Free Me

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Assalam alaikum everyone 😊

Surprised to see this notification right? Yeah 😊. I am too.

Free Me has been down for over a year plus and now Gbam! It's here again!

If you have been following my profile and you're reading this now, then you must already be aware of the reason why I took this book down.

Free Me is close to my heart. The twelve chapters of this book mean so much to me.

As you have read, the setting is Northern Nigeria, Kano to be precise and the characters are Muslims.
When I was writing this book, my aim was to create an awareness on sickle cell anemia but while I was doing that, I failed to put religion into consideration.

Now this is what I mean by my previous statement.

The two main characters in this book shared a relationship that is not permissible according to the Islamic Shari'ah. It's a normal thing in the society we're living in today, nobody sees it as anything wrong. But then, it's a sign that the world is coming to an end. Haram has become so normalised that it feels alright.

I didn't know how big the sin is until later, when I had already finished writing the book. I became so scared. I was scared that someone who was not well educated with regards to Islamic Shari'ah will think having a male friend is permissible; after all everyone is doing it.

I became scared that I would be in my grave one day and still, I'll be getting lots of sins (May Allah protect us from that), simply because someone read my book and thought that having a female-male relationship was halaal because I didn't portray it in the haram light.

I was having mixed emotions about the book and so I took it down. But for a very long time now, I've been thinking of uploading it again. Why? Because of the contents of the book.

Many out there are suffering because of sickle cell anemia simply because they are ignorant. Some are getting married blindly without testing their genotypes because they don't know about sickle cell. Some are well aware, but they are blinded by love and don't deem it necessary to secure the health of their future children.

These, and many other reasons made me upload this book again. But then, there is a warning!

Whoever is reading this book, whether a Muslim or non Muslim should know that the type of relationship Abdullah and Nusayba shared in this book is not permissible in Islam. I repeat! It is not permissible! Haram!

So I browsed through Islam Q&A,  an Islamic site that is manned by sheikh Saleh Almunajjid. I came across this question that will shed more light on what I've been talking about.  I urge you all to please, be patient and read the question and answer to the end.

QUESTION :

I am a religiously committed (praise be to Allaah) young man, studying in University in a Muslim Arab country, in which many young people have gone astray from Islam. It has become difficult to find righteous friends as the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) advised us to do and as is enjoined in the Holy Qur’aan.
A while ago I got to know a girl who wears hijab, and she is the reason why I was guided. We only met on the bus or in the university in order to talk about religion and our love of Allaah, and to encourage one another to memorize Qur’aan and pray qiyaam al-layl, and to forbid one another to do things that Allaah has forbidden of indulging in falsehood and other mistakes that a person may make without realizing it.
I started to long to meet her, because I found that speaking to her strengthened my faith and she helped me to keep on the straight and narrow. But I am confused about how to categorize this relationship and I am not sure whether to continue it or stop it, because she is not one of my relatives.
 Can I regard her as my sister in Islam? Is it permissible for me to speak to her on the bus or in the university? Is it permissible for me to look at her face?.