“In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful”
Standing At Her Grave
written by Nadia Naeem
She stood at her grave. Soft, yellow sunrays were shining down upon the graveyard. A light breeze was fluttering the leaves and plantings planted upon the graves. It was picturesque. Who was she? Who was the person laying in the grave? What relation were they to each other? In the worldly terms, none.
Fifteen years ago, this young lady standing at the grave had been a young girl madly in love. She had had the same sweet dreams that most of us have in our teens. She had adored a face she thought was the most handsome face on the face of this Earth. She had to steady her heartbeat if she thought she had heard his footsteps at her doorstep. She loved to see him but could not face him because she felt shy. One beautiful day, he had told her that he loved her too. He also told her that one day soon, they will marry each other. Could life be more beautiful?
She looked forward to the wonderful day that she will get married to him. She stitched dreams. She knitted hopes. She packed aspirations. She looked around at the beautiful world and wondered why people were ever sad. She looked up at the sky so blue and looked around at the trees so green and thanked Allah Almighty for a heart so warm and full of happy feelings.
The phone rang and she rushed to pick it up.
‘Yes, its me here. Umm…er…I wanted to tell you that…umm…er…we will not marry each other. My mother is not allowing me. She wants me to marry someone else…’ Click!
I am sure you have watched enough dramas and films to imagine what the girl went through next. She staggered. She cried. She screamed. She wallowed. She begged. But it was all no use at all. He had now become the ‘good, obedient son’, obedient to his mother only. Upon his mother’s command, he had packed up all his feelings for this girl and gifted them to someone else.
He married that someone else and eventually she also got married to someone else. Time flew by.
Fifteen years later, the girl’s mother died. She had gone to pray at her mother’s grave when someone told her that his mother had also died and she laid there just a few rows away from her mother’s grave. After praying at her own mother’s grave, she turned gracefully and walked to his mother’s grave. The would-have-been mother-in-law…
She raised her hands and prayed for her. What was she praying for her today? What feelings did she have for her today? It is true that a long time had passed but some wounds never stop hurting, no matter how old they are. I sincerely hope that this lady’s wound is not one of them.
Alas! Mothers…
Life is short. It was only a matter of fifteen years. You satisfied your soul by hurting another soul. I hope your soul is at peace now.
Share the Compassion…
Writer Nadia Naeem is a student of religion, an academic and a social worker. She seeks positive change in the society by awakening the thinking process, caring for other than self and contribution to society by participation of every single person of the society. As Allama Iqbal has said in his poetry…No one was created without a purpose. She can be contacted at her mail umme.muhammed@outlook.com
