Part 31: You want my husband? Take his mother too!

I spoke to Sumaya today and I couldn't help myself but ask her what made her agree to letting Muhammad marry for the second time...
She said at first she was so upset and hurt she couldn't think straight, once she had calmed down she realized who Neelofah was. She called Muhammad and told him to meet her to talk.

Muhammad explained that he just felt sorry for Neelofah and how tough her life had been and by talking to her again, he somehow got caught up in her issues and he felt like he could make her life better. He wasn't in any relationship with her and only wanted to offer her marriage in hopes of gaining sawaab for marrying a widow.

When Sumaya asked him how he intended for this to work out, he said Neelofahs needs were simple, she just wanted a little flat and a small stipend every month.

Sumaya said that while taking to him she suddenly had a crazy idea...she felt sure of it at the time that she didn't even stop to think, she told her husband that she will give him permission to marry Neelofah on one condition...


Sumaya's condition was simple, she would move out into a flat, maintain the same allowance she has now and Neelofah must move into the main house...if Neelofah or him don't like the idea, then he can't marry her.

Sumaya knew Neelofah would never agree to that, unlike Muhammad Bhai, she could see that Neelofah was just looking for a soft target and playing on Muhammad's sympathy. His soft nature had made him the prime candidate.

When Muhammad phoned Neelofah with the conditions of their Nikkah, she went from sweet to sour in less than half a second...that's when the penny dropped for Muhammad Bhai. Sumaya said it was almost as if he woke up from a deep sleep.


Last night at supper, Muhammad wasn't announcing his Nikkah, he was announcing his pride at his wife's willing sacrifice and making a public apology to her for his error in judgment...ofcorse, MiL hadn't given him a chance to complete his announcement ...


Thank Allah Sumaya wasn't like most people who rush to demand a divorce in such circumstances...she used wit and tact to diffuse the situation...

However, I couldn't help but tease her...she would have saved herself alot of tears and pain if she just went straight to MiL...

She giggled with glee...

ah, atleast that drama is over...i have Nasreen's baby shower this weekend, I can't wait!

Sabera and Dilnaas are coming down this evening, we hosting it at dilnaas's family flat in Musgrave...

things are so much better between Dilnaas and I after I decided to treat her with the same understanding I expect, its influenced the way I relate to her and as our interactions changed it has impacted on her relationship with my mum and sister too...amazing!

Part 30: She can move in...

Nobody knew what to do after MiLs little performance. So we all just ate quickly and got up.

I sorted out the leftovers and went to room. Before I could even ask Imraan anything, he started explaining it to me.

'Neelofah', the girl Muhammad Bhai wanted to take as a second wife was an old school friend of his, once upon a time, Neelofahs mother and MiL were really good friends too.

When Muhammad and Neelofah were growing up, their mothers use to tease them about marrying each other. In high school, Neelofah got involved with the wrong crowd and her bad behavior was soon the talk of the town, naturally that made her all wrong for Muhammad Bhai and the teasing stopped.

Towards the end of their matric year Neelofah suddenly did another 360 again and went into full hijaab, she gave up her wayward ways and suddenly her mother was insistent on some kind of formalized relationship between Muhammad and Neelofah.

My MiL was hesitant but didn't want to offend her friend, finally, through the grapevine of mutual friends Muhammad and my MiL heard rumors that Neelofa was pregnant and her mother was already  announcing her engagement to Muhammad.

Naturally, my MiL was furious...she cut contact with Neelofahs mother and in the end Neelofah went back to her Non-Muslim boyfriend, after he reverted to Islam they married, news of their rocky marriage kept the gossip mongers busy for years.

Recently, Neelofah aperently pulled another 360, after the sudden death of her husband. she returned with two children to live with her mother and asked Muhammad for a job as a cashier.

In a violent fight that had made news headlines locally, Neelofah's 'husband' had been killed.

She had the good sense not to attend the company function after Eid but when my MiL had seen her name on the guest lust, she was livid that she even had a job in the store. Muhammad Bhai had just brushed it of saying he was doing her brother a favour.

all this left me to wonder why would Neelofah want to marry Muhammad and why would Muhammad want to marry Neelofah...

But right now, I'm stressing about how MiL is going to take the news that Imraan and I are moving out... I don't want any tumblers of water to come flying at me!

Imraan is not stressing, he got time for jokes!

imraan says, he'll suggest that Muhammad Bhai can give Neelofah our room!


MiL is just going to love this...

Part 29: Over my dead body...

This morning before Imraan went to work, I asked him why he had placed his office key in that envelope the other night...i had completely forgotten about that.

"oh you know how in movies the husband buys a house or car and gives the wife the key as a surprise...well I wanted to do something like that, except I wouldn't buy a house without you, I want us to choose it together...so I put my office key instead.", Imraan shrugged as if it now seemed so lame to him

I had to laugh...Imraan can be so whacki sometimes...

"there was a real estate leaflet in there too...have a look and see what you like, we can talk about it tonight, Il call the agent and ask her to line up a few places for us to see based on our preferences...we can drive up next weekend or something.", Imraan said.

"speak to mummy and daddy first.", I told him...i was still very nervous about that.

"don't worry about that...i know what I'm up against, remember...i lived on Rez for four years."

With a smile,he was gone for the day...

All my prep for Nasreen's baby shower was done, so after I showered and got dressed, I wondered what to do for the day...

There was a quiet knock on my room door, "Fatima are you here", Sumaya whispered.

I opened the door to,find Sumaya looking deathly ill...Sumaya, are you okay! Omw, you look sick.

On closer inspection she looked like she was horribly upset and had been crying all night!
Her eyes were filling with tears right now...
I pulled her into the room and closed the door, I offered her a seat on the kist at the foot of my bed, i poured her a glass of water and I took Tariq from her arms,I sat on the desk chair and waited as she tried to compose herself...after an eternity she spoke...

"Muhammad wants to take a second wife..." she whispered in tears.

I never saw anybody look so shattered before, she was falling to pieces and my heart just broke for her, I didn't understand and I didn't want to ask...it was obvious that her life was falling apart at this moment...i rolled my chair closer to her and placed my hand on her knee.

Seeing his mother upset, upset Tariq and he too started to cry, I tried to bounce him and soothe him but he wanted his mother. Sumaya just clutched him against her and cried, I didn't know what to do...

"I'm so sorry...so sorry to dump this on you...i had to tell somebody...you pregnant, I shouldn't have brought my problems to you...im sorry", she struggled to speak.

Sumaya was devastated, she obviously never saw this coming, quiet frankly, I can't imagine it from Muhammad Bhai either!

" don't be silly Sumaya, I just wish I knew what to say or do to make you feel better, I feel so helpless", I told her honestly.

" can you keep Tariq for a few hours for me please...i need to clear my head." she asked

" yes, yes ofcorse!, no problem" I said.

"thank you", she looked so sad, so broken...

I watched her as she explained to her one year old son that he must stay with Fati-mamee and play nicely and if he is a good boy then Fati mamee will let him play with the Ipad.

"No, no, no, no", Tariq insisted, he only said a few words, No seemed to be his favorite.

Sumaya left shortly after...3 hours later, she wasn't back, my MiL was looking for her, it was her turn to cook.

 I had my hands full trying to keep Tariq out of harm and making sure he did not cry for his mum, I also didn't know what to feed him, he had had Nido almost 2 hours ago because I knew were that was kept in the pantry, Sumaya hadn't left any instruction for me. I decided to wait a little longer, I'm sure she would be back soon.

Another 2hours passed and my MiL was getting very cross.

"where did she say she's going!", MiL demanded from me for the 50th time.

I honestly didn't know, I hadn't asked her, I thought she wanted a break for a hour or two...i was getting worried too now.

I asked Tariq what he wanted to eat and he said chick rice, I remembered seeing him eat chicken and rice sort of smashed together, last night. So I took out the left overs and warmed them and fed him.

I didn't know how to bath him so I went to the ironing room and found some clothes of his, in my room I just washed his hands and face, changed his nappy again and freshened him up with powder and dressed him.

 I tried calling Sumaya again but her phone was still off...i was so worried, I didn't know what to do...
should I phone Muhammad?
Or Imraan?
And tell him the whole story?
Maybe Sumaya will fetch Talha one time and come home then...

I dug out a story book from my school supplies and read for Tariq  when I was done, he crawled to the middle of my bed, pulled my throw over himself and fell asleep...he looked so cute and sweet...but an active one year old that wanted his mother was no easy task. I was exhausted!

My phone rang and I dove for it and answered without checking the caller identity, I didn't want it to wake Tariq.

It was Imraan..." Hi love, can you check where Sumaya is, Talha's school phoned, they can't reach Sumaya or Muhammed and nobody has picked up Talha yet...im the emergency person but I'm in the middle of a meeting right now, it would take me over an hour to get there with traffic...", Imraan said in a hurry

" baby she's not here, I'm trying her all day, she left in the morning she was very upset about erm...a fight she had with Muhammad and she is still not back.", I said

" what! That doesn't sound like Sumaya, you sure?", Imraan asked in disbelief

"yes, she left Tariq with me", I said

"okay, okay...can you manage to go fetch Talha? Il come home soon as this thing wraps up...im sure she's just stuck in traffic some where, her battery must have died.", Imraan said reasonably.

" okay, sure..."

I went looking for Tariq's car seat but then I realized it was probably in Sumaya's car!, luckily Tariq was up from his nap, so I got Tumi to come with me and hold him in the back seat...no the safest option, but better than nothing.

Talha seemed okay when I fetched him, he wanted to know where his mother was but he wasn't overly concerned, he told me excitedly about his day.

Sumayas car wasn't back when we got home, I took the boys in and sent Talha to change and wash up...now what do I feed him?

By 4pm Sumaya still wasn't back, both boys were over the novelty of being with me, they just wanted their mum.

 Tariq especially was getting very crabby now. I was so worried.

They cheered up abit once Imraan came home, but he soon got distracted by my livid MiL, she wanted Sumaya home, now and now!

She was demanding to know what was going on...poor Imraan, he didn't know,himself.

Finally Sumaya texted me...full of apologies she asked if Imraan had fetched Talha and if the boys were okay, she said,she would be home with Muhammad soon.

Sumaya and Muhammad came in one after the other shortly before supper, I hoped they managed to sort things out...the boys ran to her and she was trying to field off MiLs questions while seeing to them, I just backed off.

She didn't need to answer to me too.

At supper, Muhammad Bhai cleared his throat, nervously he asked for everybody's attention...
I glanced at Sumaya, she was looking down into her plate.

Muhammad Bhai cleared his throat again and said, " last night I asked Sumayas permission to take a second wife, she is a widow who lost her husband recently, she has two small children, we use to school together..."

The table was died silent...not even a breath could be heard...i felt cold...

"Sumaya was very upset, understandably, but today she gave me permission to make Nikkah to Neelofa..." Muhammad Bhai continued

I don't know what happen next...or how...one minute Muhammad bhai was talking, the next he was splattering and drenched in water,as the sound of breaking glass filled the dinning room...

MiLs chair scraped against the floor as she stood up...









"OVER MY DEAD BODY YOU WILL MARRY THAT GIRL!!!!!!!!!,she shouted!