The Nearest Heaven

THANK YOU

Acknowledgements and thank you

This story began as a challenge to myself over four years ago. After completing my first Islamic and halaal love story, Falling Innocently, I found that I did not like the typical cliché kind of story that Falling Innocently had turned out to be. 

With that, the wheels in my head begun turning and that was when I was hit with the idea of The Nearest Heaven - only it had no name as yet, not much of a plot or any main characters apart from the 'quadriplegic guy' I knew I wanted. 

On a whim, I decided that I would choose the first ayah that I saw on Instagram, and you guessed it, it was the ayah from Surah Mulk  - "And we have certainly beautified the nearest heaven..."

From that point on, the story grew and developed on its own. It was most definitely a challenge for me - I had no idea what it actually took to work with anyone who struggled to do their basic necessities, let alone a quadriplegic. I had to do research and try and find a way to make it less about an actual medical journey and more of a mental journey. 

Faraaz and Fadiyah both struggle and struggled with mental health - and that is okay. We need to promote that seeking therapy is fine. Do not despair. Seek help, seek advice.

Fadiyah was in an abusive relationship - that is NOT fine, and we need to address that in our communities. We need to stop sweeping it all under the rug. 

Faraaz and Fadiyah's story had many facets to tackle and explore and I hope that I have done a good job with that. 

Live in the moment, but not for the moment. Live, learn and love and laugh. Just today, 8th December 2020, I read a post about a woman who married a guy she loved and because he was brought up by a single mother, he wanted his rural mother to live with them. Their city life clashed with the rural mother-in-law, but the daughter-in-law bore all the unnecessary comments with patience. Until one day, the mother-in-law cooked and asked the son (read as: fought with the son) to make his wife eat the mother's food. The daughter-in-law ate it and immediately threw up - so, the mother-in-law made a big fuss about the situation. The woman left the house and went to the doctor. She was pregnant.   When she found out, she saw her husband at the hospital. 

Long story short, the mother-in-law died, the husband found out that she was pregnant and she became stubborn (A LOT had happened between husband and wife before they ended up at this point) because he suddenly wanted to make up when he found out that she was pregnant. So, at night, she would hear him cry out in pain, but she knew that he was faking it because he would do that when they were happily married and she would run to see what happened and they would make up, only now, she ignored him. Eventually, she found out that he had stage 4 cancer of liver and he wasn't going to make it. She gave birth and not too long later, the father of the baby died. 

Between the husband and wife, they both held grudges against one another and they had never made much effort to reconcile. Pride and stubbornness kept them apart and then... it was too late. 

Don't live your life in regret. Make up with those you love, forgive them endlessly and be patient and present in your life. 

In this four year journey of this story, I learned a lot. 

I am grateful for every single reader that has stood by me - whether you joined me from the start, or along the journey, or whether you hopped aboard just before it all ended - THANK YOU. 

You will never know just how grateful I am to every person who has read this story. It makes my heart warm and fuzzy knowing someone has taken time out of their day to read my story. 

Your comments make me jump and smile and laugh out loud and even if I don't reply, please know that I have read every single one. And each time still feels like the very first comment I received. 

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for being here. 

With much love

Nabeelah