Garin Mazugal

chapter 7.

The effort he exerted in calling this name was evidently represented in the way his veins stood out his neck. His voice had this tone...a tone of frustration, despair and desperation. This was a girl he has been waiting on for 2years.Now, someone as greedy and inexperienced as Rabiu ? It's impossible. Rabiu can't and won't have her. He was sure of making a try. He tried to compose himself,hiding the interest he has in the case.

   "OK but you know islamically what you're about doing is wrong. You need to first and foremost be able to provide for your family. Then you have to..."

"Mallam forget all this things. I'm getting married to Hauwa. The sooner every son of Mazugal sees that,the better for them".

Mal Ishaq was pained. His manner of speech was of no concern to him. He was however scared at how confident Rabiu sounded. Like he has everything under lock and key. Mal Ishaq's mind danced towards the only picture of Hauwa he has seen some 18 months ago. An elastic smile started to adorn the perimeter of his face,clearly oblivious of the people around him. Tosin stood on her toes. She liked the path he was headed at first but what she can't understand is the smile. Her mouth wide open,too surprised to talk on one hand and scared to talk so as not to hear anything on the other

" Mallam " Rabiu's voice pelted him back to reality. The fear of losing Hauwa and the realisation of the person who will be responsible for the loss sent shivers down his spine. He was frightened and desperate.

  "Wai menene(What is it)?"

Anger written all over.

"Ai we were talking. Then you started starring at space,smiling.."

"Kai Babanku (Your father)!"

"Mallaaaaam?" Rabiu screamed evidently surprised. Even his Tosin who quite honestly is as good enough a wife that one can get,opened her mouth. This time,wider than ever.

   "Na barku na ce fa ( I said I'm going)!"

The smile returned but this time,to melt the hearts of those in front of him into a line of acceptance.

"Salaamun alaikum"

He said leaving behind a befuddled couple.

CHAPTER 7
Religion is not joked with in Mazugal. A predominantly Muslim community, the sound of adhan (Islamic call to prayer)  divorces them from hustles and concomitantly giving them peace in the house of Allah. The irony of everything is the high percentage of hypocrisy sleeping in the community. Religion is used to exploit,cheat, settle scores and score individual achievement. If Imams went absent for a day,some places in Mazugal won't pray because they have no knowledge...and even if they did pray, the person standing for the imam will mumble his recitation, twisting it with ropes of acoustics with the aim of xenobombulating his followers. It's in Mazugal you'll find a man selling spoilt food stuffs immediately after leaving the mosque. In Mazugal market,a man swearing by Allah is not accorded any respect. This is because majority of those who had done that turned out to be liars,cheats and opportunist. They say with ease,

"In Karya ne,Allah ya kona ni( If what I've juste said is a lie, the wrath of Allah should be on me)!"

on issues they knows they're  wrong. They sometimes feel big,strengthened by the menacing networks of black magic and dark arts,behaving in ways of the ignorant.

   One Mazugalian was moving on the highway. Security officers stopped him for the customary checks. After sifting through all the necessary documents, they still weren't satisfied. The man was looking too confident to be normal and too brave not to be suspected. They ordered him down,showing him a search warrant to search his car. He refused and resisted saying