Life is a pile of experiences.Some experiences change our lives miraculously and there are some as well that we want to change in our lives.There are days in our lives which we want to select and press the DELETE button and surely,there are some we want to live again.But chance is not given to all.
This story is about a teen girl,Fatimah,who used to live her life by the slogan”YOLO”-You Only Live Once.She belonged to a reputed muslim family from Kashmir .Her childhood went lavishly awesome.Whatever she demanded,it was hers.She was highly pampered by her parents as she was their only child.They were blessed with Fatimah after 18 years of their marraige,and that made her the apple of her parents’ eyes.
All it started when Fatimah crossed her ”Teen level” and bumped into her Twenty and entered into the new phase of her life,-Her College Life.
Monday morning,
”Ammi-
I am getting late,Allah hafiz”
She shouted from the hallway.
”Honey!wait for me”
Her mother running after her with tiffin box.
Fatimah picked up her school bag,grabbed the tiffin from her mother’s hand and buckled up her shoes-all in a jiffy.
”Hurry up Fatimah I am already late for office”
Outcried Fatimah’s father who was waiting outside in his car from last 15 minutes
She went into the car and soon after half an hour,she was right infront of her college gate.As it was her first day,she was very nervous.Thought of having no friend there added more to her nervousness .Finally she summed up all her courage and with a deep sigh,she went inside the college.
After 5 minutes of struggle, she finally find her classroom..she was 10 minutes late.
”Mam,can I come in?”
Yes
She placed her bag next to a girl and started noting down the points being discussed by the teacher.Fatimah was a brilliant student.
When the class was over,she thought of making friends and started from the girl sitting next to her.
”Assalamu alaikum”(may peace and blessings be upon you)(the way muslims greet each other)
As Fatimah was from a noble muslim family,she had quite decent etiquettes
”Walaikum assalaam” (reply to the greeting)
”Whats your good name?”
”Sara,And yours?”
The girl replied with a friendly tone.
”I am Fatimah.Nice to meet you.
”As i am new here and that too without a friend, can we be friends?”
Asked Fatimah in a sweet,innocent way.
”Sure!we love to make new friends and add them to our gang.”
”GANG!?”
Fatimah got a little bit puzzled as she was having no idea whom she was befriending.
”Gang matlab mera group”
(Gang meaning my group)
Before Fatimah could make more enquires, Sara grabbed her hand and took her towards the canteen.
(IN THE CANTEEN)
”Hey guys! Meet our new member,Fatimah”
Sara said with a loud voice catching the attention of almost every eye present there towards Fatimah,who was standing still and silent, looking more alike a statue in her white uniform and black scarf.
Fatimah hesitantly greeted everyone with salaam and took her seat on the table of girls(friends of Fatimah)
”So let me introduce you to my closest friends, Zulaikha,Shazia,Haya, Rabiya and Hafsa.
Zulaikha-The Prankster.She always use to entertain us by doing prank calls on the strangers.
Shazia-well,she is the makeup artist of our Girl Gang.
Haya-She is our ”Assignment machine”
She dont have guts for crazy things.Oh ya! her looks are matching with yours, Fatimah! It seems like two soul sisters are reunited after thousands of years!”
They all bursted out into laughter.
”As far as Rabiya and Hafsa are concerned,They are the ‘Love Birds”’
Fatimah’s eyes widen as she wanted sara to explain more.
”By love birds,I mean they send friendship letters to boys ,or i can say ‘Rich boys’,Fake a relationship with them,ask them for money,other costly things etc etc and then avoid them by adding their contacts to the blocklists”
Fatimah got shocked.She never thought of hurting someone and in particular, this way!She gave a surprised and puzzled look to everyone’s face and said in a soft tone,
”How can you guys be like this?!
How would your parents feel on knowing about your scandals?
Dont you fear them?Dont you fear your Lord?”
PINDROP SILENCE FOR A MINUTE
Sara understood that Fatimah was a girl if included in the group,must needed a brainwash or just simply she has to throw her away from her group as she didn’t wanted any drama.But soon The thing striked in her mind that Fatimah belonged from a rich family.So she gave up the idea of dumping her and started brainwashing her.
”Look Fatimah,we know we are girls,but can’t we enjoy our lives the way boys are enjoying? Dont we have right to make parties,roam here and there and admire the nature?Dont we have right to look beautiful by dressing up in the modern way?”
Fatimah was speechless.She had no answers to these questions as she knew nothing about fashion and modernity yet.She foolishly agreed with sara and the other girls and went well with ‘girl Gang’ as she didnt wanted to get pin-pointed.
The Girl Gang kept on eating,taking selfies,playing weird games and roaming here and there in the college campus.Fatimah enjoyed a lot as she wasn’t familiar to this kinda fun before.Soon she noticed the time on her wrist watch and was surprised to see,She shouted
”Hey,Its 4 pm and we didn’t attended any class in the whole day!!”
The other girls looked at her face and started laughing.
”Oh Fatimah,How sweet you are!
Do you really think college is a place to study? Here teachers use to torture the students with their boring lectures and then,the piles of assignments!
Ahh!! You are a brilliant student.You will get good grades in exams by studing a day before .Just like we are doing”
These lines somehow encouraged Fatimah to have more fun and live her life the way she had started to live.
She never realised what she was doing to her life.
The girls left the college and Fatimah’s father was waiting for her outside. She greeted him with salaam and asked for lift for her friends. Her father was happy to see that her girl,Fatimah had made friends in just one day!
The girls went inside the car and took out their cell phones from the bags and bumped into social media.
Fatimah’s father noticed them all the way long but didn’t uttered a single word.
On reaching home,he asked Fatimah about her friends, about their character. Fatimah stealthly defended her friends’ reputation as she didn’t wanted to defame them infront of anyone.
”Baba,They are very nice girls.They made me discover the whole college, informed me about our teachers and also helped me out in understanding some points in physics”
For the first time,Fatimah lied to her father but she didn’t realized it as the so called ”Modern fun” had blinded her eyes.
The days passed on and the months crossed.
Fatimah was now no longer the ‘old Fatimah’
Her loose shirt was now replaced with body-fitting translucent shirt followed up by white pants which overtook her traditional’Salwar’.Her black scarf now no longer subsisted on her head.That now remained just a piece of cloth used for covering the face on a dusty road.
Her parents didn’t noticed her changes as they were 24×7 busy with their bussiness work.
Fatimah was now a nominated girl in whole college. She now dated rich boys with fake identities, looted them by every means and then summed them up in the block lists.
One day,The Girl Gang dropped a dare of smoking a ciggerate.No one did but just Fatimah.She won the dare and collected the betted money from her friends. After sometime,she realised that she was now more inclined towards smoking.She hidely used to smoke in the college washroom during day,and filled her night quota in the balcony of her room.
Nevertheless,there was no evil that Fatimah restrained herself from. She now feared no one,neither her parents,nor her Lord,her Creator, whom she used to worship five times a day in the past years.It seemed like she had got the memory of past few years deleted,where she used to be good,religious, innocent and pious girl. Much alarming was the thing that she wasn’t realising what she was doing to her life.
One monday morning,she woke up as usual,dressed herself up,applied her favorite perfume and left for college on her own.
She Fatimah her earbuds in her ears and played her favorite music track.She was now addicted to music.
Walking arrogantly on road was never her attitude but the slogan ”YOLO” was pinned up in her mind and soul and so called modernity was engraved in her heart.
Deafening music prevented the loud horns to reach Fatima’s ears. Her eyes being fixed on Facebook hindered her to keep a check on traffic.
Suddenly ,A car came from the right of hers and within no time,Fatimah got striked on the road.Her white uniform turned bloody red.People gathered and called for ambulance.
Fatimah was in a big shock.
She never thought of dying this much early.She knew that she will be resurrected in front of her Lord on the judgement day.
Fear started to run in her veins.Her body started shivering.
She wanted to delete all her half nude pictures from her instagram handle.She wanted to clear all those filthy tweets from Twitter.
She wanted to go back .Once.
She wanted to go back and apologize every single person whom she had betrayed.
She wanted to make her ‘Girl Gang’ understand that this world is nothing but just a delusion.
Death is scary.
Death is truth.
But Alas! There is now no time to repent.
At her end,The lips mumbled the lines,
” Ah! These tiny creatures beneath the soil,
Slumbering in and out of the void.
Why I underestimate their powers!
When i knew,I will be their prey for hours.
Having their feast they will turn around,
And my worthless bones laying on the ground.
Ah! How futile I will be in my grave
Wishing to go back once,perhaps only it could save
And with what deeds I will face my Lord?
Alas!I woke up just to a piece of Shroud”
Poor Fatimah now on her deathbed realised that the life is nothing but just a Beautiful Lie..
We all should take lesson from Fatimah’s life and start changing ours.
Its now or never!
Don’t know what say, out of words…was numbed for a while and tears out from my eyes…we never realise the value of life until we reach near to our death bed…..but glad tidings to those who hold the rope of allah from the beginning to end….tysm for the beautiful story, a beautiful reminder ..may allah bless with the best in both of the worlds
Don’t know what say, out of words…was numbed for a while and tears out from my eyes…we never realise the value of life until we reach near to our death bed…..but glad tidings to those who hold the rope of allah from the beginning to end….tysm for the beautiful story, a beautiful reminder ..may allah bless with the best in both of the worlds
Well,How beautifully you showed us the harsh reality of life.While reading the story,and reaching The conclusion,their is an urge to keep Reading going On. As the story creates A Great interest.
Keep going and May Allah bless You.
You’ve got great articulating skills in presenting it in a way that creates a great impact on the reader’s mind and jolt his conscience.May the owner of life& death protect his true believers from the deceitful deception of this life and guide them to prepare for the eternal life before entering into their graves.
Beautifully put the truth of this temporary world. It highlights the immense need of introspection one have to have in life. And also how careful and attentive parents are required to be while raising their child. Gone are the days when it was peaceful out there, raising a child in these times is as difficult as anything which the parents are ignoring. Parenthood is an investment and when you make an investment you never do it unfocused and insensitively. One can draw many lessons from this insightful story of fatima. May Allah reward you and cause your pen to flow in the way that pleases him always.