8 months left

D-126

To Hafyouseenhafyy for her cover of TTFH :) Barakalahu fiki again!

Chapter 5 : -126 days

“He knows what is in every heart.”

Surat Al Mulk

It was the end of school. Everyone could feel it and Ahmad too. However he felt he'd never see some of his friends next year. He would be dead, put in a hole of dirt for the years to come. Most importantly, he will return to Allah.

The sun has never been that high and people were rushing outside to catch as many sunrays as they could. Girls were all in the middle of the grass, tanning innocently while boys were all around naively chatting, their gaze wandering.

The trio was standing at the school gate talking excitedly.

"Ahmad let’s go!" Firdaws suddenly called him.

He waved at her : "coming! Let me a sec!" He yelled.

She leaned against a lamp street and took her phone. Normally she'd open iTunes and listen to music. Normally. She had deleted all her music because she wasn’t at ease. Her brother was doing all his best to come closer to Allah. He began praying Fajr at time, talking calmly to his parents, concentrate at school even if it'd never help him in a couple of months, he stopped listening to music and so on. If he could do that, why couldn’t she? She wanted to be a better muslim and she had one of a great example in front of her eyes : her brother. She'd be a fool if she couldn’t see it. Allah has sent him to her so that she can be who she really wants to be. Instead she unlocked her phone and went through her messages. A lot were from her mother who wanted to check if Ahmad was alright. She wasn’t spying him but only checking if he was alright. The day he had felt a crisis during PE, Zayd had come to her and told her to watch for him that night. Thing she did of course. This day she had been very mad at him because Ahmad hadn’t  told her what happened, he had said he was alright.

This was something she couldn’t handle, Ahmad would always say he is alright. But he wasn’t. His face was paler than usual, he wouldn’t talk like he used to and his jokes werent as spontaneous as they were. Sometimes he'd zone out for a long time before coming back. Truthfully she was worried. Obviously he was tired but most importantly he was patient.

"Firdaws I'm waiting" he chuckled.

She smiled back and followed him.

"What were you talking about you three?" She asked curiously.

"spreading Islam" he replied "Zayd says he wants to run on the grass and chase everyone by yelling haram, haram!" they both burst into laughter. Zayd was funny and the best humor sense as for Firdaws.

"Yeah and don’t forget extra clothes, abayas or whatever to cover all those skins!" Firdaws couldn’t handle the giggling. They sat on a bench near a lake to calm their laughter. 

"You know it'd be a great idea to spread Islam here, wouldn’t it?"  Ahmad said in a more serious voice.

"Yeah but how?"

He shrugged looking at her. "I don’t know we can organize something so people can know what Islam truly is."

Firdaws jumped out of the bench. She knew exactly what they would do!

-

-105 days

"A lemonade please"

Ahmad gave him a cup of a bright yellow lemonade and a biscuit.

The trio's mothers and Firdaws had spent all their night preparing these biscuits. They all contained a specific quote of Quran or a hadith of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). People would be obliged to eat the biscuit with their lemonade and so read the paper. It was Amir's idea.

Meanwhile Firdaws and a couple of her Muslim and non-Muslim friends were distributing roses with a quote attached on it. It was her idea. Girls love roses and guys, food. Their first allies were the sun, the thirst, the hunger and the love of flowers.

Islam could be spread just like that, no need for violence. Islam is a religion of peace no matter what they say.

"Hi there, would you like a rose?" Firdaws asked to a couple of girls, sitting on the grass.

They looked at her and snorted.

"Yeah but no thanks" answered one of them.

"Actually why are you doing all this?" Pointed out a blond tall girl, probably the leader of the group.

"We are spreading the real meaning of Islam" she answered happy they asked.

"Oh yeah?" She mocked, standing up.

Firdaws nodded and continued.

"Yes actually there is a quote in all the roses so that you can learn something about our religion. Here take one!"

"Thank you!" She took it and quickly detached the quote she threw on Firdaws' face.

The group laughed out loud, took all her roses, broke them and threw them at her. Bursting into laughter, they couldn’t control themselves and soon enough people were all around her.

"Terrorists offering roses! I've never seen that!" The blond girl added.

Her friend continued : " maybe they are actually bombs!" Some people laughed their heads out.

Firdaws had roses everywhere when she tried to take them off, their spines entered her skin and let some red bruises on her hands. Some people were laughing while other tried not to look at her and did as they've never seen anything. She held her tears and red faced she picked all the roses spread on the grass. She didn’t want to answer with violence. She controlled herself as best as she could. A tear escaped her eyes.

"There's nothing to see! You guys go back to your tanning please! And Alissa please" he turned to the blond girl "next time you do something to her you'll have to deal with me" Alissa rolled her eyes.

"Whatever terrorists" but Zayd was listening anymore, he turned to face Firdaws and noticed her tears.

"Are you okay?" Zayd finally asked, picking the last roses on the grass.

"Yeah thanks" she couldn’t be more grateful and yet she didn’t know how to express it. "I should have been more careful"

"I swear if she comes close to you, she'll remember me at the hospital"

Firdaws laughed.

"You know I'll check by myself if that's right" they laughed and made their way to the stand.

Somehow she managed to get rid of the spines and red petals on her hijab.

"Please don’t tell Ahmad" she asked him, almost pleading.

Zayd knew she would say that. She didn’t want her brother to worry about her. That's why he simply nodded and helped her before catching up with his friends.