ROMANTIC MUSINGS: Shall We Now Marry? 1

SCENE ONE:

Maryam is sitting quietly in the hall and talking to herself. She is obviously extremely frustrated about something. Luckily, her parents and siblings had gone to visit her grandma – her mother’s mum. She could not go with them because she had an examination to write that morning – her last paper as an undergraduate University student. Instead of being overly excited like her colleagues, she was rather all gloomy. So she dodged her friends and mates to come home to an empty house to brood over her problems. Yes, she yearned for this aloneness and now she had it. She was not going to trade it for anything. She spoke loudly to herself, letting out all that had been boiling in her these few months before they cook her up.

“Fatima! Fatima! Fatima! Everyday Fatima! Fatima this! Fatima that! He wouldn’t just let my ears be. And to think that I’m supposed to help him out with her as his best friend is just…” She said annoyingly.

She starts pacing the hall.

“But honestly speaking, the way he mentions her name alone is…” She pauses as she smiles and blushes.

“He will say; “Faa-thu-ma! Faa-thu-ma! It is just so beautiful! So romantic and lovely! It is so coooool!’ She said smiling.

She remembered she had to remove the fruits she bought on her way home from her backpack. She went to pick her bag from the sofa and removed the fruits. She put them on the dining table and sat on the dining chair. As she searched for her phone, she got lost in her thoughts again;

“How would he have mentioned my name if he was this super crazy about me?”

She thinks deeply as she blushes.

“Maa-ryi-yam! Maa-ryi-yam! Awww! Sweet Heavens! How I wish this was my portion.”

She sees her phone’s light blinking. Then there were many missed calls. Most of them from her mates and friends. As usual, Bilqis’ topped. She wasn’t surprised. Bilqis will skin her alive for not telling her where she was going to. She put on her internet data knowing exactly what to expect. Messages started popping up from whatsapp and Facebook Messenger. She began to check them – her priority, Bilqis.

Bilqis – Wer r u? I’m gona tear u up! Y aren’t u pikn my calls? Maariyaaammm!

That made her laugh heartily as she recalled how her crush would have called her if he was all over her as she wished. Enough! She knew Bilqis! Her messages were a thousand and one. She could not read all. She would just call her later. Then she saw a message from him – the object of her interest.

“Mtchewww! He is gona probably ask about progress with Faathuma again. I ain’t in the mood. Not now.” She put her phone away without reading his message nor any other again.

“Let me freshen up and go back to campus.” She said calmly.

She dials Bilqis’ number but she does not answer.

“Bilqis is such a character! She never answers her phone.”

She picks her backpack and phone and goes to her room.

SCENE TWO

Ibrahim crosses the road and walks briskly to the mall. He looks around but does not see Sheryf. He entered the mall and decided to just go straight to the restaurant. He sees a lot of ladies dressed to kill around and he tried as much as he could to take his gaze and attention off them. He entered the restaurant and finds an empty table in a corner. He goes to make himself comfortable. As he dialed Sheryf’s number; a waitress comes up to him. He does not notice her presence as he was engrossed in his phone.

Waitress: Sir! Please…

Ibrahim raises his head and lowers it immediately, then he mumbled;

“Astagfirullaah.”

Waitress: (Not understanding) Sorry Sir! Did you say something?

He raises his head again but this time, strategically. He looked at her but away from her. He did it such that he only sees a shadow-like image of her. He just really wished he had his dark shades on instead of in his pocket so he could talk to her with his eyes closed. Funny isn’t it. The struggles of a young unmarried Muslim man.

“Never mind please!” Ibrahim said.

The waitress realized his gaze was kind of funny and she wondered why.

“Are you ok, Sir!” She said worriedly.

Ibrahim wanted her to just go with her temptations and flirtatious look. But it didn’t look like she wanted to leave him alone. Of course, it was her job to take care of her customer.

“I am ok.” Ibrahim said with a straight face.

The waitress asked him whether she could serve him anything. He looked through the menu and said;

“A bottle of water and yoghurt will do.”

She left and he made sure not to turn his gaze to her direction however tempting it was. She was good looking and her uniform was straight away indecent and he was a man of principles. He continued to dial Sheryf’s number. Sheryf picks up and he spoke to him.

“Assalaamu alaykum bro. Yes, I am at the Mall. In the restaurant. Table four. Ok. Waiting. Assalaamu alaykum.”

His gaze meets that of the waitress again as he raised his head and he sends his gaze back to his phone. She served his water and yoghurt.

“Is there anything else you’d want, Sir?” She added.

“No, please. Thank you.” He said.

She walked away, wining her waist. She thought to herself;

“This guy is strange. Obviously good looking but not friendly. And what kind of stare was that? Was he looking at me or away from me? Amazing!”

Then she bumps into someone and said sorry. She disappeared through the door to the food section of the restaurant.

Ibrahim gulped down some water and began to sip his yoghurt as he scrolled through his facebook. He shook his head out of wonder at what nasty photos and things some people could post on facebook. He thought to himself;

“I should start unfriending and blocking some people again especially some of the ladies. They just post trash. How can you post an unhijabbed photo of you, with your butt to the screen and then you write; ‘Allah is my strength.’ Mtchewww!”

He sees that Maryam had posted a photo of her with her face covered with an emoticon – her usual way of not showing her face. She had captioned it:

“Alhamdulillaah. Countless blessings. University is over!”

He wondered why she had not checked his whatsapp message even though she had been online and why she didn’t call him back. Well, he decided he will check on her after meeting Sheryf.

SCENE THREE

Fatima is lying on Hudaiya’s bed in her room on campus. They were through with school now but they have to stay in school for the night and pack out the next day. So, for now, they were just whiling away time. Hudaiya was preparing Fatima’s favourite – noodles and some eggs.

Fatima seemed fidgety with her phone and Hudaiya noticed that when she brought the food she had prepared from the kitchen.

“Why are you confused about what to do with your phone?” Hudaiya asked and they laugh loudly.

“Facebook, whatsapp, all these. I am fed up with them. Gotta start doing something profitable with my phone.” Fatima answered.

Hudaiya knew too well that there was something more to that than just putting her phone to good use. Yet she knew also that Fatima could not hide what was eating her up from her for long. So, she kept quiet, waiting for what Fatima will say next.

“Hudy dear, have you seen how people are posting their marriage invitation cards on facebook and whatsapp these days. It is amazing. I guess it is because Ramadan is almost here.’ Fatima broke the silence.

Now, Hudaiya knew where this was leading to. She decided to pull her along. She said:

“As for me, I still want to marry after I have completed my Masters. No two ways about that in shaa Allah.”

Fatima began to laugh loudly and she got off the bed, putting her phone on the bedside table. She almost screamed as she said;

“Hudyyyy! I have never met anyone as crazy as you are! A year of National Service, two or three years of Masters and then marriage? Why? I do not mind if you were doing that because you haven’t met anyone you liked yet. But you like Hanan and he likes you too. Are you gona make him wait for that long? And do you think he’d wait for that long? You’ve got to restructure your vision super girl. You can still do your Masters when you marry.”

Hudaiya was happy to have sent her into the marriage corner. She smiled within and said;

“Ok. Let’s talk about you.”

She holds Fatima’s hand and sits her on the bed. She served the food for two. She took water from the fridge and pulled a chair to the table and sat down.

“Tell me whether you’ve made up your mind about Ibrahim.” She said.

Fatima was quiet for a while and then she said;

“Well, I already made my stands known. Why can’t you nor anyone just let me be with this Ibrahim saga. I don’t want him. Period.”

“Have you told him that as clearly as you are telling it to me now?” Hudaiya asked.

Fatima began to eat her food without replying Hudaiya. She was confused as to whether she wanted to talk about this or not. On one hand, she wished Hudaiya will just change the topic and on the other hand, she thanked God that Hudaiya had been able to figure out what was worrying her.

“Fati! Fatiii!”

Fatima was startled.

 

“Hudy! What is it?”

“You are sitting right here and you cannot hear me? Honestly, what is wrong with you?” Hudaiya asked.

“See, the truth is that I like Ibrahim but I feel he doesn’t want me as much as he makes it seem he does. Something tells me he is just hyping his love for me without really feeling that way about me. And I don’t want to get myself involved in something I would regret later.”

Hudaiya could not believe what she was hearing. If ever she wanted a prove of love, then she had seen it from Ibrahim. He was a gentleman of a kind. He has made it clear to Fatima how much he wants to marry her. Maryam had come to explain to Fatima how her friend, Ibrahim, felt about her and what she had to say about that. Ibrahim himself had come to both of them and made his intention known. However much Fatima ignored him, he still hoped for a positive response from her. Almost everyone around Fatima and Ibrahim knew that Ibrahim loved Fatima so much. She sometimes even wished Hanan was that halally romantic. How Ibrahim mentions her name alone is super awesome. So what was she talking about.

“Please, you are confusing me. Do you have a different concept of love or what? Because for me, this is love. If this isn’t love, then what is? Explain why you are feeling this way further because I do not understand you one little bit.” Hudaiya said almost annoyed.

Fatima picked her phone, opened her facebook page and gave the phone to Hudaiya.

“Look at that.” Fatima pointed to something on the phone.

“That is Maryam’s photo with her face covered with an emoticon. What about that?” Hudaiya who was clearly confused said.

“Read the comments.” Fatima said.

Hudaiya saw a lot of comments from people she was familiar with. She could not read all that of course. She had to eat. She said;

“I should read all these comments. Habba Fati! Plus, what is the connection of this to what we are talking about? Are you tryna change the subject or what?”

Fatima was bored with Hudaiya for not getting what she was trying to make her see.

“I am pointing to one particular comment. Can’t you see?”

Hudaiya reluctantly reads the comment she was pointing at.

"Congratulations '...' May Allah bless you and your certificate and make your life not only a blessing to me (smiles) but to humanity at large."

Hudaiya said aameen silently and went back to eating her food. Fatima stared at her to see if she had understood what she was driving at but she clearly had not.

"So, what about the comment? Is there anything wrong with it?" Hudaiya said as she drank some water.

 "Check whose comment it is." Fatima retorted.

Hudaiya checked it and she smiled. Now, she understood why the red face.

To be continued...

NOTE: All characters in this play are fictitious.

Jazaakumullaahu khairan!

Rubaba Mmahajia Rahma Sabtiu

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