Just Make Du'aa

• e i g h t •

Dina

Farouz opened the door to the seat behind me and pulled out a... picnic basket? "Where did that come from?" I asked as he took my hand and started walking.

My husband gave a nervous chuckle and jokingly said, "you take forever getting ready."

"I do not!" I defended, "I'm a bride okay? Just cut me some slack. And you're saying you did all of this while I was changing?"

He shrugged, "it's really not that much. I just figured that you'd be hungry by now so I prepared something simple."

I was hungry, and although I didn't even know what hid in that light brown basket, it already looked delicious. For now, I directed my focus to the gardens Farouz had taken me to. I hitched my arm in his as he lead me through flowers, fruit trees, vegetables, and beautiful bushes. We walked slowly, and even though he clearly had a destination, Farouz slowed down so that I could enjoy the walk. The flavorful scent of the greenery filled my nose with every breath and the slow walk felt magical. Birds chirped somewhere in the distance, I kept looking up expecting a bird to fly over by but nothing was there. Next to me, Farouz walked in silence. The park had us both loud and energetic, but the calming mood of the garden absorbed our energy and made us calm and quiet.

This day had been absolutely wonderful, Farouz was amazing the entire time: full of laughter and jokes. I had been worried about this, yesterday I was terrified because my life was about to change forever. There was a small doubt what if I'm making the wrong choice? But I felt safe with him last night, and in bliss with him today. No way could this be a wrong choice, nothing ever felt more right.

"Okay here we are," Farouz whispered, pulling me into a man made cave that appeared in the middle of the brick wall surrounding the gardens. He moved some hanging vines to reveal a smaller gate.

"Are we allowed to be in there?" In reply, he shushed me softly and pulled his keys out of his pocket, easily unlocking the door with an ancient looking key. "Farouz what in the name of–" my words stopped short when he pulled me to the other side of the gate. Here was another section of the garden, walled with the same red brick, and clearly smaller. But everything in it made it look roomier and more beautiful than the garden we were just in.

We stood in the only narrow walking path. On both sides was a field of flowers of every color imaginable, and all different shades and tones. The place smelled like a sunny summer day with the freshness of spring. Small fountains were scattered throughout the flowers and trees, creating an overall heavenly looking place. Mashallah, I thought if places of such beauty can exist on earth, then heaven... an overwhelming warmth and excitement took over me. This place is more beautiful than anything I've ever seen, and the fact that heaven is a billion, million times more beautiful overwhelmed me.

"I sure hope we're allowed here," Farouz spoke. In this place, his voice seemed to dance in the air before it entered my ears, "after all it is our place." My head snapped to him immediately, and he read the questions before I could even utter them. "I've known about this place for eleven years. I used to come here when I needed to escape my parents, the man that owned it then owns the rest of the garden. He's a very nice man and would let me stay here for as long as I wanted. I sat there," he pointed at the biggest tree, "as I read my first few pages of the Qu'ran. When I started my own job, alhamdulillah I had a lot of money, I have a lot of money. And I feel that I should spend it to help others. So, I thought of this place, and how it helped me through the darkest times in my life. Then it seemed as if Allah wanted me to buy it, and I did just that. Whenever a patient of mine is really scared or panicked I bring them here. The scents and birds flying around never fail to offer some of Allah's therapy. This place is my best purchase, I will never regret the money I put into this. It has helped my patients, people I care about very deeply. And will Inshallah bring continue to bring peace to me, no, us, for the rest of our lives together."