KING ---
"Party of the freaking year!" I rolled my eyes as I heard Tyler's voice from a distance. He could be so loud sometimes. Too loud even. He was one of the worst people to be around after a hangover.
"Hey, hey, hey! Look who it is!" Peter said as they turned the corner and saw me sitting on the bench we always sat at. I had a fag between my fingers and I blew out the smoke in my mouth, watching them as they walked over and sat down.
"I feel like I haven't seen you at a party in weeks, man. What's up?" Jackson asked me with a raised eyebrow as he took out a lighter, lighting the cigarette in his mouth before passing it to Tyler.
"You haven't." I said with a smirk. It had been about three weeks since I last went to the mosque and in those three weeks, I was spending all the extra time I had to actually sit and read the Quran's English translation with tafseer of Ibn Kathir since Ahmad told me that to read the Qur'an by oneself with no knowledge of it can confuse people and will never make sense.
He had given me the volumes of the tafseer by Ibn Kathir which was where Ibn Kathir, a memorizer of the Qur'an had written an explanation of the verses that needed to be understood in more depth than just reading it on the surface.
I had learnt that Tafseer basically meant interpretation. I had finished the second Surah Baqarah, which was the longest in the whole Quran in two weeks. Ahmad also told me to take notes of questions I had, verses that I liked, things I found interesting and already, after one chapter, one whole notebook was filled and I had to go buy another one to move on to the next chapter which I had finished last week.
I was almost done reading chapter four now and still, notes were being taken down left right and center as almost every verse of the Holy Book was amazing and always gave me tingles or made my heart race.
He was right when he said there was no way I'd understand it all if I had read only the Qur'an, without the interpretation as some verses were vague or in reference to a specific event at the time of the Prophet {SAW}, that I had no idea about.
"Where've you been? It isn't like you to not come to a party." Jackson said with a laugh as he got off the bench and sat on the floor instead, leaning his back along the trunk of a tree close by.
"Yeah, especially not Helena's party. Poor chick was like a lost puppy looking around for her date the whole night." Tyler said with a laugh, making me curl my lips. I still had no clue how someone could be as dumb as Helena as to still think that I would eventually fall in love with her. I mean, it had been over two years now that I had been literally using her and her good looks for release and stress-relief when I had no other girl to go to.
"She asked me about ten times in one night where you were. Girl can't take a hint." Peter added, shaking his head as he carved his name into the wooden bench with a rock in his hand.
"Can you blame her? She's the only girl that King keeps going back to. How many other girls have you been with more than once?" He asked, before answering his own rhetorical question with a cheeky laugh. "Exactly. None."
I nodded my head. I guess he was right. "She's the only one that doesn't come nagging me for stuff. Yeah, she feels attached to me, but she never speaks to me unless I go to her and she never questions what I do."
I muttered, butting the cigarette out with my foot on the floor as I stood up, knowing the bell would ring any minute. I still had to go for a piss.
"Plus, she's hot." Tyler added with a smirk as they all got up also and we left back towards the school building.
"Yeah ... hot." I muttered softly with a sigh, knowing that none of the guys heard me.
Tell the believing men to reduce [some] of their vision and guard their private parts. That is purer for them. Indeed, Allah is acquainted with what they do.
Surah Nur, verse 30
"Yo, what's up?" I answered the phone once I saw Ahmad's name flashing across the screen. In these three weeks, though I hadn't gone to the mosque at all, Ahmad had added me into the youth group chat on WhatsApp and so we kept in touch.
"Hey, man. Just wanted to ask if you're gonna come today." He said and my eyes widened in recognition as I looked at the time on my alarm clock, seeing it was 7pm already. See, this is what I found when I started reading the Qur'an. I would start right after school and before I knew it, Linda was knocking on my door saying dinner's ready.
"Oh, crap. Yeah, yeah. I'll be there in 20 minutes." I said and despite me telling them to start, he told me they'd wait. A week ago Ahmad had told me that the youth guys had lessons in the Masjid by their mufti/imam/ teacher who was the leader of the mosque when they prayed. Apparently Ahmad had told him about me and even though they normally had in-depth topics they learnt about, the imam agreed to take it down a notch and teach simple things so that I could join too, which I appreciated.
I put a pen in the page I was at before shutting the book and putting it in my bedside drawer, shrugging on a jacket and pulling the door just as Linda was about to knock.
"I'm leaving, Linda." I said simply as I turned off my light and shut the door, walking past her and down the stairs, speeding towards the Masjid so they didn't have to wait for too long.
It was amazing how welcome everyone was making me feel. In the group chat I met a few new brothers ... brothers, that's what they call each other. Even though I wasn't even a Muslim and was simply just reading through the Qur'an, they already made me feel like I was a part of them. I hadn't met them personally, though I probably will tonight, but still, they all seemed pretty cool.
I was still closest with Ahmad, and I probably always will be since he was the one who had started this whole thing in the first place. Walter was also another one as I felt he was the one who could relate to me most and with him, I didn't feel ashamed to go to the Masjid because of who I was since he always made sure to remind me that he was once in my shoes too.
There was a Zubayr in the group chat that was bloody hilarious even through text so I guess I was looking forward to meeting him in person too. Before I knew it, I was pulling into the car park and getting out of my car. I walked into the Masjid after putting my shoes into the shelf and saw about fifteen guys sitting in a circle on the floor around the imam who was sitting in front of a little table that had a book on it, also on the floor.
Chatter could be heard as I walked in, hearing the guy's laugh in their own little conversations. There were about 25 people in the group chat and so I assumed that not everyone showed up to the lessons.
"Nice of you to join us, son. Take a seat anywhere." The imam smiled up at me and I nodded with a small smile, my eyes searching for Ahmad, who wasn't hard to spot since he was waving his hands in the air. I shook my head and made my way towards him, the guy beside him moving over slightly so I could sit comfortably in the circle, making me say quick thanks.
"Okay, firstly, I want everyone to introduce themselves to the brother, please." The imam said and I chuckled. It felt like it was the first day of school or something.
The guys one by one said their names and ages which were all between 18-22 and I recognized most of the names from the group chat anyway so it was nice to put a face to the names I'd see messaging me and answering any questions I had on a daily basis.
"I'd like to stand up to do my speech, if that's okay with you, amo." One of the guys said to the imam and I watched with a raised eyebrow as the imam groaned and rubbed his forehead. Clearly, the guy took that gesture as meaning 'Go right ahead' and so he stood up, clearing his throat.
"Ladies and gentleman ..." He began before he was cut off by another guy.
"There are no ladies here, you're tripping." He commented and a couple of snickers were sounded around the circle as the guy standing scoffed and looked at him.
"What are you then, 'Ali?" He smirked and the circle erupted in laughs. I think I knew who this was.
"Sit down now, Zubayr! That's enough." The imam said loudly. Yep, I was right. I released a laugh along with the other guys as the imam shook his head and gestured for the next guy to go, Zubayr looking annoyed that he couldn't get more than two words out.
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"Okay, Alhamdulillah we've finished for today. Let's recap what we've been through." The imam said as he shut the book and sighed, moving the table in front of him to the side and crossing his legs that he was previously sitting on. I don't know how he stayed in that position for so long. My legs would have been swollen by now.
"Tawheed. The Oneness of Allah. The message that every single messenger, peace be upon them all, came to the people with. Every single one had the same message to convey to the people of their times. Ubaydah, what was that?" He asked and we all turned to look at Ubaydah.
"They were told to invite people to worship Allah and Allah alone and to not worship or invoke anyone besides Him. To do righteous deeds for the sake of Allah alone and to seek His bounty alone in everything they did so that they may succeed." He answered; the imam looked pretty pleased with his answer, nodding his head with a small smile.
"BarakAllahu feek." He said softly. "Before the ayat of Hijab was revealed, before fasting was made obligatory in Ramadan, before Zakat (charity) was prescribed, before Salah was revealed to Muhammad 2, the only thing that he invited people to for 13 years in Makkah was Tawheed! Nothing else.
Salah came a year or two before the migration and so 11 years of only Tawheed and the extra two years of tawheed and Salah. Out of the five pillars, only the first one, the shahada, La Ilaha Illallah, the only one revealed for 13 years! My beautiful brothers in Islam be very careful of innovations. So many things have been introduced to the deen that take away from Tawheed, take away from the Oneness of Allah. We need to study this in depth. Something that the Prophet "called to for thirteen years is surely something we need to learn about. From the perfection of Tawheed comes the softness of the heart.
When you do every single thing only for Allah's pleasure and bounty then your life will change. Let's end with Surah al-Ikhlaas. Remember Al-Bukhaari narrated from Abu Sa'eed that a man heard another man reciting Qul Huwa Allaahu Ahad (Surah al-Ikhlaas [Sincerity]) and repeating it. The next morning he came to the Messenger of Allah and told him about that. The man thought that it was too little, but the Messenger of Allah " said: "By the One in whose hand is my soul, it is equivalent to one-third of the Qur'an." He stated a Hadith before clearing his throat and reciting the short Surah.