The status of a Woman

Ameerah looked at herself in the mirror. Her big brown eyes stared back at her innocently. The pale yellow shirt complemented her skin tone, and fit perfectly. She wore her watch and looked at her bare arms in the cap sleeves of the shirt. She stared at them for a while.

“They’re just arms, like everyone else’s. What’s the big deal?” She whispered to herself. She then turned around, went to the cupboard, and brought a grey cardigan to wear on top of the shirt, while muttering angrily to herself, “Damn you, Saleem!”

Just then she received a text from Haleema.

Haleema: Your classes start from today right? If you get some free time, we can hang out together, if you want.

Ameerah: Sure, Mrs. Salah. ;D

Since Ameerah had come to know about her Nikah, she had been replying to all her texts, in this same way. She smiled to herself and looked forward to meeting her.

After her classes were over, she had about an hour before her friends would be free from their class, so she decided to meet Haleema. As she neared her tiny house, she realized that the door was slightly open, and she could hear someone talking from inside. She stood outside, as she didn’t want to intrude if someone else was there with Haleema, possibly Salah.

“Her skin is as clear as a mirror; one can see their face in her cheek. If a man looks away from her, and then looks again, she will be 70 times more beautiful. If she spits in the salty oceans, the water of the seven seas will become sweeter than honey.” It was Haleema’s voice. She was talking to someone. Ameerah listened carefully. She couldn’t move. She was frozen. Who is Haleema talking about? She thought.

“Spit?” came the curious voice of a young girl. Oh! It must be a fairy tale that she’s telling the girl, some kind of snow white, she thought.

“No Hoor, they don’t spit, because spitting is gross, ew! But it’s just to explain their beauty, that even their spit would make the seven seas sweeter than honey. Do you know how vast the oceans are Hoor?”

“Oooooh that is so amazing! I went to the sea with mom. It was so huge and deep. Mom said to not go far away, as the water becomes very deep. My eyes couldn’t see the whole of sea as it was so big. My name is Hoor too, so the next time when I go to the beach and I spit in the sea, will it become sweeter than honey?” She asked innocently. Haleema laughed at her innocent question.

“Hoor, if you love Allah and listen to what He says in the Quran, then you will go to Jannah, and you will be so much more beautiful than the hoors of Jannah, and maybe then you can try and spit in the sea and see what happens. The hoors of Jannah are nothing when compared to the believing and righteous women. Do you know they will be able to wear a hundred dresses all at once, one prettier than the other, and all the hundred dresses will be visible clearly on her body. When they get bored with them, they will get a different, new set of hundred dresses. The dresses will be made of gold and diamonds and pearls.” There was a longing in Haleema’s voice as she described the women of Jannah. But is it true, or is it just a story for the little girl, she wondered. She looked down at what she was wearing. A hundred dresses, all at once one beneath the other, and all visible made of diamonds and pearls? That is not possible.

“That is even better than Cinderella!” The little girl squealed excitedly.

“O paleeese! Cinderella? She had a sad life, that poor girl. You my dear girl, will never be sad if you follow what Allah says.”

Ameerah was confused. She wanted to know what they were talking about. She had gotten a pretty good idea but she wanted to know more. She knocked on the door lightly, and entered.