Zindagi

2

Dear Zindagi, It was 12th of June 2017, lol feels like 12th date is a big day for me :p

On that day we had two invitations, lunch coz there was a nikah ceremony  and dinner coz there was a Waleema. The former was of the ladies relatives, who works at our house and the latter was of some of our relative. There are so many relatives that I don't even know. Some I know by face and some by name and I cherish those relatives who are closer to me.

"Why is the atmosphere so much noisy?" I wondered at the songs which were thumping from somewhere at the back of our house. And then giving answers to my own question I exclaimed 'must be some baaraat' (the grooms friends and relatives going for the nikah).

"Samraaa appi." Came a voice from down to which I answered on top my lungs while I was indulged in my beloved book.

"Ammi has asked to get ready for the wedding." my sister informed me and I still sat there focusing on the book. I decided to read it till the end of the page taking lightly to the message of ammi coz I just had to wear an abaya and a niqab without touching up some typical make ups, perks of following Islam.

When I was content with the amount of words being read, I jumped out of the bed to climb down the stairs and while going down I met someone on the way.

"What is this noise all about?" I asked.

"It must be the baaraat of where we are heading in a while." She said and parted off making me awe struck.
What should I do? I couldn't go there where haram things were practiced. I walked down and sat in front of ammi, battling how to tell her that I wasn't willing to go.

I opened my mouth to tell her but couldn't and instead she ordered me to get ready making me puzzled about my decision.

"Music is involved in the wedding, how can we attend?" I exclaimed it to my sisters.

"Yeah but you know appi (our maid) has invited us so many times." one of my sister replied.

"She even came here some hours ago to invite us again and to request us for accepting her invitation." my other sister spoke.

"She always calls us with pure heart and she would feel bad if we don't attend the wedding despite her so much effort. And yeah she pointed out that EVERY ONE of us should accept her invitation." my sister spoke making me swirl in my decision.

We are likely to reject the invitation where haram things are involved. Music? It is obviously haraam. *sighs* But breaking the heart of a Muslim who is economically less in status will be a matter of pride and heartbreak was what I was more concerned about. Had it been a lavish party, I would have proudly rejected by the will of Allah but rejecting an invitation of a poor person made my heart gloomy.

I climbed up the stairs deeply thinking about it and there's something I noticed all of a sudden. The noise pollution had stopped, the music had stopped. Alhamdulillah. And there's something I realised when I thought about it. Firstly I wasn't even sure if the music was involved in that particular ceremony and secondly the wedding ceremony is usually arranged by the bride side of family and the baraat is usually taken by the grooms side and so music was involved by the baratis not the gharatis, the ones who invited us. I know typical thoughts lol. Anyways we were all ready to set off and walked down the street as the place was 5-10 minutes of distance from our house.

My heart was silently praying for no-music-wedding-ceremony coz if there's music involved then I would be disobeying my Lord and that's what a believer is all concerned about. We entered a place and saw men sitting on chairs, fixing their socket at the new entry of niqabis. The chairs were spread all over the street, a tent covering them and the girls section was a little inside.

"Huh they aren't coming to our ceremony." I heard some man saying as I passed by them and many exclaiming something which I obviously didn't get to know.

There was sigh of relief when I witnessed the ceremony without the involvement of music. Alhamdulillah.

When we entered the ladies section, of course we were the centre of attraction and no way was I going to put off my niqab when there was no barrier between both the sections. As we stopped mid way, everyone stood up and were leaving chairs for us to sit. People were made to stand who were already sitting on their particular chairs just to make us sit. We were taken to some other place for the meal and the way we were treated Subhan Allah as if we were some special VIPs, as if we were queens.

There are more things to be narrated but I guess this much is enough for my conclusion.

Why were we given such VIP treatment? Why did we stood out extra ordinary in that crowd? Just because we were rich? Right. Just because we were richer than those present there. But why does this human race measure how a person is to be treated by the amount of balance in his bank? Why does a man is looked upon by the material lifestyle he's living? I am not against those who treat their guest with the best of manners because Islam encourages us to do so but my point is had we been the host and had they been the guest, we would never have treated them the way they did to us. When a poor person visits a rich person, he isn't given the attention, the way a rich person is given. I am sorry but this is the sad reality I've been brought up with which I realised when I visited the poor people. Actually it made me realise that money makes a man proud and walk arrogantly on earth making him think that he is above those poor people. We may be rich by status but what does this richness avail us when our heart is still poor? May Allah make us among those who aren't arrogant to the poor people and may we treat them the same as we treat the high status people. Ameen.

People live on this earth connected by all kinds of relationships, all of which carry some weight or have some attraction in their lives… these include lineage, power, wealth, etc. From these stem other connections, practical, economic, etc., where people have different positions and levels of status with regard to one another. So some people have more status than others in worldly terms… Then Islam comes and says: “the most honourable of you with Allaah [God] is that (believer) who has al-taqwa [i.e., is one of the muttaqoon or pious] [Surah hujuraat].

The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “O people! Verily your Lord is One and your father [Adam] is one. An Arab is no better than a non-Arab, and a non-Arab is no better than an Arab; a red man is no better than a black man and a black man is no better than a red man – except if it is in terms of taqwa (piety)…” (Reported by Imaam Ahmad, 22391; al-Silsilat al-Saheeh, 2700).