To Our Doom (Paused)

Prologue

Everything in the Dunya (world, earth) is constantly changing. We grow through the years, meet people, and lose touch with some, relocate and move from one place to another, and our heart is in the centre of it all. (قلب) [heart in Arabic]. Constantly flipping and changing as we grow, face hardships, loss, and blessings in the form of people or things.

Today, two high school besties will reunite again as neighbours after twenty years apart. Umm Ishaaq and Umm Ibrahim. Umm Ishaaq received the great news a month ago. She only got more excited as the day drew nearer. Umm Ibrahim was on the car ride from the other city. They started earlier in the morning since Umm Ishaaq's town was two hours away.

Ibrahim observed the surroundings as he sat next to his father in the front. He saw the oncoming trees and wild shrubs growing on the deserted sands alongside the roads, camels further in the desert in his far-right view, and a clear, serene road ahead.

Maryam, his little sister, dozed off a while ago, despite expressing her excitement at moving into the cottage that she picked herself. Ibrahim glanced at his little sister from the rear-view mirror, greeted by her sleepy face. His mother was also resting right next to her.

"Their immense excitement wore them off," his father chuckled, glancing at his wife and daughter from the rearview mirror. Seeing his wide smile, Ibrahim chuckled with his father.

"They need the energy to be immensely excited again once we reach," Ibrahim added. His father agreed, nodding, and chuckling softly, not wanting to wake his dear wife and youngest daughter up.

Their car was calm, as opposed to what Umm Ishaaq's house was going through that morning.

"Sarah! Get me the lemons from the other fridge!" her mother called out. Sarah rushed from her room to do this act of service for her mother. She swiftly grabbed the lemons from the fridge in the living room and dashed into the kitchen, delivering the lemons, and other ingredients that her mother added to the list of ingredients Sarah should fetch for her.

"Here Ummi! Is there anything else I can help with?" she asked eagerly, panting after she ran back and forth to the fridge and the kitchen.

"Yes, you get started on the dessert!" instructed her mother while stirring three pots on the stove. Sarah nodded and rolled up her sleeves to start preparing the desserts.

Her younger brother, Ishaaq, was helping their father clean the house. They both split up the house equally for vacuuming and mopping.

"By the way Abbi, who is coming over today?" Ishaaq asked as he was vacuuming the house. Father did not hear him through the VROOMING noise. Ishaaq switched off the vacuum cleaner for a while.

"Abbi, who's the guest for today?" he asked, holding the snout of the vacuum cleaner. Father side-eyed Ishaaq and processed his question.

"Your mother's best friend from high school and her family," Father replied. Ishaaq nodded, trying to recall who it was. Father noticed the confusion in his face. "The family moving next door to us, they're coming over for dinner, In Sha Allah [if Allah wills]," Father explained, hoping that answered Ishaaq's question.

"Oh, Subhan Allah [glory be to Allah], I remember now, Abbi [my father]," Ishaaq recalled his mother excitedly announcing her best friend's arrival. He turned the vacuum cleaner back on and they continued cleaning the house while Sarah and Umm Ishaaq were busy in the kitchen.

Meanwhile, Ibrahim's family reaches the town. His father pulls up to the car park. The sudden brake jerks Maryam and Umm Ibrahim awake.

"We're here!" Abu Ibrahim announced. Mother and daughter leap out of the car, unable to contain their excitement. Maryam snaps pictures of the cottage and jumps up and down, squealing with glee. Her mother poses along with her as they take selfies in front of the cottage.

"Come here, Akhi [my brother], Abbi [my father]!" Maryam called her father and brother over. They joined in to take the family picture.

Once the moving van arrived, Ibrahim and his father were unpacking and moving furniture as they consulted with his mother and sister about how the furniture should be organized, moving the sofa back and forth, finding the right spot to hang a decoration, and more of the hustles of moving into a new place.

"We need to get ready later for dinner," announced Father, as he hammered a nail into the wall to place the hanging leaf decoration.

"Where are we going, Abbi?" asked Maryam, as she arranged the chairs of the dining table. She was too excited about moving to remember the dinner dawat.

"Next door, my loves, a kind family invited us to welcome us," she replied with an excited smile.

"Yes, your mother's best friend's house, In Sha Allah," Abu Ibrahim explained. Ibrahim and Maryam nodded in understanding. It was comforting to know that they wouldn't need to worry about dinner. They had lunch on the way.

Maryam continued excitedly taking pictures of every furnished room to keep in her gallery. She was the one who picked the cottage, after all. Although she was tired from the processes of moving, her excitement overpowered her tiredness, and she was running around the cottage taking pictures and videos.

The day was long for both families, but the comfort of night will, In Sha Allah [if Allah wills], take their minds off things.

By Maghrib [evening prayer time], Umm Ishaaq was done with her cooking, and the house was squeaky clean. Sarah had put her dessert into the fridge, to be taken out later after dinner. Ishaaq and his father went to the masjid to pray Maghrib, while Sarah and her mother added the finishing touches to their house and to the food. Let me take this opportunity to quote a hadith:

"Abu Shurayh al-Kabi al-Adawi (ra) has reported that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "He who believes in Allah and the last day should speak a good, decent conversation otherwise remain silent. And he who believes in Allah and the last day should honour his guest whose Jaizah (a provision for the guest better than one's own meals) is the length of a day and a night. And hospitality extends for three days and whatever is beyond that (more than three days) is Sadaqah. it is not proper for a guest to tax his host by overstaying (so that he is tired of him)." – Al-Adab Al-Mufrad, 743 (Sahih [authentic])