My New Home

Chapter Sixteen

Jamal called me on phone to wake me up for salah otherwise I would have woken up late. My dad goes to the masjid everyday for morning salah but he never imposed the same on us. Although we do pray, but we do it at our convenience and not at the right time and my dad is okay with it as long as we prayed.

I asked my siblings to join me in salah and gave them a longer lecture with the hope that mum would have finished with her morning devotion by the time we were done. Dad came back from the mosque and when he sights us, he joined. I noticed a proud smile on his face while I was giving the lecture. After the lecture, I requested a private time with my dad and we spoke in earnest. I told him the reason for my presence and pleaded with him not repeat the threat of divorcing my mum. He claimed that he was serious about it and he should have taken such decision earlier.

“How would i face my lord on the day of resurrection?" Dad asked rhetorically." When I’m about to enter the paradise Insha Allah and my children holds me back because I’m the major cause of their problem and it's all my fault after all, there were several Muslim sisters to pick from when I needed a partner but chose your mum. I refused to marry a woman of the same faith because your mum looked more outgoing and had a glamorous beauty".

"I lied to myself saying I’ll try to revert her when I already knew it was an impossible task with the level of her investment in the Christianity and commitment to church duties. Almighty Allah already told us that it’s more desirable for us to marry a believing slave than an unbeliever and he also warned us that a person that chose an unbeliever as a close friend is hated by him but I married her despite knowing this fact. I wanted to eat my cake and have it, in the end I got nothing. My son is a druggie, another one blatantly insulted me by saying bless me Jesus after i sneezed in the mosque while lecture was ongoing”. Father paused ashamed.

I wondered who that was but I didn’t interrupt him.

“Another one wanted to marry into a home that’s unstable as ours. He continued. Two of my girls too enjoyed singing song of praises and flaunting their Bible quote on social network with me unable to do anything about it after all they give me their fair share of attention”.

I listened to him pour his heart out and secretely hoped I could make a few changes before going back to Lagos.

“I’ve failed as a father". Dad said with deep resentment. "And even though it’s late, I wanted to make things right. I don’t know how, but I hope Allah will guide me and the first step I could think of is divorcing their mum”.He concluded.

“I get where you’re coming from and I understand your thinking but you do know mums uncle is a very good lawyer". I tried explaining.

"Are you sure that if you divorce her, she won’t take you to take court and get custody of the children, then you’ll lose them totally" . I reasoned with him. "I would advise you to increase your effort in encouraging us. With all due respect sir, you never wake us in time for prayers and I used to think that we can pray at our convenience. You don’t invite us to lectures or any program for that matter. Mum took advantage of that and made sure that we never missed any church program. Perhaps, if you could make as much effort as mum does, there’s likely to be changes”.

He looked at me in understanding before he replied. “My daughter is all grown up and wise. Alhamdullilah! I like this side of you and I pray that Almighty Allah bless you and your in-laws and accept your prayers. They’ve succeeded in doing what I failed to perfect for twenty five years”.

“You did give your best dad, otherwise I won’t have the goal of perfecting my Deen and just so you know, I’m still far from perfect. I’m still learning and I pray Allah guide us all to the right path. So let’s put a hold on the divorce stuff and instead focus solely on Sulaiman’s health and how to help the family get better”.