Modesty Is Beauty

Peeking into the Past

Fareed got out of his house reciting 'Ayat ul Kursi' (an ayah of Quran) and got into his car. He could feel the eyes of his wife watching him so he looked up and there she was. He smiled knowing she wouldn't shut the door until his car has left the drive way. He drove off and stopped at his regular spot checking if his wife has shut the door. Once satisfied that his wife has shut the door safely, he sped off to get to his friend who was ill.

Rayyan was his best friend and he doesn't live with his family. When he was eighteen, he left his house and started living seperately. The effects of living in London!

Fareed also wanted a house of his own and he did move out of the house but when things didn't turn out the way he had wanted he went back to his parents. Now, when he thinks about it, he feels bad for hurting his parents. Recalling those days, he smiled as that was when he saw Waniya after five years and decided it was time to confess his feeling to her.

He had stayed out of the house for two weeks and those two weeks were really hard for his parents. They kept crying because they didn't know where he went all of a sudden. They even informed the police but when they told the police that he was twenty five. They replied that he probably went out by his own will but they would check the hospitals in case if he had an accident or something.

In England, children usually starts to live on their own after eighteen but it only happens in Christian families not in Muslims so they didn't know that their son wanted to live independently since he was eighteen. It was then that Waniya's parents moved from Dubai to London. Waniya's dad, Aziz supported his younger brother emotionally in that period which brought the two families closer than they already were.

Waniya was the only daughter of Aziz and Ameera, born five years after their marriage so even though Ghazi married a year after his elder brother, his son Fareed was elder than Waniya.

When Fareed had come back after his adventure, he didn't know about the emotional state of his parents. He didn't even know about his uncle's family shifting to London. He had met Waniya when she was seventeen and since then he had a crush on her. She was the type of girl who takes her religion very seriously and he was inpired by her. At first he had thought that it was just a crush but that day when he came home and saw her laughing with his mother he came to know that it was not a mere crush, it was love. He loved her. He loved her love for her religion.

Waniya had opened the door that day and he was shocked to see her but not more shocked than her. She froze where she was standing. She couldn't believe that the guy standing in front of her was really her cousin. He looked like he hadn't eaten anything for months. She heard someone asking who was at the door but she was too shock to even blink her eye.

Fareed's brother who was getting impatient now as to why Waniya was taking so long to answer, stood up and went to the front door. He froze for a moment but then he said, "Fareed?"

Upon hearing his name, Fareed came back to his senses and nodding at his younger brother, stepped inside the house. Waniya moved from her place and went upstairs as her fingers started to hurt. She was holding the end of the scarf with her hand to cover her face. She was a niqabi and she covered herself from her cousins as well. She went upstairs but she could hear what was going on downstairs.

Fareed's parents were happy to see him after two weeks. Fareed's dad even asked him where he was and he was about to answer but Aziz stopped him looking at the state he was in. Aziz asked his wife to make something to eat for the boy so they can talk after he has eaten something. Asma, Fareed's mother quickly got up to make something for the apple of her eye. Her motherhood was finally at peace seeing her elder son. She warmed the lasagna which Waniya made and gave it to her son. He smiled at his mother and started eating not aware of the eyes which were on him all the time helding so much questions for him. When he was finished he mumbled Alhamdulillah and stood up to wash his hands. Just when he came back, his father asked him about his whereabouts.