Him & His Muslimah

29

Zaib

"Now, we just need to finalize the one you'd like out of the fifty designs here." The guy with trimmed mustache pulled out a thick book of card designs and started flipping through the pages.

The entire team of designers, catering businesses and flower arrangements had gathered today at Zaib's home. Since the wedding date had been set to the twentieth of March, which was in three months, wedding preparations were hectic. Zoya's side was preparing for the marriage ceremony (Nikah) while Zaib's side prepared the post-marriage-reception (Walima).

As the entire team went for a lunch break, Zaib and his own family sat down to eat together.

"So, are you enjoying this chaos son?" His father chuckled as he piled his plate with food.

"It's exhausting, but I'm willing to do whatever it takes to make the ceremony special," Zaib whispered a 'Bismillah' before digging into his food.

"I remember when I was getting married to your mother. It took a lot of time and effort in the preparations since she didn't like anything!" His father looked teasingly at his mother who rolled her eyes and sipped her green tea.

Zaib's father raised his eyebrows and met eyes with Zaib who was already smirking before they both chortled.

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After Zaib made sure to see off every member of the wedding preparation team, he joined his family inside the living room where everyone was gathered around the television.

Zaib couldn't help but hear his mother's phone conversation with his aunt as it was about the wedding. "Yeah dates are set, but the cards aren't sent out yet. You know how hectic things get Afeesa."

Upon realizing it was his favorite aunt on the other side of the call, he walked over to where his mom was sitting. "Can I talk to her as well?" He whispered as he sat down next to her.

His mother handed him the phone.

"Assalamu Alaykum auntie Afeesa!" He enthusiastically greeted which was returned by an equally excited response. "How is my favourite nephew doing? I heard wedding preparations are tiring you all out."

"Yeah but it's all worth it in the end. Zoya deserves the best," he shyly replied as he heard a soft squeal across the phone. His aunt was a huge romantic and was the most excited person in his whole family for this wedding.

"That is so sweet, I can't wait to meet the lucky girl. It's going to be interesting seeing who captivated my stubborn nephew," she teased.

Zaib smiled to himself as Zoya re-entered his mind, "Yeah, you're gonna love her."

"So what kind of approach are you going for at the wedding? Traditional, I suppose, our roots are Pakistani after all." She stated in a matter of fact tone. Zaib quietened.

"Well, Zoya isn't Pakistani though."

"She's not Pakistani!" Zaib chuckled. "We both made it clear we don't want culture to intervene in the Islamic way of marriage."

"Well, I just assumed she was ethnically Pakistani as well considering how smoothly you guys connected. What is her ethnicity then?"

"I- actually don't know where she is from as we just didn't get to that conversation yet," Zaib furrowed his eyebrows realizing there was something major he didn't know about Zoya and added it to his questions-to-Zoya list.

"But it really doesn't matter at the end of the day. In Islam everyone is equal and love is the key to a marriage."

There was unfortunately a prejudice in his more traditional side of the family about marrying from other ethnicities and he would be the first one to do so. He didn't want this to be a problem for Zoya.