"𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙖𝙣 𝙤𝙘𝙚𝙖𝙣.
𝙁𝙤𝙧 𝙞𝙩 𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙙𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙣𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙛𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙢."
Not even the owner of the heart.
Except, for one.
And so, Lina Williams didn't know what her heart held. Nor was she aware of t...
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The sunset painted the sky with warm hues of orange, pink and purple. The airy clouds across the horizon cloaked the mountain peaks in mist. A gust of cold wind blew past the tall sequoia trees. The birds flapped their wings, rushing to their nests. The waterfall poured from a gash in the rock face. As the forest hummed with life all around her—Lina wished she could go deeper into the woods. A sense of longing stirred within her as she gazed at the dense thicket of trees. It lead her back to the times when she would embark on adventures- breaking all sorts of promises she had made to her nani.
She tightened her arms around the ginger cat, her gaze fell on her second oldest brother who was walking beside her.
When the storm inside her had finally calmed down, there were two things that had surprised her. One: Hamim coming after her in the forest. Two: This ginger cat in her arms was actually his. And it didn't take seconds before the whispers to come back. And when they did, they stabbed at her heart. They played with her mind. They snatched all the warmth away.
Hamim must've come for his cat. And of course, he had then found her. He didn't come for her. Or did her?
"Well, I guess we'll have to sit down and make few things clear again. But doll, don't come to the forest alone without telling one of us." Hamim said. He was gentle but you could hear the firmness in his voice.
"I am sorry. I really didn't mean to" Lina's face flushed with embarrassment. She hadn't mean for that to happen. But her heart simply couldn't ignore the cries. Her mind reeled back to the time when her nani had once told her the story of a camel.
"Do you know Lina?" Her nani had made her sit on the stool as she went towards the stove and lit it. "Rasool Allah ﷺ was once travelling and then they stopped to take a break. He then saw a huge camel which started screaming loudly when he saw him."
"It had tears running down it's eyes. The Prophet ﷺ responded with an affectionate stroke on it's neck. The camel stopped crying. He then asked whose camel was that. The owner, a young man, came forward."
"And then the Prophet ﷺ said that does he not fear Allah? That Allah has appointed him over it and given him it's control? His camel was complaining about him. That he doesn't give him enough to eat and loads it with goods more than it's capacity."
Her nani poured some soup in a bowl and placed it infront of her. "Meri bacchi. The Prophet ﷺ taught us good akhlaq towards animals. That it is our duty to protect the maẓlūm."
"Mazlum?" Lina had asked.
"It means the oppressed ones.The ill-treated, the injured ones."
At that time, she really hadn't understood the depth of that word. It was hard. Naturally so. There were limits to how much an eight year old could comprehend. Back then, all she knew was that she had to look after injured animals. No matter what.
