31. Aaryan

Aaryan didn't realize how long he was in the Sujood. He was in his garden, his head on the ground, and he was saying nothing but "Alhamdulillahi Ya Rabbul Alamin." Tears and streams of tears in his shivering body. Tears that made him feel happy, gave him the feeling of being blessed. It was unbelievable. But it happened. All of his prayers were heard by The most Beneficent and most Merciful. 

Aaryan got the answer to his prayers. He had put his truth in Him, and Aaryan got what he begged for.

Mary was a Muslim now

Every time his brain said it to him, his sobs just went louder and louder. He kept his head on the hard ground, hands on each side of his face, and he stayed in prostration for the entire night until it was time for Fajr prayer.

Aaryan stood up, whipped the tears of joy off, and went inside the house where his parents were looking at him with pride. His sister must have told them about it. At the last stair, Amara was standing, and she whispered, "I won today." Aaryan smiled because he knew he was the one who had won.

After making the Wudu Aaryan went to the Masjid following his father. The smile was not leaving his face because it was still surreal. For the entire way to the mosque, Aaryan was grinning like crazy

•••

It was like a shower of happiness and Aaryan found himself in the center of it because something else happened.

In that moment Aaryan was feeling blessed with every possible good thing this world has ever contained.

He walked into the Masjid and stood beside Taha, who was frozen at his place, looking at the same unbelievable scene. Aaryan looked at the person and then at Taha. Taha stared back at him, and both of them had no clue how Raheel ended up in the mosque.

Raheel was standing alone and when he turned his face towards the two dumbfounded guys he smiled widely and then ran towards them. He hugged both of them at the same time and asked "Were you guys planning on going to Jannah while leaving me behind?" He was frowning, and the two of them laughed at this scowling Raheel. Parting away from him, Aaryan looked at him again, confirming if he was hallucinating or seeing a ghost. Nah, it was goh- Raheel Rahman standing in the mosque by his friends

Before they could ask the HOW? The Iqamah was said and Haroon was the one leading the prayer today.

The three friends stood side by side, attaching shoulders with each other. The smiles kept on growing wider, and during the prayer, they felt each other whipping their tears.

This was a dream that had come true.

After the prayer ended, all four boys were sitting in a circle, and Taha asked, "HOW?" To him. "Allah Subhanu Wa Ta'ala didn't want to keep me in jahanum while my friends enjoy in Jannah, so that's how," he said with a wink, not telling the reason. "Tell us, Ray. How did this happen?" And again, he blinked an eye at him. "Secret between me and Him" Raheel raised his index finger to the sky. He was not giving them a reply. 

Aaryan was about to ask it again, but Raheel questioned instead, "By the way, who are you?" He asked, throwing his finger at Haroon. "Me?" He moved a finger towards himself. "Yes, this person who I see in the university so often with MY friends." The three of them laughed because "Are you jealous?" Aaryan asked with a slight smirk. "Of course the hell–" he punched his mouth and slapped his forehead. "Astaghfirullah, habits get you in trouble." Raheel was indeed jealous, and his friends were cracking at him. 

"This is Haroon," Said Aaryan. Haroon was Taha's friend. He was the same boy he met when he came to Masjid for the first time and the one who gave Aaryan hope when he was sitting broken under the tree after Raheel made him drunk. Over time, he has become a good friend to him, too. 

"Who is Haroon?" Asked Raheel, looking exactly at Haroon. "There is no need to be jealous of me, Phi. We all are friends," he said, moving a finger between the four of them. "Introduction to you, Akhi?" Said Raheel in the same tune as before; jealous. "As you know now, my name is Haroon. Muhammad Haroon. Originally Aaron, and I allow no one to call me by it anymore. I am from Thailand and as you may guess I am a reverted Muslim" Raheel went silent for a moment probably because of the word revert. It wasn't too common for them to see one or maybe they just didn't care before

"Oh, so can I know your story?" Well, Raheel's tone melted a bit, and he sounded curious now. "Of course," Haroon said with a smile, and Raheel shifted all of his attention toward him as he started to speak. "So I was a born Buddhist, and honestly, it made no sense to me since the day I got my consciousness. So, I started my journey to finding a religion that makes sense. I visited some Hindu temples and read the scripture, but creating something with my hand and then worshiping them was a no to me. Then I went to the Jews, and after a long talk, I found out that I can not convert to it- yep, there is a way and yeah, it's just not so simple or oh, what can I say about them now? It's my personal opinion, and I know I should not be judging them by only one group, but after looking at the Genocide happening to the people of Palestine, I just couldn't with it. Everytime I think about it, I just go furious. No one cares because they are Muslims. It's not about to whom that land belongs to, it was never about it. It's all about cleansing the entire nation. It's horrible to see how the world is not doing anything and everyone just does not care because the people of Palestine are Muslims!" Haroon's voice was raised, his breathing was audible and he was angry. Every one of them could feel his emotion "It's crazy how everyone is acting like a scardy cat and doing nothing when the holocaust is happening right in front of their eyes" said Aaryan in the same tune 

"You know Allah Subhanu Wa Ta'ala, says in Surah Ibrahim verse 42 'And do not think that Allah is unaware of what the wrongdoers do. He only delays them until a Day when their eyes will stare in horror.' They think of it as a joke but we know That Book has nothing but the truth" Taha said and everyone nodded "In Sha Allah we will see the fall of IsNotreal soon"

"In Sha Allah," All of them said collectively, agreeing with Raheel's words.

The four of them were still feeling so angry and no one was talking now. They stayed in the hush, staring at spaces.

After a long moment Raheel broke the silence because his answer was still hanging. "Your story," he said silently. Haroon lifted an eye. He might have forgotten what he was talking about because of the fury. 

"Umm… yeah, the story," he mumbled, took a breath, and then after a minute, he continued, "So, After that- them, I went to a church. When I read the Holy Bible, it filled my head with thousands of queries, and when I asked those questions to the priests, they couldn't make my confused mind clear. And other than that, worshiping a human god was beyond my capability. After years of moving from one place to another in the search for truth, I found myself in the mosque, and I came to my senses. They believe in One true God, the One who needs no dependence, Who is so great that a creature is unable to see Him. This was the reality I had been wandering for years. When my questions were all answered, I became a Muslim and Muslims accepted me as if I were their lost child. They gave me so much love that even my parents were unable to give." Aaryan had listened to Haroon's story so many times, but it always felt so amazing and so inspiring. 

"Woah," said Raheel, not caring to hide the surprise in his voice. And then they shared their experiences. The ways they were guided. The time when they were at the edge of falling but saved by the One and only true God. Every story was captivating and it just made their belief more firm

•••

After the Holy Quran session with his family, Aaryan spent some time outside of the house, looking at hers. He didn't tell any of his friends about Mary because Aaryan wanted her to tell them herself.

Mary had become a Muslim.

He was just saying this to himself every minute

Mary was a Muslim now.

Amara told Mary to hide it from her family because she was permissible to do it. And if Mary told Matthew that she had accepted Islam, then he couldn't imagine what would happen to her. Aaryan wanted to keep her safe, to keep her with him, see her, hold her hand, take her in his arms, and spend life with her forever but there was still a step left. 

So, he decided to do it

Aaryan entered his house with some powerful steps. His family members were all sitting on the couch in the living room and talking to each other. They stopped chatting as they saw him. "Baba, Mama," he called, and they looked at him. Aaryan drew long and deepest of the deep breaths and then he said "I want to get Married" Aaryan expected his father to ask no less than a million questions. His mother to get shocked at first and then ask for the details about every second of the girl's life and her sister to tease him for at least a month but none of this happened and all of his family members started to laugh.

Aaryan looked confused and just until his eyes led him to Amara, who was failing to keep her chubby cheeks from stretching like a balloon. 

"Amy, did you tell them?" He asked, a little embarrassed now. Amara stood up, ready to run "Listen, Bhai," She said moving a hand at him and her feet away from him "Amy, You traitor!" He yelled and ran after her "Baba, save me from Ryan" Amara cried, running into the living room while Aaryan chased her and their parents just laughed at their children