Affianced By Force

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT - A Tour to Remember

Faisal stared at Umamah as she moved from one assorted dish to the other.

"Are you going to have that?" She asked, pointing at the sea food before him.

"I pass." He had been saying that for hours now. Seeing Umamah was beginning to enjoy her stay at the hotel and not even giving a glance to her phone was all he needed. She was all he needed.

"You keep saying that, and I am going to believe you brought me all the way to Egypt fatten me up."

Faisal grinned. "I am pleased that I please you, my lady."

Umamah stooped gushing over the exotic dishes before her and stared at her husband. In an exergerrated mock-awe, she asked

"Who are you?" She asked

Knowing where she was headed, Faisal shrugged. Even he had been asking that question for months now. Maybe they both will never find the answer to that. When Umamah was the subject matter, he was a totally different person.

"Tell you what? I want to leave up so much memory that you miss me at each point of our return to Nigeria, In Shaa Allah. So, get ready Madame." He decided to change topics.

It was a promise even Umamah couldn't wait to see come to life.

In all honesty, she didn't want the holiday to end either. All she had been missing, being too swamped.

True to Faisal's promise, he took them on a sea cruise across the Nile to Aswan. Egypt's most tranquil town. The town was covered by orange-hued dunes.

They took the river ferry across to the Elephantine Island and strolled the colorful streets of the Nubian Villages. The people were fun. Unlike what the modern Tv shows presented, it was a village of well civilized black people and black culture.

After the long day stroll round the village, buying traditional accessories and blending into the crowd, they shared a camel ride on the desert monastery of St. Simeon. Initially, Ummah had been scared. She had never ridden a camel before, but Faisal assured her that he was right behind her.

Umamah was a swift rider, a fast learner and a fun student. Soon she was riding the camel with the fastest speed it could go. She even rode a camel that was known to be untamed. She literally tamed it.

For Faisal, it was a sight to behold, but he wasn't quite done yet. The village was far from their hotel and he had other places to explore with his wife before they left Aswan, so he booked a hotel nearby and they bought a few clothes for a change of outfit.

The following morning, they continued the cruise. At sunset, they jumped aboard a felucca and sailed around Aswan Islands. Umamah promised silently to write about the beautiful dunes. The ferries, the feluccas and the beautiful people of the Nubian villages.

Later as they sat by a restaurant, watching the lateen-sailed feluccas drift past them, Ummah marveled at Allah's creation. How beautiful was it that He created different countries and it's people, so similar, yet so distinct?

"A penny?" Faisal tossed a penny her way Literally.

She picked it up from the table and shook her head. "I am just wondering how vast the world is with different people and cultures, habits, values, even religion and yet He makes it easy for us to understand each other."

Faisal smiled remembering the verse of Allah in surah Al-Hujurat, verse 13. He recited the verse and interpreted it to her "Surely, we have created you from a male and a female and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know each other."

Tears welled up in Umamah's eyes. "He really said that?"

"And more. Allah created Adam from different soil types. We are his descendants. Though different in colors, values, languages, cultures an even religion, we are the children of Adam. It is one of the wonders no one can ever comprehend. How we can all be so similarly, dissimilar."