A funny kind of sin

‘Who said I was speaking to my husband? He never has time for such talks.’ She replied, nonchalantly.‘Then who was the guy you were talking so animatedly to?’ I asked in surprise.  ‘That was my friend Lado. Welcome to my home Bint. It’s been quite a while since we last met. Let me get you […]

‘Who said I was speaking to my husband? He never has time for such talks.’ She replied, nonchalantly.
‘Then who was the guy you were talking so animatedly to?’ I asked in surprise. 
‘That was my friend Lado. Welcome to my home Bint. It’s been quite a while since we last met. Let me get you something to drink.’ Baturiya replied before she rose to go into her kitchen. She had looked so absorbed with her call when I came in that I simply obeyed her gesture to get seated while she continued with her phone conversation. I felt so bad listening in on their cosy talk that I had to pick up one of her many lifestyle magazines to read. Finally after what seemed like an eternity, the call ended. And now she is telling me that long chat wasn’t with her husband? I wondered to myself.
‘And here we are,’ she said handing me a glass of some local white beverage.
‘I had no idea you know how to make sharbar muluk.’ I said taking the glass from her.
‘No, this is good old kunun zaqi, made from millet. Your fancy rice drink takes too long to make and I don’t have that kind of patience. So I go for the easier alternative.’ Baturiya explained.
‘It’s still very nice and sweet, as well as cool. Just what one needs in this weather.’ I said, appreciatively.
‘So, to what do I owe this august visit? You haven’t been here for so long I know that you have to have a reason for coming.’ She questioned.
‘On the contrary, I just decided to come and see you for precisely the reason that we haven’t seen for a while. How are you and the family?’ I asked sipping my drink.
‘We are doing fine and how about yours?’ Baturiya enquired.
‘Alhamdulillah, all is well with us. Now can you tell me who Lado is?’I asked.
‘I told you he is a friend that’s all.’ She replied.
‘But what kind of a friend? I mean I sat here for a good half hour listening to you talk comfortably, sometimes even excitedly, to someone who sounded really intimate, at least from your responses. And all you can tell me is “He is just a friend?”’ I demanded.
‘So what should I say, that he is an enemy?’ She teased.
‘No, that he is a friend because of so and so reason, and that was why you were fully relaxed while talking to him.’ I complained.
‘Admit it Bint, you are just curious. You just can’t wait to hear who it was you mistook for my husband.’  Baturiya observed again, teasingly.
‘Okay maybe I’m curious, but that’s only because you said your husband never has time for such talks.’ I defended.
‘Lado has been a friend for the last five years. We hardly see each other but we talk often, almost every other day. We met at the airport once when I went to pick Lawal home from a journey. He was there for his own reasons. We got talking and he gave me his card. From then on he calls me regularly and we just talk. Right now we know so much about each other we are like old friends.’ She explained.
‘Did he know that you were married at the time? Did you tell him you were at the airport to pick your husband?’ I asked.
‘Yes I did. What was there to hide?’ she queried.
 ‘You told him all this and it didn’t deter him from giving you his card?’ I observed.
‘No it didn’t, but what is there to it? We only talk on phone, we hardly ever meet.’ She defended.
‘Does Lawal know about your friendship?’ i asked.
‘No why should he, it has nothing to do with him. ‘ She declared.
‘On the contrary it has everything to do with him and you know it. In fact you know it so well that is why you made sure Lawal has no idea your so-called friend exists.’ I accused.
‘But Bint you are making mountains out of mole-hills. I told you we hardly ever meet. It is purely a telephone relationship.’ Baturiya insisted.
‘By “hardly ever” I suppose you mean you sometimes meet?’ I persisted.
‘Yes we’ve met twice. But just two meetings in five years aren’t anything to go by.’ She said.
‘Where did you meet?’ I demanded.
‘Oh Bint, what is this interrogation in aid of? I told you I am not doing anything illicit or sinful.’ She defended herself again.
‘Just answer me, it will help in making the point I want to make.’ I insisted.
‘Ok, the first time we met at his friend’s office. He had mentioned earlier, on phone, that he will be going to visit a friend whose office was just two streets away from this house. I casually quipped that that’s quite close to my house, so he begged me to come and greet him there. I agreed because it was about a year since we met and I had no guilt-feeling about it. Then the second time he was at a fast food joint when he saw my favourite snack, he called to ask where he could drop it for me. So I said I will join him there to collect it since my children were in school and my husband was at work. So I drove down to the fast food joint and collected it. Everything was platonic and we always had other people around. At the friend’s office, his friend was there throughout the time we talked before I left. And of course you know how crowded a fast food joint is. So it was never ever just the two of us.’ She argued.
‘But this is only the beginning Baturiya. If you get used to sneaking away from home to meet him among others, one day you might agree to meet him where there will be no one or he might lead you to believe there will be others when it will only be him. It might be too late by the time you realised you were all alone. Personally I think this Lado man has no scruples. He reached out to you when he knew you were married, he calls you almost daily, even while knowing that your husband doesn’t know about him. He has made you so fond of him you are already comparing your husband unfavourably to him, by saying Lawal never has time for such talks. He already knows your favourite snack and possibly your favourite fruit and perfume. Frankly, I don’t think this man will have any qualms about seducing you Baturiya. He doesn’t strike me as a man who is God-fearing or respectful of the marriage institution. In any case the Holy Qur’an says “Go not near adultery” and you are going near to it in two ways, by talking intimately, so regularly to a strange man and by agreeing to meet him some times. The Holy Prophet SAW said, ‘whenever a man and a woman between whom marriage is lawful are secluded, inevitably, their third companion is Satan.’ It will take little for this Lado of a man to have you to himself. You already seem to trust him. In the light of the above dangers, this relationship must end Baturiya. You have to stop talking to this man.’ I advised.
‘You have a very fertile imagination, Bint. But nothing of the scenario you painted can ever happen between us. Lado is a respectably married man too. He respects the institution.’ She defended.
‘Is that what you think? Did he ever ask to meet your husband? Did he ever phone you when Lawal was around? Did he ever offer to introduce you to his wife? Haba Baturiya since the answer to all these questions is a recurring ‘no’ then this man is dangerous. In fact believe me you are already in an affair of sorts since he already knows when to phone knowing that your husband is away. He is a secret lover in all respects but one.’ I accused.
‘Haba Bint, have mercy, I am not living a life of sin.’ Baturiya stated, laughing.
‘Unfortunately, this relationship is sinful. A funny kind of sin, but a sin all the same. So when you call to break up with him advise him to seek God’s forgiveness as much as you should too, for truly the two of you need divine forgiveness.’ I warned, rising up to pick my handbag and leave.