aab e hayat ( English version)

chapter no 42

"I met your ex-wife." That wasn't just a sentence; it was like a bomb that Abdullah had dropped on Ahsan Saad. Abdullah had returned the night before, and the next day he met Ahsan in the hospital. 

Just as cheerful, polite, and energetic as ever, Abdullah's ears were filled with the voices and revelations of Anaya and Jibreel.

 He had asked Ahsan for a meeting, which was granted with great friendliness. Both lived in the same apartment building. Ahsan's parents lived with him, so Ahsan wanted the meeting at his home. 

However, Ahsan was busy that evening, so Abdullah had to go to his apartment, where he met Ahsan's parents, exchanging a customary hello as usual.

Ahsan wanted to talk to him in the lounge, but Abdullah wanted to meet privately, so Ahsan took him to his bedroom, though he seemed confused. Abdullah's behavior was strange, but the unease in Ahsan Saad's chest was signaling something worse, and he was right.

As soon as Abdullah entered the room, he began the conversation with that sentence, and Ahsan Saad's tone, manner, and expressions changed in a blink. Abdullah heard the voice of Ahsan for the first time in his life.

 His tone was extremely dry and cold; "harsh" would be the best word to describe it. His forehead creased, and his eyes were filled with consuming hatred. Through clenched teeth, he asked Abdullah, "Why?"

Abdullah, in very brief words, told him that Anaya had said Jibreel didn't want to marry Abdullah and that the reason for his refusal was Ahsan Saad's close relationship with him.

 Abdullah told Ahsan that both Anaya and Jibreel had leveled serious accusations against him, which made it necessary for him to meet Aisha Abidin.

"So you trusted them. Not your teacher. And without consulting me, you went to meet that **? And you claim you learned everything from me?" Ahsan interrupted Abdullah's speech in an extremely sarcastic tone. 

Abdullah was unable to continue speaking. He had just heard a curse word for Aisha Abidin from Ahsan Saad's mouth... the curse wasn't shocking, but hearing it from Ahsan's lips was. However, that evening wasn't the last shock Abdullah was going to experience. He had come to see the idol he worshiped fall face down.

"And you had no right to meet my ex-wife. To investigate me like this... You went to her, and she must have told you to lie after lie about me," Ahsan continued, now fluently cursing Aisha as if they were everyday terms.

 His rage was uncontrollable. The hatred he felt for Aisha was overwhelming him, or perhaps it was the pain of seeing his carefully built image shattered that was distressing him. Abdullah couldn't understand.

"She must have shown you the court papers, saying, 'Look, the court is calling my husband a liar. The court dismissed the accusations of violence against me. 

The court labeled Ahsan Saad as a cheat for marrying another woman and thus granted me the divorce and custody of the child.'" Ahsan kept talking while Abdullah stood there, listening in silence. He was hearing the same revelations that Jibreel had sent him to Aisha for.

"I don't care for the courts of this country, these are infidel courts. What do they know about Islam? They pass judgments that are against Shariah. My religion gives me the right to marry again without any reason, so how can the court call me a cheat for doing that? I have the right to bring an unruly wife to the right path through discipline. 

Can the court stop me from doing that? I am a man; my religion has given me superiority over women. How can the court force me to treat my wife as an equal? It's because of these very things that your society is ruined: indecency, immodesty, defiance, disobedience to men... these are the things that have destroyed your women.