This story is by Fatimah Al-Sharif and was part of our 2020 Fall Writing Contest. You can find all the writing contest stories here.
It is 3:40 P.M. .It is the time of Asr Prayer__ the third prayer of the five mandatory Islamic prayers. Staying up all the night, attending virtual meetings, surfing the internet, connecting friends via social media, and replying accumulated emails, Ali lost that glorious bedtime, when he drifts into dreamy stories and forgets all sorry tales and weary actions that happened on his regular timeline of life.
For Ali, the bedtime usually comes after a long hard day. He spends his day following and writing work letters from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. . Nothing allows him to interrupt such work. These written pieces usually are correspondences, reports, statistics, invitations, etc. To do all these duties, he must be involved in many skills and tasks that exhaust his mind and body. Facing the computer screen and arranging the papers, he forgets all the surroundings. One hour break is enough for him to stop his office work.
Feeling jittery, Ali usually checks his email at the evening time, from 5:00 p.m to 6:00. With the flood of emails that he receives every day, he checks and rechecks his inbox throughout the night. He doesn’t only fear missing out, he also wants to fill an emotional void. He actually seeks human connections through emails and social media. He usually follows the push notifications of all his social media. He runs all different types of social media: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and TikTok, From 6:00 till the midnight, Ali’s day and night with worksheets, emails, and posts by social media.
Being alone in his big house and isolated himself through the Coronavirus lockdown. The pandemic actually provides him a good chance to stay more calm and keep in touch constantly with his online works and friendly virtual community.
One night on March 17, 2020, through the lockdown, and after a full- day of remote work, Ali attended a virtual meeting held by the writers community. It was about Laith 1, the Unknown King of England. That amazing novel is considered to be historical and romantic dealing with the personal and familial background of King Henry I and King Henry II. It assumes that human history is connected, corrolated and accomulated. It is just like repeated tales to tell a very long story that begins anywhere on the globe and ends in another part of the earth. Its chapters can be finished in one thousand years. It promotes the unity of human feelings and experiences. It tells the story of love, and self-love, power, and determination over the throne. It starts from England, to France, to Germany, and finally to one of the most famous city in Arabian Peninsula.
In the same night, Ali decides to read the novel and surf all the reviews about it. In one night, the centuries and decades are reduced in minutes, the kings and people are the same, the stories and adventures are just a tale to be told and remembered. The whole life is a repeated story of our father Adam, the creature of mud and God’s word and spirit. Our father who was once in heaven and he was descended to our mother earth to start a new story. The more you are spiritually in, the more your life is elegantly out. The novel reflects the power of history over our life and shapes our thoughts and beliefs. It tells how the gloominess puts its fingerprint on the face of a regretful man and woman who can not even pay others a smile. Though it assures that productive dreams never vanish and optimistic feelings never perish. It tells how love creates miracles, infuses liveliness, and achieves victory. It is the story of passion and ambition.
Being sunk in the dreams of life, in the thoughts of the last night activities, and the inspiration of a joyful day, in an inward focus, at the moment of now; the muezzin (a man who calls people to prayer over loudspeaker from the minarets at the mosque. Some mosques play a prayer recording of the call (adhan) instead.) replaces the penultimate parts of the call “ Hayy a Ala Salah” means come to pray, with “Al Salat fi Beyootikum” means pray at home. It is a historical event that all Islamic countries have suspended congregational prayer for men. Muslims may pray at their homes in times of human crises, epidemics, wars, as well as if someone fears for his life. It is the first time that Muslim men all over the world are excused from praying at mosques and are allowed to pray at home. Turning his attention outward, he listens to the voice of muezzin saying:
God is Great! God is Great!
God is Great! God is Great!
I bear witness that there is no God but Allah.
I bear witness that there is no God but Allah.
I bear witness that Mohammad is the Messenger of Allah.
I bear witness that Mohammad is the Messenger of Allah.
pray at home. pray at home.
Come to success. Come to success.
God is Great! God is Great!
There is no God but Allah.
Being in a deep silence and in an attentive concentration to the call words, Ali moves freely, breathes deeply, feeds his ears on the vibrant therapeutic effect of the call that helps him to be outside of the body and mind. His soul will be in a deliberate communication with God’s whisper whenever he can recite some texts from the Holy Quran, supplicate, and praise. In one moment, Ali wants to have a great day that gives the best of him. He wants one moment in time. He confirms that moment just similar to Whitney Houston’s moment. He wants one moment in time when he is more than he thought he could be. That moment is chasing with destiny and glories eternity. That moment touches my hands, puts the plans, and lays the chance. In one moment of action, Ali gets up to stand and bow before God ashing Him help and mercy.
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