His Muslim Bride

Chapter 17 ~The Nikah Part 2

Gabriel's POV

As everyone starts to line up shoulder to shoulder, toes to toes, to stand in a straight line to worship, I sit in a corner with the bambino peacefully sleep.

My favorite part of being in the Mosque is listening the Imam read, or rather recite as Zayed always says.

I do not understand the meaning of what he's reciting but there's something about how calm it makes me. Usually I would have couple of drinks to at least feel slightly relaxed, however that is not the case with his recitals.

Looking around I see couple of books on the bookshelves throughout the room.

Curious, I reach over to one of the books on my left, but to my disappointment, it was all in Arabic.

"Here, this is one is in English." A voice has me snapping my head to my right.

"Thank you." I say as I take the book from him.

"You'll have to read from right to left. The first chapter is called the Opening. Let me now know if you have any questions. My name is Marwan by the way. I'm one of the helpers here." He says all in one breath.

"Gabriel, thank you. And I'm going to hold you to that. I'm sure I will have many questions." I reply shaking his hand with a smile.

"Well I have to join the prayer. I'll see you around Inshallah." With that, he walks away and joins the men in line for prayer.

Anxious, I open up from the last... the first page and start reading the English version.

The first thing that grabbed my attention instantly was how the chapter begun,

"In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful," The first emotional feeling I felt was pure love. I immediately fell in love with this book. This is nothing compared to the God that I've known and grew up to worship.

This was a feeling of both ways. I felt the love of God as I felt my love for Him. The more I continued to read, the more I fell deeply in love.

There's this one line that has etched into my heart and brain, "All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds."

Now I understand why Zayed always expresses his gratitude towards God. It's a beautiful connection to have that goes both ways.

"Gabe, man I think you should stop there for today. The ceremony will start in ten minutes." Comes the whisper voice of Zayed.

"Let me take him off your hands." Khalid says with open arms towards his son that's still snuggled on my chest.

It wasn't until I handed him the bambino that I felt the stiffness in my arm. Turning my head both ways to crack the muscles, I stand on my feet to get ready for this ceremony so I can ask them my nagging questions.

"Now, after everyone takes their seats, the Imam will begin the ceremony with Surah Al-Fatiha and make a supplication." Zayed explains.

Nodding my head, "Let's witness some Islamic wedding ceremony then." I state patting his shoulder.

As everyone fills in the room and the Imam starts it off, he translates what he was reciting. To my surprise what I lived hearing him recite turned out to be the chapter I was reading a while ago.

"As-Salaam-Allaikum my brothers. Tonight Allah has blessed us to witness the greatest deed form in front of our eyes and that is seeing the marriage between our kids. Hamza bin Hussein and Amira bint Ismail. A marriage allows us to fulfill half our religion, allowing us to be even more close to Allah and share a special connection with our spouses. Marriage is not only completing half your religion, but it's also Sunnah. It was decreed that young men and women should marry when they can but also in order to protect their modesty and keeping their gaze lowered. Now, I would like to congratulate the groom in fulfilling half his religion, and Inshallah I will pray that you constantly remember to fear Allah and practice the other half of your religions as Muhammad SAW commanded in what Allah ordained in the noble Quran. But mostly remember that everything in this life is temporary and only the true believers will emerge as victorious and those couple will have a happy and wealthy true live in this life and after." The Imam lectured as he looked between everyone and his eyes would settle on the groom for a while.