Islamic Stories & Reflections | By Kafayat Olubukola
for every girls undergoing transition into adulthood
It’s a Friday night, looming with murky ambiance, but the cool humidity keeps apportioning freshness. Unable to sleep – anxiety eating me up like a corroded metal so I close up my glass-windows, fold up the curtains and put on my reading lamp. Behind the table, I sit, opening a fresh page in my journal. […]
The same day, the night finally falls. Hearing Ashraf’s tasleem, I quickly start hiding all my loitering and hanged underwear inside my big box. I sweep the floor and keep everything in place except I don’t make the bed. Why? Because I feel awkward about it. Rodiah and Idayah barge in. “Through? You haven’t made […]
Following my Level Adviser’s advice, I’ve been searching for a spouse before my age will become a disadvantage. I meet two brothers from my brother but none ever work out; one lies that he has never married but turns out he did aqid nikkah with a sister and divorced her after passing sequence of nights […]
A visit to my Level Adviser adds an instruction to my life; being a single mother could be a characteristic setback when it comes to seeking a good spouse but the only opportune advantage I have right now, which she couldn’t realize until it was late, was being young – she got married in her […]
“Why didn’t you tell me about this earlier? A week has passed Mar’yam,” Idayah asks, highly concerned. “Why should I when you’ve been grieving?” “Mar’yam has told me not to grief for more than three days and I’ve been doing just that! And now you are adding to my grief.” “I’m sorry. I thought it […]
Life is like a moving train which we board separately but would alight at different destinations. Even though we are on the same journey, we tread on various routes for different durations. Forgotten our mortality, we live like immortals then what would be our fate when the reality dawn on us? The destroyer of pleasure […]
It is almost 11pm, the call I just received keeps me awake, worried, tossing and turning in bed; Idayah has just told me that Mar’yam is sick, her quivering voice described how serious it could be without asking. She couldn’t talk much so I promise to pay them a visit tomorrow. “We might be home […]
It’s in the morning. I change my lying position to the other side as I hear the first adhan of Fajr salat calling from a distance, thinking there is still much time before the actual prayer time. Some minutes later my phone adhan also calls, and I slothfully reach out for it and click cancel. […]
Numbed by the shock of what I just heard, outside the hospital under the eaves by the left, I sit on the pavement. Looking dazed at Ummy and other women dragging the wailing Kafilah’s mother into the car. Before entering the car with them, Ummy calls on me to join but I shake my head, […]
By the Intensive Care Unit, I stand, peeping through the transparent glass, I see Kafilah lying almost lifeless on the bed, her nose and mouth covered with an oxygen mask. I just hope she will survive so I can make it up with her – all those days I had the opportunity to talk to […]