Seeking Her Forgiveness

Chapter 3: The unexpected journey

"Mami, do you know my friend who came yesterday and complimented me that I have a nice home? But then I told him that this was not my home. This is your home."

Muiz had always seen Shahana taking care of the house, and most of the other family members didn't stay in the house for very long, which is why his young mind labeled this mansion as Shahana's.

"Home?" She paused for a moment. "But this isn't my home." Her own voice sounded strange to her.

"Oh yes, your home is the same as Mamu's home."

"No, Mamu's home is not my home either. I don't have any home."

"Mami, why are you talking like this?" Muiz said in confusion. His little mind couldn't understand Shahana's deep words.

"Muiz, home is not where you live. Home is where you are respected, protected, and loved," she started talking to herself.

Muiz took her face in both his hands. He still didn't understand much of what Shahana was saying. He understood what he could and said, "I respect you and I love you too, Mami."

She leaned down and pressed her forehead against Muiz's, the only source of warmth and solace in her cold reality. "You do, my love," she whispered, her voice thick with emotion. "You do, and that's all that matters to me."

"But why, Mommy? Why does everyone dislike you so much?" Muiz couldn't help but ask. Despite being young, Muiz could sense the coldness of the rest of the family towards Shahana.

"Maybe I'm a very bad person, is that why?" Shahana's eyes were fixed on a distant point.

"No. You are not a bad person at all. The people who call you bad are bad." Muiz didn't like what she said about herself.

"Don't say that, Muiz," she reprimanded. "Okay, tell me what do you want to eat now?" She tried to change the subject.

"When I grow up, I will buy you a house. Your house," Muiz said, and as soon as he said that, tears welled up in his eyes.

She held Muiz's hands and kissed them one by one.

"I will wait," she said.

He, who had come to the kitchen looking for Haya, was standing there listening to the conversation between the two and was left speechless. A hollowness opened in his chest, a familiar ache that ripped through the carefully constructed walls he'd built around his past. Memories, sharp and unwanted, flooded back, dragging him into a past he desperately wished to forget.

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Haya was extremely tense since Amira was crying relentlessly. She feared if she was sick. Already, Towsif's mother and sister were making her life extremely miserable due to her lower class. That's why she was trying her level best to be the best mother for Azlan and Amira. She didn't want to give the world a chance to taunt her.

At that time, Shahana entered while crying.

"Ma," she called.

Today, because of Amira, Haya didn't come outside of her room, not even for breakfast. Towsif also left early for a meeting. When Shahana went to the breakfast table, Towsif's mother and sister scoffed at her and ousted her from there, hurling a lot of mean words. They didn't even care that she was just a small kid, young and innocent.

'Amr ibn Shu'ayb reported from his grandfather that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "Anyone who does not show mercy to our children nor acknowledge the right of our old people is not one of us."

Grade: Sahih (Al-Albani)

We call ourselves Muslim, but we don't follow the teachings of our beloved prophet صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ. We do what our Nafs desire. When fear of Allah عز وجل ends, People do what they desire. They don't even acknowledge that in front of them is an 8-year-old girl or an 80-year-old man. They exploit the weak.