Sidratul Muntaha

Chapter 17 🌕

Bismillahi Rrahmaani Rraheem•

Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu•

This is another chapter where Sidra's parts had to be slightly altered. If we continue this way then In sha Allah with minimal changes we will reach the point we stopped pretty soon. In sha Allah.

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Zarabeel had once been the centre for learned men and the books were imported from all over the world. There used to be literary papers presented here and also debates had been raised on various topics. It was also famous for the most beautiful adhan that was called out five times a day. The Muadhdin was Aidh bin Kaab. He was also sometimes the Imam of Zarabeel. His piety was still famous all over Zarabeel but now, nobody took his name aloud in fear of being punished by the Crown.

When Mansoor became the King, Zarabeel changed. The learned men were captured and asked to support the crown or be punished. Many of them were captured and put into prisons and some were prosecuted publicly, increasing the fear within people's hearts. They didn't dare protest against Mansoor. So the presentations and debates gradually stopped and the learned men either fleed or rolled over to Mansoor's side in helplessness. Bahaas escaped the notice by somehow burrowing inside his dome and not appearing in the public. People soon forgot about him and he faded out of the picture by blurring his presence.

Another person who was captured and asked to turn to Mansoor's government was Aidh ibn Kaab, who was twenty years old then. His taqwa though placed him at the highest level of imaan. He was asked to call out Mansoor's name in the place of the Adhan and he refused vehemently. His refusal earned him the label of the most notorious prisoner of Zarabeel. He was put in the prison and was gradually forgotten by everyone. Nineteen years were a long time to be inside a prison heavily guarded. He hadn't seen the light of the day since nineteen years. They said he had gone blind and mad. This was the price he had paid for sticking to the truth in the time of darkness.

The moon was still spreading it's magic over Zarabeel and the crowd had increased in the numbers and merriment. Zarabeel was once a city of Deen, now it just reflected corruption. The people were right now finding places to spend their time to enjoy. The leading places were pubs, where different types of wine were served with pomp and dancers danced to the thums of music. The musicians and these dancers were venerated. These places were opened all over the town. As the night progressed, people began to drown in alcohol and dance mindlessly over each other in their drunk merriment. The very angels became ashamed of such behavior and left the place.

One such pub was raised right opposite to the High Security Zarabeel Prison, where the prisoners were thrown in the dark cells and were never ever taken out. Their food and water was wrapped in papers and slunk through a small opening in the metal doors enclosing their dark, damp rooms. The food was so meagre that sometimes when the arrogance of these prisoners had bled away with time, the hunger made them eat the very paper in which the food was wrapped. They were provided with a corner, dug out for doing their businesses and through a hole the feces flowed and were dumped in the gutter behind. And from the small hollow bamboo stem in the wall, a little amount of water was dumped in the earthen tub right below it in the corner to wash away their filth.

The guards didn't feel the need to take many rounds in these corridors because the doors held firm and did their job. Once every morning and once every night the guards came with food and water and did their customary rounds before going and sitting in the main room at the front. Even if any prisoner died, they didn't check it. When the corpse rotted and the bodies smell of decay, the prisoner was removed and dumped in a grave unceremoniously. That was the time when these prisoners were freed.

Every fourteenth night of the month, the noises from outside were so loud that the guards and the prisoners could hear them inside. The guards then took turns to go and join the merriment in the opposite pub and some prisoners wished that they could have seen this night too and themselves attested the wine and danced with the most graceful dancers.