Their Compatibility

Chapter Eighteen

Their Compatibility
Eighteen:

{Lockdown Day 1}

Jumuah, the most beautiful day in the lives of Muslims. 1st Shabaan – The beginning of the month which precedes the blessed month of Ramadaan. Subhaan-Allah!

Mikaeel was edgy and restless…He was not going to miss his Jumuah, but there was no way that he could get to a musjid nearby…then how? That was the question.

A knock on the door brought him back to Earth. It was Gafoor.

“As-salaamu-alaikum bro.” Gafoor greeted.

“Wa-alaikum salaam, this is a pleasant surprise…How did you get passed the cops?” Mikael lifted a brow.

“I made a plan to get here…You know what they say: Where there’s a will, there’s a way.” Gafoor winked at him before walking past him and straight to where he knew the family would be gathered. The kitchen.

As soon as Mikaeel realized that his friend had forgotten about Diya being in niqaab, he caught up with him and spoke in a high tone so that his wife knew they had company. It was just as well that he did that because Radiya composed herself as well and readied to face the man that she thought she would never see for the full 21 days.

“This is the best surprise!” Mikaeel’s father got up to greet the man that was like a second son to him.

“Now we can make Jumuah salaah instead of Zuhr, can’t we?” the old man looked hopefully to where Mikaeel stood.

“1 man short, we need 4.” Mikaeel said, not hiding his disappointment.

Diya, who just entered the kitchen, was still tying her niqaab in place when Gafoor smiled up at her.

“There you are. I was wondering if this friend of mine was hiding you somewhere.”

Diya greeted him with salaam and reassured him that that was not the case at all. When she came to know the topic of discussion, she advised them to try and get the neighbors to join them if they wanted to perform salaah in jamaat.

“Good idea…” Gafoor was already getting ready to leave the house, so Mikaeel looked over at his wife and told her he would be right back.

As soon as they got to the neighbor’s house and the door opened, Mikaeel was taken aback. Who was that guy who greeted them? He wondered as he had never seen him around before.

“Aadil, I’m the son that was never around, I’m actually back here to take care of my parents and find myself a wife. Not the ideal time to do that, but what to do…” the guy introduced himself before Mikaeel could enquire.

As soon as the plans fell into place, Gafoor and Mikaeel walked back toward home and that was when Gafoor decided to tell Mikaeel his actual reason of being there.

“Bro, I know this isn’t the right time and you will want to kill me, but here goes… I really love Radiya and I want to marry her as soon as it can be arranged.” Gafoor turned red in the face when Mikaeel just stared at him in surprise.

“Radz? Really? How is it that I didn’t know about this sooner?” Mikaeel asked, already thinking about how fortunate he was that his best-friend was possibly going to be his brother-in-law very soon.

“Does Radiya know your intention?” Mikaeel asked when they were at the doorstep.

“No, she just thinks that I came to visit as I usually do.” Gafoor sounded nervous now and Mikaeel couldn’t help but laugh at him.

“You and nervous don’t go together. Let’s go and break the news to the family, yeah?”  Mikaeel was making sure that his best-friend was comfortable with the idea.

The family, as was expected were ecstatic but also concerned over how things were going to progress with the virus still in the air.

“No big function will be allowed?” Yaseera cried out in exasperation but Radiya was not even worried about that kind of thing.

“The Nikah with the least expenditure is the most blessed of Nikahs.” Mikaeel winked at his sister to let her know that he knew what her heart wanted.

“A hasty and small Nikah can be organized by us and Gafoor’s family.” His father piped up and was already getting Gafoor to call his parents over.

“I don’t think the cops will allow them through but if we could just get them on the same page as us, I think we can have this thing done by tonight itself?” Diya gave her advice and her father-in-law agreed with her.

Radiya was already blushing when Gafoor asked her if that was what she wanted.

“If you want to wait and do things calmly, I will totally understand.” He assured her.

Radiya waited until everybody else withered away before telling Gafoor that she didn’t need more time to be away from him.
“I don’t want there to be any regrets, so the faster we can get through this, the better.”

The Jumuah that Mikaeel was worried about passed by rather swiftly with Aadil being Imam because he was somewhat learned in that field. And because he knew rulings etc, he was asked to perform the Nikah of Radiya and Gafoor at Maghrib time that evening.

A wedding during a pandemic… Could it get any more surprising?

Ayesha Ally
A.M.I ©