MY HOME! MY CAREER!!! – Episode 13

Assalaamu’alykum warahmatullah wabarakaatuhu dear readers, please ignore any grammatical error in this episode because it has not been edited. Jes few words I have to say; to complete ESCAPE FROM THE BOTTOMLESS PIT, I have to take a break from writing this MY HOME! MY CAREER!!! In’shaa’Allah I should be through within a month. Please drop your comments, I’m really looking forward to it. Jazaakumullah Khairan for being here with me!
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AZEEZAH

Just like the storm uproaring the forest; the branches of trees dancing to its forlorn tune and the leaves jiggling to its woeful melody, my mind is troubled with deep melancholy – the fact that my husband couldn’t tell me exactly what is wrong means only one thing; that he has done something wrong or maybe unspeakable. But what exactly could be happening between him and the woman?
The more I try not to think about it, the more it perturbs my mind that I even had a sleepless night. I only saw the text message which is subtle, right? I don’t know why I’m feeling restless. If this is jealousy, ya Allah! I don’t want it. That’s why I’ve decided not to query him but face the sundry contemplation of my traveling. He has the knowledge of the deen, I believe in Allah to put him through.
I’ve deeply developed a sole interest in the traveling, it’s like a dream come true. A step ahead in my profession and career like everyone has seen it but I’m not sure if this is the right time to thread on such right path. Either it’s right or not, it’s not for me to decide but for Allah! So I’m determined to seek His divine guidance by performing istikhara prayer.
But I’ve been so weak and sleepy since I resumed to the office this morning, it’s as a result of my sleepless night, I know. So after dhur, I put aside my laptop, place my head on my desk and have a relaxing siesta.
Disturbed by the rattling of the door’s handle, I slowly open my eyes as she steps into my office.
“Sleepy girl, you are finally awake. This is the second time I’m checking on you today”
I yawn, “have I been sleeping that long?”
I raise my eyes to look at the wall clock, “subhanallah, the trucks I’ve been expecting since morning must have arrived! Why didn’t you wake me then?”
Hastily, I search for the necessary documents while she calmly watches me.
“Because someone is already helping you out and he said if at all I meet you awake, I should tell you to go home instantly and rest for the day. So you don’t have to go the warehouse today anymore.”
“Who?”
“My boss of course.” she relaxes her back, “you must have touched the softest part of his heart my dear, maybe everyone now does because I’ve only been seeing his gentle side these days. You also know what the old G.M could have done if he ever met you sleeping on duty…” she straightens her back and clears her throat in readiness for mimicking, “sleeping on duty? If you know you are tired of working here in the GoldenBerry…”
“Submit your resignation letter or I help you with it!” I join her in mimicking.
And we both laugh.
“He was an especially obnoxious man then. I also do wonder why the sudden change” I comment.
She sighs, “that is what everyone thought about him but you know I’m his secretary, I spend times with him even more than his wife does. I couldn’t see him that way, I could only see a man hiding his pain behind aggression. You know men have ego, they can’t possibly cry out aloud like we women especially when we are emotionally tormented.”
“You don’t mean it?”
She nods, “my boss has no happy home, that is why he would be the first person to arrive in the company most days and if you see him leaving early, he isn’t going home straight but to the joint or club. We’ve met in the club several times and there were times he would become inebriated and I would have to drive him home. And you know the saying that a drunken man tells the truth. Most of his blabbering is about his wife; she is a career woman and doesn’t care about him, they only make love once in a while and that is anytime she pleases, she is on different kind of contraceptive because she isn’t ready to have another child after their ten year old son because of her career… the list goes on my dear.”
Shaking my head, “so he was only transferring his aggression! Now I understand and I really feel for him. I wish I could interfere, at least talk to his wife, make her realize the consequences her actions could bear”
“See you Azeezah, you are saying this because you don’t know her; she is full of pride and insolent. Last time I drove her husband home and helped him inside, do you know what she said? ‘just dump him on the couch, he would go inside when he sober up’. She looked down on me as if I were a kindergarten pupil and couldn’t even say ‘thank you’. I’m telling you dear, she isn’t someone you will like to associate with. She should be thankful to his husband’s fidelity, I would have thought her the lesson of her life.”
“By doing what?”
“Snatching him from her”
“Would she care?”
“And that would be an advantage for me but I don’t think my boss is ready to give another woman a chance. Maybe because his religion doesn’t permit polygny, he is too much committed and the woman doesn’t deserve it.”
She looks pitiful as she takes a deep breath. Inquisitively I stare at her,
“Don’t tell me you’ve been trying to…” expecting her to deny it, I cut my sentence short but she isn’t “you don’t need that Lateefah. He is a Christian and you are a Muslim!”
“I know you will never support it so let’s put that aside. How far? Has your husband permitted you to go?”
“Hnnnn… Not really but I’m thinking about my kids. That reminds me, it’s almost time for ashr. I should pray it in time so I can observe the istikhara prayer before the forbidden time for solat arrives.”
“It’s better you get a positive response, I can’t stand you loosing such an opportunity. By the way, have you known who are going with you?”
“No, have you?”
“I haven’t known either. Conclusion should be reached by Monday, let’s wait and see!… I should return to my office now. Bye”
She exists while I hear the adhan and pray.
I’m leaving early than ever today so I plan to get some groceries along. I call Kabeerah to notify her that I’m coming but she tells me she is at home taking care of her sick husband.
“…he is just having malaria, now relieved” she adds
“Okay, but I still have to say hi to him so I’m coming over to your house then. Be expecting me in the next one hour because I have to stop by the market.”
I buy a lot in the market – a lot to be enough for a month. Now thinking about it, habeeby hasn’t given me any money for housekeeping for the last two months, even he hasn’t talked about the one he promised.
Abdullah and Abdulrahman noisily sprinting around the house while Rumaysah sits with us fondling her mother’s palm. Not minding their noise, we discuss,
“Since your husband’s concern is the children, what will you do now? Maybe you should call one of your siblings for help”
Thinking of the impossibility, I roll my eyes, “Hafsoh is in Taraba state for service and isn’t picking my call, Abdulsalam and Abdulmalik are in their various universities while Asiya will never leave her mother for a blink of an eye. Even her father that wanted to take her away ended up regretting it. So I’m hooked òré, I have no one to turn to.”
She heaves a sigh, “you can ask your mum too. Sebí it’s for only two weeks? I think she would be glad to help”
“Means we would be receiving Asiya too, my husband will never buy the idea. I just don’t know why, even same with his own family. Also, I don’t think ummy will want to leave her beancake evening business for that long.”
“You will just have to try, it’s better than doing nothing. After all, you’ve been seeking Allah’s guidance about it and I’m sure if it is best for you to go, there will be a way since you have the will.”
I nod continuously, “I really hope so”
The boys noise grows louder, along with screaming. On the top of my voice, I shout at them to come and sit down quietly else I cane them. I watch them cringing on the opposite seat and I grin.
“It’s too early to celebrate your victory. Just two minutes.” says Kabeerah
“You mean…” I barely land my words when I hear Abdulrahman’s cry and they both engage in successive retaliating fight.
Now I understand what she meant and I’m already fed up.
“Is this what you deal with everyday? Why are they as stubborn as a mule?”
“That is boys for you…” she turns to them, closes her eyes and starts roaring “stop fighting and go inside your room to read for tomorrow’s madrasah exam right now. If I open my eyes and still see you there, I’ll ask the ground to open its mouth and swallow you!”
With their heads down like someone in great loss, they follow each other into the room.
“Just like that?”
“Yeah, when it comes to that, they won’t fight but rather be in harmony and make a united conspiracy on how to escape the situation I’ve put them into. Boys are so stubborn and naughty. One should be careful and devise several plans to curb them else they give one an early high blood pressure. Be thankful Nusayba is a girl… There are times I would watch them fighting and punish them after they are satisfied. I don’t usually use cane though else they transgressed…”
“I don’t use cane on mine often too. I can count the number of times I’ve beaten them this year, maybe thrice.”
“You are lucky Khalid is very gentle and your stubborn Nusayba is a girl. Here is my gentle Rumaysah, mummy’s daughter…” she rubs her cheek softly, “…she has fallen asleep. I just pray Allah gives me another girl and nothing more, I don’t pray for a boy anymore.”
I chuckle, “you must be joking, aren’t you the one that did pray for four boys, one girl?”
“Those two boys are enough! It was because of my fear for girls waywardness but not anymore. All those adhkars are enough to protect them from shaytan. Hope your husband always remember to do the adhkar before coitus?”
I nod my head in affirmation but quickly thinking of a way to derail the topic because I know my friend, her next question would be about our last discussion on coitus. I can’t even believe myself – that I still haven’t made love with my husband despite her advice.
“It’s getting late, I think you said your husband only went to the masjid. Maghrib is already drawing near.”
She picks up her phone from the table, “I also can’t understand, let me call him.”
She dials his number but he isn’t picking then she notices she has a message from him telling he is staying to listen to lecture and won’t be home until after maghrib.
“I guess I’ll pray maghrib here then”
“Won’t your husband be angry for your lateness.”
“It isn’t a new thing anymore my dear, he also won’t be home until after ishai and I’ve told Ayomide to warm the soups. I should just make èbà when I get home.”
“You can see the benefit of having an helper now. Let me also quickly peal the yam so that it would be cooked by the time my husband returns from the masjid.”
“You are eating yam for dinner?” I ask as I accompany her to the kitchen.
“My boys dislike eating yam, likewise their father. I’m talking about pounded yam. That’s why I’m waiting for habeeby to pound it.”
“Really? Your husband can pound yam?”
“He would even pound you with it if you become yam. It’s his favorite so he doesn’t expect me to be able pound yam with this my tiny hands. Although I pound it sometimes, it’s not easy, I usually feel exhausted. It is men’s work”
“Not all men could do that because they believe everything regarding kitchen are to be done by women. Some men would even expect their wives to pound yam for ten people for dinner and also want them to attend to them in the bed at night. Before I got married, ummy would only allow we females to pound for two to four people but when it gets to more than four people, my brothers are the one responsible. But what are we going to do, we are the rabbatul bayt and since we get rewarded for every morsel of food they swallow, it worths the stress…”
We continue to bespeak – later on the seminar which as Allah wills it, would be done while I’m probably abroad – until maghrib arrives and we pray. An unknown number calls on my phone and I receive it; she keeps yelling that I have to distance the phone from my ear until she settles.
“If you aren’t home in the next twenty minutes, I swear I’ll leave for my mother’s house!” she concludes and hangs up the call.
“Who is that?”
“Hafsoh! I think she is presently in my house”
“Maa’sha’Allah! Allahu Akbar! This is an answered prayer, don’t you see?”
“Hafsoh, an answered prayer? You can hear how she was yelling at me. Moreover, Hafsoh will never spend more than a night in my house.”
“You supposed to have get used to her cocky behavior. She is like than on the outside but inside she has a soft heart like you. Have you forgotten how she helped you obtained your WAEC GCE certificate at Ibadan while we were in service?”
“Sure, she did and I heard the world-filled bitter complaints in return.”
“I still believe this is a prayer answered. You didn’t even ask her to come and she has been waiting for you in your house. You should be the one to know how to give her some pathetic explanation that would incite her compassionate being. You should stop waiting for habeeby and go home now…”
Luckily, we hear her husband’s teslim and I greet him, inquire about his health and pray that Allah would grant him shifa (quick recovery). Afterwards, I leave for my house.
The kids have gone to the masjid with their father, I have also sent Ayomide home and now I’m in the kitchen with Hafsoh exchanging pleasantries.
“Don’t think I’m here for you and your husband. I’m only here for Khalid and Nusayba and maa’sha’allah, they are growing lovely. I couldn’t even imagine Nusayba would have grown that tall!”
“She inherits that from her Dad, judging from her long legs, she would be a tall slim girl and beautiful like me.”
She giggles, “your husband must be the one deceiving you that you are beautiful. She is resembling her father’s mother, can’t you see that?”
I nod; sure! I know, she is taking after mother in look and I silently pray to Almighty Allah in my heart not to let her take after her character.
“I do but she has my lips… Please get me the bucket of garri from the store, water has boiled.”
She hurries to the kitchen and I take a deep sigh; how will I make use of this friendly mood to present my matter?
She returns. I collect the bucket and quickly sprinkle the garri into the boiled water to make èbà.
“Sister mi” she whispers.
“Yes?”
“You know I have four months left in serving our country?”
“I’m aware” I reply, collecting the serving plates.
We hear the kids entering with teslim and we respond from the kitchen.
“Don’t you think I should start searching for a good job now?”
“Yes, you should! This is the best time”
She gives me a side glance and I pretend not to care.
“Don’t you understand what I’m trying to say?”
“I think you are only here for my kids and not me.”
“Oh I’m sorry, I’m here for my darling sister too. You are even the sole reason I’m here.”
I clear my throat, “you don’t have to cajole me. You are my sister, my blood, much like my daughter…”
She interrupts, “I accept, I’m your first child. You raised me and sent me to the university and I’ll always appreciate your kindness. Thank you my dear sister”
“All thanks is to Allah. So it’s my responsibility to find you a job too. In’shaa’Allah biqudratillah I’ll start working on that.”
“Oh Jazaakillah khairan my sweet blood” she hugs me.
“Wait! wait! I also need a favour from you and I’ll be forever grateful if you can do it with a cheerful heart.”
Her face draws to curiosity and I explain everything to her.
“Is that all? Don’t worry sister mi. Although I didn’t plan to spend a night here, now I’ll have to spend two to three weeks of my vacation here”
“That’s sweet of you Hafsoh. You are an angel! Now I’m relieved and happy.”
We grin at each other. I serve everyone’s food and I ask for my husband from the kids. They answer that he is in the visitor’s room. Doing what? I go there and inform him that the food is ready.
After the meal, I inform him about the progress on my decision and he is pleased hearing Hafsoh will stay to look after the kids.
“Alhamdulillah that your travelling matter has been resolved. I’m not against it and I’m giving you my full permission and support.” After some moments of silence, he adds, “good! I think Hafsoh should sleep here with you. I’ll sleep in the visitor’s room for the time being”
Without uttering a word in response, I become dazzled and dumbfounded. Is he angry with me or what? But he said just now that he is pleased and supports my travelling. Why would he voluntarily opt to sleep away from me?
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Note of the chapter: “If Allah assists you, then there is none that can overcome you, and if He forsakes you, who is there then that can assist you after Him? And on Allah should the believers rely.” (Qur’an 3:160)
Narrated Muawiya bin Suwald: I heard Al-Bara’ bin ‘Azib saying, “The Prophet (may peace be upon him) orders us to do seven things and prohibited us from doing seven other things.” Then Al-Bara’ mentioned the following:-(1) To pay a visit to the sick (inquiring about his health), (2) to follow funeral processions, (3) to say to a sneezer, “May Allah be merciful to you” (if he says, “Praise be to Allah!”), (4) to return greetings, (5) to help the oppressed, (6) to accept invitations, (7) to help others to fulfill their oaths. (See Hadith No. 753, Vol. 7 of Sahih Al Bukhari)
It is said that when a Muslim man is about to enter his wife, he should always say first:
Bismillahi, Allahumma jannibnaa ash-shaitaan, wa jannib ash-shaitaan maa razaqtanna
[In the name of Allah, O Allah, keep us away from the devil, and keep the devil away from that which You may grant us (i.e. offspring).]
About this, the Prophet said: “After that, if Allah decrees that they will have a child, the devil will never be able to harm that child”. [al-Bukharee]
FOOTNOTE: (Some Scholars say that children are disobedient to their parents usually because the parents forget/forgot to say the above duaa before having sex. Ed. of Salaf-us-Salih Page)