Falling Innocently

Chapter 4 -Juvenile

Chapter 4 –Juvenile

"Among His signs is that He created for you mates from among yourselves, in order to have tranquility with them, and He put love and mercy between your (hearts), verily in that are signs for those who reflect."

-Quran 30:21

"Aahil!" Raees and Tariq yelled simultaneously. It was a norm for them to be thinking on the same wavelength, since they were not only twins, but also best friends. They had been friends with Aahil since they moved to Lenasia when they were just all starting high school. Unfortunately for them, at that time Aahil was already friends with a bunch of other boys who were from his co-ed primary school.

Disturbing as it was for Aahil, he was separated with his friends when they were all split in to the other class and he was left alone. Hesitant and still a little unsure in the new, small town, the twins had approached him. At first, he was surprised that they had approached him, but he could not –or rather would not –tell them that. Most people were afraid of him, and many of his friends at that time were only his friends because he was one of the best soccer players they had –and he was amazingly skilled at fishing.

"Aahil!" they yelled again finally managing to break him out of his thoughts of their first meeting.

"What happened, brother?" Raees –the older of the two, the more sympathetic of the two –asked him.

Aahil smiled secretively and shook his head. "Nothing," he muttered.

Tariq laughed. "Yeah, you're a hafiz, brother. You should not be lying," he smirked at Aahil.

Raees whacked Tariq upside his head. "You're a Muslim, you shouldn't be lying," he told Aahil.

Aahil, still not in the mood to share, just shook his head.

"Really?" Raees asked. "Because there is a light flush to your skin, and I saw you walk out of that canteen smiling like you had won the lottery. Not to mention that you haven't even taken a sip of that tea you bought."

Aahil sighed defeated. "There was this sister standing there talking about marriage, and I couldn't help but overhear her, as much as I tried not to listen. She was so young, and energetic and so excited about marriage, but it seemed as if her parents had not approved of it."

The twins widened their eyes. They knew how Aahil felt about marriage, simply because they felt that way themselves. Bonding not only over their school days, they had also done their hifz together in high school, and for that reason, they understood the value of a Nikkah. They understood the value of a Halaal love. It was something that every Allah fearing Muslim wanted. It was something they had all dreamed about. "And?" Tariq prompted.

Aahil laughed, and then suddenly the image of the shy sister talking to her friend came to his mind when he corrected her hadith. "She was talking to her friend about marriage and how she quoted her father a hadith, but then she had the words mixed up, and you know what I am like, right? So, before I knew what I was doing, I corrected her. But shame, the poor sister got shy and ducked her head and couldn't speak. Her poor friend spoke to me!"

They laughed, but not at the shy sisters. It was more that their reactions seemed funny. "Wait, there they are!" Aahil said getting a little bit too excited. He pointed to two young sisters dressed in loose fitting jeans, long tops that went down below their knees and scarves that matched their tops and cardigans.

"Masha Allah," Tariq said at the same time that Raees said, "Subhanallah."

Aahil grimaced, but he had no reason why he had done that. They were his friends and they understood his plight. They probably understood him before he could sometimes understand himself. "Do you know who that is?" Tariq asked him.