UMAR'S POINT OF VIEW
So this time it was I who called mom. I knew it would be very difficult to convince her. I knew that she had dreams about her daughter in law like all the Pakistani mothers but I couldn't do anything about it. I was in love. And that was all I knew. Katherine asked me to marry her and I couldn't say no to her and said yes. Upon this she asked me to meet her parents and so I did. The wanted to talk to my parents before we got engaged and I was about to tell my mother about it. She picked up the phone. Her voice was sleepy. I think I called a little late.
"How I are you mom?" this time I was the one who asked this question.
"I'm fine. Is everything ok? You usually don't call at this time." She sounded worried.
"Yes, everything is fine. I just wanted to give you good news."
"Yeah I'm waiting." Came the prompt reply.
"I'm getting engaged." I said in a low voice. I was even a little worried about her reaction.
"What?" she sounded surprised.
"Yeah I'm getting engaged to a girl named Katherine."
"What? You are getting engaged to a Christian?"
"Yeah so what?" I knew she would ask about this.
"SO WHAT? You are a Muslim. Have you forgotten it?" she sounded worried.
"No, obviously I've not forgotten this.... But I guess you have forgotten that a Muslim is allowed to marry a Christian as they are also the people of book." I told her all that I knew.
"But you know our family. They will create a fuss about it and I will have to answer a million questions." She started crying.
"But we are not supposed to care about the people mom. Allah has permitted to do this, so why should we care about them." I didn't know what to say upon this anymore moreover when she started crying I got even more confused.
"Ok... at least stop crying so, that I can make my point clear." I was feeling annoyed now.
"There is no point to be made clear. You cannot get engaged and that is my final decision about this." She said in a loud voice.
"This is not something about you. This is my life and I will make the decisions. Plus I don't think that I am even doing something wrong." I got really angry now but I tried to keep my voice calm.
"Ok than you can do whatever you want." and with that she cut the call.
I don't know what I did wrong. I only wanted to get engaged with a girl I liked.
I felt like crap. I lied down on the mattress and closed my eyes. I felt really tired.
I woke up and felt really dizzy. I realized that I had not taken my dinner last night. I took my breakfast quickly and went to pick Katherine.
She was having breakfast when I reached there.
"You are late today." She said looking at me with dreamy eyes.
"Yeah I was a little tired last night so I slept for a little long." I said sitting next to her.
"Why? What did you do last night without me?" she said smiling. She had dimples and I loved them. I couldn't resist kissing her on the cheek.
"Nothing without you. I just had a bad talk with mom." I said looking down.
"Did you tell her about us?" she said looking worried.
"Yeah" I felt ashamed.
"No problem. Everything will be fine. We still have time you can talk to her again. I hope she understands this time. Now change that sad look and smile." She said smiling.
I smiled for her. I told her that I will meet her at lunch. I left for work after that.
I opened my laptop and had a mail about the interview with some writer. I called mam Caroline about it and also invited her on my engagement which was day after tomorrow. She seemed quite and gave one word answers to everything I said.
She reached at the office and was wearing a hijab. I got stuck. She was saying my name when I came out of my zone.
"Yes mam?" I said walking towards her.
"I want you to make all the arrangements for the interview our guest is about to arrive.
"Ok mam." I said and walked away.
"What happened to her?" one of my colleagues said.
I don't know why but I felt like defending her.
"I don't think you should be concerned about what happened to her." I said looking at him.
"Ohk dude. Relax." He said looking surprised.
I knew that she was going through something but I never thought that I would witness such a change in her sometime soon.
I went to her office to tell her that I had made the arrangements and that she could come now.
"I wanted to tell you that I'm a Muslim now. So, I want you to keep a check about where you order my food from now on." She told me looking at her laptop screen.
"Umm okay...Congratulations mam. I will keep a check." I said and walked out of the cabin.
YOU ARE READING
Echoes Of The Heart
SpiritualWe, the one's born with Islam as a part of our identity, seem to forget sometimes what treasure we own, how easy it was for us. On the other hand for someone to get to Islam by the desire to believe and pray to someone mighty and powerful is heart...