A match in heaven

‘If I didn’t know better, I’d say you’d won a lottery.’ Tahir said, as he stood at the doorway to my bedroom looking in. ‘Really, why?’ I asked, looking up from my newspaper page. ‘Because you had on such a broad smile almost nothing else could explain it.’ He replied, walking into the room. ‘Oh,’ […]

‘If I didn’t know better, I’d say you’d won a lottery.’ Tahir said, as he stood at the doorway to my bedroom looking in.
‘Really, why?’ I asked, looking up from my newspaper page. ‘Because you had on such a broad smile almost nothing else could explain it.’ He replied, walking into the room.
‘Oh,’ I responded, smiling again. ‘I had no idea you were there staring. But I couldn’t help smiling at what I was reading. A very inspiring love story indeed.’ I explained.
‘And I should have known that’s the only thing that can bring such a smile to your face.’ Tahir said, sitting on the edge of my bed. ‘A self-proclaimed incurable romantic like you can only find joy in love stories.’ He added.
‘It’s not even what you think hubby dearest, because it’s not about the romantic side of the story. Go ahead, read it up yourself.’ I urged, rising from my bedroom chair to hand him the newspaper.
‘No dear Bint, I won’t read it myself because it might not have the same effect on me as it did on you. I will do anything to see the blissful, enchanting smile I saw on your face earlier. Therefore read it out to me, perhaps I can see your face light up again with the exercise.’ He requested.
‘Why don’t we do it this way then? Let me tell you the story, since you prefer to hear it from me. There is no need to read it again because I know the whole short story by heart.’ I offered.
‘Why not, as long as it will make your face radiant again.’ Tahir agreed.
‘Well, I really can’t guarantee that darling, as much as I am flattered by the compliment. Now do you see this lovely Turkish couple?’ I asked, holding the newspaper page to his face. ‘As you can see they are newlyweds. The joy and happiness of finding their life’s partner is written on both their faces. And the normal thing all over the world is that on one’s wedding day, he or she invites friends and relatives to partake of the wedding feast and celebrate. But not these two. In their own case they chose to go beyond themselves and their near ones, to invite four thousand Syrian refugees currently living in their Turkish province of Kilis, to partake of their wedding feast.
Though the idea of feeding the refugees instead of normal wedding guests was said to be groom’s father’s idea, still I was impressed by the fact that they readily agreed to it. This shows a couple that’s well matched. And here they are shown, dressed in their wedding best but still handing out food parcels to their special guests of honour, the homeless refugees. The photo immediately recalled to my mind my favourite quote from the writer Henri-Dominique Larcodaire ‘It’s not genius, nor glory, nor love that reflects the greatness of the human heart; it is kindness.’
So the first reason for my smile was that these are two hearts in harmony, since they were ready to go beyond the norm, to ignore convention by shunning a society wedding reception in favour of feeding the less fortunate around them. I smiled because I was impressed by their selflessness and because I felt assured that since they were two hearts that beat as one in kindness and their marriage will surely last in sha Allah.
The second reason for my smile is, I thought we could sell the same idea to our people hear. Lately we are all concerned about the rising cost of weddings, the extravagant wedding feasts, ashoebi fees, dee-jay fees, make-up artists, souvenir costs etc. I wondered if we could ask those planning big-budget society weddings to observe only the bare essentials of a wedding. Then save the money for all the unnecessary extras and use it to prepare delicious balanced meals and go round to share them some of the numerous internally displaced people’s camps that are spread in many parts of the country. Such a gesture will not only help the poor who will surely appreciate the delicious food but will also bring lots of rewards to the providers and endless blessings to the couples.’ I concluded.
‘Yes, this is an inspiring love story, though it is more about love for humanity rather than romantic love. And I can understand why it brought that rare glow to your smile. By the way, I didn’t see it again now while you were narrating it to me. May be the magic was in catching you unawares. However I do believe it is a good idea to try selling this ‘act of kindness’ wedding celebration to our people here, but I don’t think many will buy it. All over the world people generally see a wedding as a time to show off.
Some say that is why the Yorubas call their wedding feast ‘owambe’ because it literally means ‘come and see.’ Because the idea is to show off how wealthy or fashionable or hospitable you are. So it will be difficult to change people’s mindset about that. But you can try Bint.
There is no harm in trying.’ He urged.
‘Actually, I have a fair idea it won’t be an easy thing to do. But if we can get one out of every ten couples to share their day with the less-privileged around them, it will have a ripple effect and others might later begin to copy such that at some point this kind of ‘charity walima’ will even find its way into the wedding card as part of the celebrations. And it will all be thanks to this heavenly-matched Turkish couple who took this bold step in the right direction.’ I enthused.
‘Yes,’ Tahir agreed, ‘they really blazed a trail by showing that the best way to celebrate love is by loving humanity. Incidentally I caught another glimpse of your radiant smile just now when you were talking about getting one out of ten couples to practice and charity walima making it to wedding cards etc. I don’t know what did the magic this time, but that enchanting smile re-appeared.’ He declared, smiling broadly.
‘Ma sha Allah, thanks for the compliment. From what I recall, you were always the one with the breathtaking smile. That mine qualified today is probably thanks to this inspiring Turkish tale.’ I replied, cupping his right cheek with my palm.