On the authority of Abu 'Abdullah al-Nu'man bin Bashir, radiyallahu 'anhu, who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah, sallallahu 'alayhi wasallam, say:
"Truly, what is lawful is evident, and what is unlawful is evident, and in between the two are matters which are doubtful which many people do not know. He who guards against doubtful things keeps his religion and honour blameless, and he who indulges in doubtful things indulges in fact in unlawful things, just as a shepherd who pastures his flock round a preserve will soon pasture them in it. Beware, every king has a preserve, and the things Allah has declared unlawful are His preserves. Beware, in the body there is a flesh; if it is sound, the whole body is sound, and if it is corrupt, the whole body is corrupt, and behold, it is the heart."
[Al-Bukhari & Muslim]
•••
Hafsat together with Hajiya Iya and Aunty Zuwaira enter a room where the remaining elders are so they could do their own version of fada before she goes. Hafsat rests her head on Aysha's shoulder when she comes out of the room, sobbing. That seems to be her undoing as Aysha too cried.
They go to the men's side, where her father, her brothers Abdulrahman and Abdulraheem and her uncles all are. Hafsat enters the parlour while Aysha and Hadiza wait outside for her, they are quietly drying their tears with the edge of their veil as they wait for her to come out.
She comes out with their father, Abba escorting her. Cars are lined, waiting to take the bride to her new home. Both Aisha and Hadiza enter the car just behind the bride's own, none of them want to enter the bride's car because they know Hajiya iya would be driving together with her and they are both trying to avoid her.
They first go to Hafsat's In-law's house, where the budan kai is taking place. The in-laws receive them with the sound of the local trumpet (Algaita) and Hafsat is guided to the house and they go inside. Her mother in-law is seated on a royal blue majestic sofa and Hafsat squats to greet her and in turn she gently guides her up and sits her down right next to her, she drags back her veil that is covering her face and she prays for her and their union before the rest of the people there take turns in giving out gifts and blessing the couple. It is like a little event right there and even before they could set off for the brides house over 2 hours has pass.
They arrive to the bride's house without much traffic and hassle on the road. The house is filled to the brim. Everybody wants to see the bride's house, some to have something to gossip about later.
Most of the guest didn't leave until it was after 7pm, leaving the house only to Hafsat, her friends and some close cousins that she is friends with. Hafsat roams around getting familiar with the house. The rest of them are in the parlour waiting for the groom's friends to come for the siyan baki, this is a tradition whereby the groom's friends will come and pay on behalf of their friend - the groom - before he could see his bride.
Three of Umar's friends come in after a swift knock. "Salam Alaikum" they say coming into the sitting room where all the girls are gathered.
"Wa'alikumussalam" they all answer.
Muhammad, or Moh as he like to be called,one of Umar's friends, who she is most familiar with waves at her before sitting next to her. It's not one of her brightest moments to admit that they've kind of dated before, back then when she wasn't looking for anything serious, and it's safe to admit not all the feeling have left at least not for him, he still calls her sometimes to talk about 'them'. How he thinks there's even a 'them' anymore baffles her.
"As you all know, this bride is a spec, she set die! So we can't just give her to your friend without him given us something as a token of appreciation for bringing her to him safe and soundly, y'know. So how much are you willing to give on behalf of your friend?" Hadiza says.
"Name your price ladies" Farouq, the groom's bestman says with a cocky smile.
"N20 million. In cash" Aysha said the first thing that came to her mind. Try acting cocky to that.
"What!? Do you think we are millionaires that go around walking with liquid cash like that?" he sputters, a laugh resonating from him.
"Absolutely" one of Hafsat's friend answers.
"Yupp.. remember that time in Doha?" One of their cousins asks the guys. Because they mostly mingle in the same circle more often than once they end up going on a trip or two together and two years ago, it was Doha. So much drama happened there but to cut the long story short, they and the guys ended up blowing up so much more than that in cash.. in a day. Although in their defense they were up to twenty people that went on that trip.
"That was just one time" he argues.
"Yeah yeah whatever, just don't fall your friend's hand you know he is counting on you people to see his wife" another one of her friends chimes in.
The guys turn to each other to discuss before turning back to the girls, "were calling for reinforcements" they say.
"Scaredy cats" the girls laugh.
Moh texts for the alleged reinforcements and they wait for a little while before they hear a knock on the door. Two guys come in and one of them is none other than.. yes, you guessed right, Fahad. Apparently he's also friends with Umar.
He and the other guy sit down a little opposite Aysha and she rolls her eyes trying not to look at him. The exchange pleasantries with the others and they fill them up on what is going on so far.
"So 20 million in cash huh?" He asks rhetorically. Staring at Aysha and making her stare back.
"Yes, are you giving it on behalf of you all?" She asks, crossing her legs and leaning back on the sofa.
"Okay how about we bring it down a bit?" He asks leaning back too.
"Nop 20 million"
"How about 10 million?"
"Kuttt! We're not budging"
"10 million" he says looking right into her eyes.
"20 million"
"10 million" it's like he was hypnotizing her with his eyes.
"20 million"
"20 million"
"10 million". She didn't notice they both had leaned in so much that they were seeing eye to eye until he leans back with an accomplished smirk on his face.
"Wait what?" She asks confused, the girls speaking over each other some trying to explain to her while the others talking to the guys on how he manipulated her.
"But.." she tries to argue before he cuts her up.
"A'a maganar farko shi sarki ke dauka." cocky much.
"Okay whatever" she says pouting her lips and crossing her arms.
"We'll give you the money but we honestly don't have that cash, the most we can give you right now is 5 million but we could transfer the remaining money to one of your bank accounts"
The guys texted the remaining groomsmen outside to bring in the cash and one of them spoke to his account officer and transferred the rest to the maid of honor's bank account. They also called the groom and told him to come in.
Two of Hafsat's friend went up to get her and when they come back with her, her veil is once again dragged down to cover her face and Umar stands up from his seat to help her sit down. All the girls coo.
Everyone is standing in front of the couple like paparazzis with their phones in their hands waiting to record the moment he will open her veil. They have a short session of prayer before he carefully raises her veil away from her face.
The way he is looking at her is to die for. As if he is seeing her for the first time. The love radiating from both of them towards each other makes Aysha say a little prayer in her mind to have a relationship as theirs with her future husband.
•••
Salam,
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