s neck as he tried to carry it in. Pouring out and spilling by way of the air. I noticed Mama together with her cranium break up almost open however nonetheless aware, making an attempt to take a look at us, to see if we had been okay. I used to be solely 5 years outdated, however I keep in mind. The place was the aim of their deaths? The place was the that means? After which Ammu Rahman ten years later, died of a coronary heart assault on the ground of this very room. Just like the universe is saying to us, you brats, I’m going to beat you down a technique or one other.”
Uncle Rahman
Amirah sat beside her brother and took his hand. “I can’t reply that, besides to say that everybody dies. It’s solely a matter of timing. Why did our mother and father die that day, whereas we lived? That information belongs to Allah. However have a look at us. We had been taken care of. Uncle Rahman beloved us. Life goes on.”
“Rahman solely did it as a result of he needed to. It was a household obligation. He didn’t give a crap about us.”
“Astaghfirullah! He doted on you.”
Thabet pulled his hand away. “Household obligation,” he repeated stubbornly. “Not the identical as love.”
“I really like you.”
“No, you don’t. Take a look at you, taking away my belief fund. You suppose that’s love? It’s management. Amirah, there are billions of individuals on this world, all making an attempt to regulate one another. Half of them ravenous, one other 45% struggling, and 5% dwelling like kings. It’s all random. We reside within the throat of Hell, about to be swallowed down. This world is an abyss.”
Amirah was shocked. She’d by no means heard her brother communicate like this. The place was he getting these concepts?
“Should you don’t just like the phrase love,” Amirah countered, “name it mercy. There may be mercy on this world. Individuals assist folks. They sacrifice themselves. The Messenger of Allah sacrificed greater than you’ll be able to think about to deliver reality into the world.”
“What you name mercy is self-interest. Individuals donate cash and write it off as a tax deduction.”
Amirah tugged on her ear. “I’m going to inform you one thing that I wasn’t purported to. “Ammu Rahman was not our uncle.”
Thabet glanced at her sullenly. “What do you imply?”
“You noticed him round lots as a result of he was Baba’s enterprise accomplice, and his pal since childhood. He took us in out of affection. He didn’t need to do it. And he left us all the things, simply as if we had been his personal children. He needed you to suppose he was our blood uncle, to make the transition simpler.”
Amirah noticed the shock on Thabet’s face. He mulled over her phrases for some time, then stated, “Self-interest. He obtained companionship. Plus he lied to me. That’s not love.”
The Seventeenth Night time
She stated the one factor she thought may wake him up: “Do you know that is Ramadan? Tonight is the seventeenth night time.”
That caught Thabet off guard, she might see. He had all the time beloved Ramadan as a child, however he’d drifted completely away from the deen after Uncle Rahman’s loss of life.
“I didn’t know that,” Thabet muttered. “Not that it actually issues. Look sis, simply inform me particularly what you need.”
Amirah had a solution prepared. “I would like you to spend three days studying the Quran.”
Thabet scowled. “Are you critical?” When Amirah solely nodded, he stated, “Like a marathon? Three days continuous?”
She shook her head. “Say, 4 hours per day. Beginning now. For now, tonight, I would like you to learn it to me.”
“If I agree? Then what?”
“You get all the things again. All of your toys.”
“No circumstances?” His tone was incredulous.
“No circumstances.”
Thabet laughed. “Okay, deliver me the Quran. I’ll begin proper now.”
“Take a bathe first. And drink a cup of espresso.”
Open It Anyplace
A bit of later, again within the kitchen, sitting on the huge cherrywood desk, Thabet held a duplicate of the Quran in his palms as Amirah sat beside him.
“Open it wherever and start,” Amirah stated. “Learn it out loud to me. Arabic, then English.”
“I don’t know learn how to learn Arabic anymore.”
“I’m fairly certain you do.” After they had been children, Uncle Rahman had employed the perfect tutors to show them Arabic, Quran, and Islamic research.
Thabet opened the Quran randomly. “Surat Al-Anbiyaa. The Prophets.”
SubhanAllah, Amirah thought. Al-Anbiyaa. Juz 17 on the seventeenth night time of Ramadan.
Thabet started to learn the primary ayah in Arabic, however Amirah halted him.
“Aoothoo billahi –”
“Oh proper.” Thabet recited the chorus towards Shaytan, and the Basmallah, then continued. His Arabic studying was almost flawless. He adopted with the English:
1. [The time of] their account has approached for the folks, whereas they’re in heedlessness turning away.
2. No point out [i.e., revelation] involves them anew from their Lord besides that they take heed to it whereas they’re at play.
“Take a second and take into consideration these ayahs please,” Amirah stated. “Think about that you simply opened this web page randomly.” She knew he would see the apparent: that Allah was speaking about him. Speaking to him.
Life Is Not In Useless
Amirah listened as Thabet continued. Within the surah, Allah went on to speak concerning the prophets. That they had been human beings who ate meals. They weren’t immortals, or angels. And Muhammad himself was not a wizard or a poet. They had been infallible of their speech concerning Allah, however fallible in worldly issues. Males who suffered, skilled loss, but stayed on the trail. Previous nations had been destroyed as a result of they took their Prophets and revelations as jokes or they rejected the idea of reality, preferring as a substitute to reside lives of enjoyment. Like her brother had stated, All that’s left is to have enjoyable earlier than they pile the grime on my face.
He got here to ayahs 16 and 17:
16. And We didn’t create the heaven and earth and that’s between them in play.
17. Had We meant to take a diversion, We might have taken it from [what is] with Us – if [indeed] We had been to take action.
“Do you get it?” Amirah broke in. “This life shouldn’t be a joke, it’s not in useless. Allah didn’t create you to amuse Himself. He, the Creator of all issues, designed this world with that means and intent. It must be come what may, you see? There’s no in-between.” She held out her palms, transferring them up and down like scales on a steadiness. “Both Allah speaks the reality, by which case all the things on this world has that means, together with the deaths of our mother and father and Ammu Rahman – or Allah is mendacity, and nothing has that means, simply as you stated. It’s all a horror present with out function. However I don’t consider you actually consider these phrases. So inform me, do you suppose Allah Subhanahu wa Ta’ala is mendacity?”
“Nicely – no,” Thabet stammered. “I by no means stated something like that.”
Amirah stood up and jabbed him within the chest. “Then it’s a must to acknowledge that all the things Allah says is true. This world was not created in useless. Allah’s mercy fills this world, and goodness is actual. Sacrifice is actual, love is actual.”
“I – I don’t learn about all that.”
Fact Destroys Falsehood
“Learn the subsequent ayah. Learn it!”
18. Moderately, We sprint the reality upon falsehood, and it destroys it, and thereupon it departs. And for you is destruction from that which you describe.
“Thabet,” Amirah stated, “I really like you. However all these false stuff you say, Allah will smash them with reality. And people falsehoods will betray you. I don’t know the place you bought these twisted concepts, however it’s good to heal your thoughts and coronary heart, or the reality will destroy you.”
Thabet continued to ayah 24:
24. Or have they taken gods moreover Him? Say, “Produce your proof. This [Qur’ān] is the message for these with me and the message of these earlier than me.” However most of them have no idea the reality, so they’re turning away.
“I’m going to cease you one final time,” Amirah stated. “With a query. Have you ever taken your Lambo, and belief fund, and wine bottles, as gods moreover Allah? And in that case, do you suppose they are going to prevent when reality comes and smashes them?”
An Settlement of Belief
She stood. “Our settlement is an settlement of belief. I gained’t monitor you. Three days of Quran.” Amirah turned and left. Earlier than she went upstairs to her bed room she dismissed Bryce and gave him his pay, informing him that his companies had been now not wanted.
Thabet learn the Quran for 3 days, nearly all the time on the kitchen desk. He didn’t whine or make requests, and didn’t make any telephone calls that Amirah noticed, although she had not turned off his telephone. Amirah backed off her risk to make him feed himself, as she cooked for the 2 of them, and let him wash the dishes. They ate collectively, largely silently, although Thabet often commented on one thing he’d learn within the Quran. On the finish of the three days, Thabet stated, “Now what?”
“I already turned your Lambo and bank cards again on,” Amirah replied. “Really I did it that first night time, whenever you learn Surat Al-Anbiyaa.”
“Huh.”
Amirah by no means noticed Ziggy and Croc once more. She wasn’t going to say that Thabet modified in a single day, or {that a} miracle passed off that first night time when he learn Surat Al-Anbiyaa. However she did declare – to herself anyway – that reality had smashed into falsehood and destroyed it.
Thabet nonetheless misplaced his mood and raised his voice at times, however he by no means broke something, and by no means drank alcohol once more, that Amirah noticed. Regularly he transitioned right into a considerate, inquisitive, and barely introverted younger man. It was as if Amirah was attending to know her brother for the primary time, as an grownup. The person he was able to being.
Six months later he bought the yellow Lambo and donated the funds for Gaza reduction support. A 12 months after that, Amirah obtained married, and 5 years after that, two youngsters ran about the home. Thabet didn’t transfer out. The youngsters beloved Ammu Thabet, and knew that within the evenings he may very well be discovered on the kitchen desk, studying the Quran as Amapola labored round him to organize supper.
THE END
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See the Story Index for Wael Abdelgawad’s fiction tales on this web site.
Wael Abdelgawad’s novels – together with Items of a Dream, The Repeaters and Zaid Karim Personal Investigator – can be found in book and print type on his creator web page at Amazon.com.
Associated:
– A Ramadan Quran Journal: A MuslimMatters Collection – [Juz 3] What Is True, And What Issues
– A Ramadan Quran Journal: A MuslimMatters Collection – [Juz 1] Reflections On The Opening Chapter