My New Home

Chapter Seventeen

The next day was one of bliss as well. I made sure to always call my home to check on my family and also ask about the progress on Sulaiman.

Soon, it was just a day to the date of resumption of duty at the publishing company. I joined Ameerah at the main room where we chatted and played for a long time before I decided to ask her if she knew the reason why the children were sent to the boarding at such young ages. The knowledge about the children living faraway from home never left my mind and it seemed funny that I thought earlier that no child belonged to the family.

She changed her sitting posture and wore the face of a story teller just like she did last time and lunched fully into it.

“Remember I told you last time that Umu Adio and Hajia are half sisters". She began. "Prior to their marriage, Abu Sufyan who is Hajia's husband went to her parents to seek her hand out in marriage while Abu Anas also did the same to ask the same person's hand. Eventually Abu Sufyan was the person Hajia chose and Abu Anas who realised that he has lost decided to go for the other sister. Umu adio who was short tempered became livid that why didn’t he show any interest in her in the beginning and only decided to show an interest when he was rejected. She doesn’t plan to be anyone’s second choice for a bride". She paused dramatically before continuing.

"Her parents persuaded her and she was convinced. In the end, they went ahead with the marriage. What we thought was over, apparently was just starting when they eventually moved to the same flat and Hajia and her husband got the master bedroom”.

“They fought over everything and was never willing to compromise. Their husbands were not prepared to move to another house and their wives would need to suck it up. They were made to attend several lectures, advised and counselled but then, their issue kept going back and forth that you would have thought they were co-wives. Their misunderstanding continued until they gave birth and their children were a major witness to their fights and disagreement to the extent that they go to their respective parents and report to them what they heard the other person say. This resulted in other disagreement and also, while other children were discussing about toys and their favourite cartoons they watched, they discuss about who can fight the best among their two parents, the children as young as they were then were enemies to each other. So, in order to curb it, Alhaji moved the kids to our flat but the change of environment didn’t help since they still had a chance to meet often”.

“So Alhaji finally decided that the children should be sent to boarding school so that they could be separated from their parents and when their mothers eventually share the same pain of having their children faraway from them, they began getting closer".

When they both had their second child, though not silmultaneously and they were about five and six years old respectively, Alhaji send the younger ones to boarding schools too”.

“Now, they only come home on holidays and when they do, their father is always quick to send them to Arabic classes and the only time their parents have with them is spent judiciously and the sisters are now as close as ever and you would never have imagined that they had a rocky relationship from the onset”. She said concluding her story.

“The reason I took my time in telling you all of my family stories even those ones they would have preferred to be kept a secret was because i don’t want you to see us as perfect creatures just because we are Muslims". She explained as though she read my mind.

"I think Allah granted me the ability to study people like an open book and what I observed in you is the fact that you placed us on a pedestal because you thought Muslim families should do no wrong and must be perfect in all ramifications but we’re only human. We bleed like others, we hurt, we take offense, we also gossip, backbite, fight and we do every other thing that people out there does. The only difference we can make is to try to our maximum capacity to right our wrongs, to renew our faith by attending lectures, to soften our minds by chanting as much Adkaars as possible and to observe our salat as at when due since it’s our foremost obligation in this world. That’s what makes us Muslims”.