The rage of angels

‘Yes I did’ I answered resolutely. ‘But how could you Aunty, how could you do that when you know how this will divide our family?’ her younger sister Nabila, protested. ‘Aren’t you getting your facts wrong? Your family is already divided and it’s not your mother’s fault.’ I replied. ‘But Aunty, why now, why must […]

‘Yes I did’ I answered resolutely.

‘But how could you Aunty, how could you do that when you know how this will divide our family?’ her younger sister Nabila, protested.

‘Aren’t you getting your facts wrong? Your family is already divided and it’s not your mother’s fault.’ I replied.

‘But Aunty, why now, why must she think of marriage at just the time we need her most? What could she possibly gain from abandoning us?’ Fatima cried out, the tears falling from her face.

‘Asabe is not planning to abandon you. She is very concerned about how to fit you all into the new arrangement. I know for a fact that it is because of you children that she resisted many other suitors in the past. Now that she has decided to go for this one, the least I expect is for you to understand, not to go up in arms against her. Your mother has sacrificed a lot for you in the last few years. She deserves to be happy, to think of herself every once in a while. Is this too much for you to understand?’ I demanded.

‘No it’s not, but if she had to get married again why can’t she just get back to Daddy? We all know how much he’s been making efforts to get her back. Why must she marry a total stranger who might not even like us into the bargain?’ Nabila asked.

‘And to think it’s that man she chose, what did Mummy see in him? I can’t picture them together, they are so totally unsuited for each other.’ Fatima stated, furiously.

‘So you’ve already met him?’ I asked.

‘Yes we have, has he not been hanging around her office ever since he lost his wife? Whenever we visited her he will find an excuse to walk down to her office from his. For sure I have always suspected his motives, but I never once expected mother to give him the chance.’ She explained.

‘Yes, even I didn’t expect her to lower her standards. She seems so much more refined and that man has no class. He certainly can’t compare to our Dad. I just don’t know what she saw in him. He is simply a local champion.’ Nabila observed angrily.

‘Well maybe your mother is no longer interested in class. Maybe she needs something much more than class. She was married to a classy guy for17 years and you all know what she got at the end. That local champion might be the answer to her prayers. He might give her the love and happiness she deserves.’ I defended.

‘I doubt very much Aunty. A man who cares a lot about her happiness will not pressurise her into marrying him just before Ramadan. This emphasis on ‘before Ramadan’ tells me the man is only concerned about having a housekeeper during the holy season.’ Fatima observed, sounding a lot older than her 19 years. I smiled in spite of myself because these were the same arguments we used against their mother when we first heard about her wedding plans, a few weeks ago. At the time, Fatima and Nabila were at a campus and a boarding school respectively.

‘Look we will get nowhere by wasting our time debating the merits and demerits of your mother’s forthcoming marriage. Why don’t we just leave everything to Almighty God? He decrees these things, indeed He (SWT) decrees everything. If this marriage is meant to be, it will be, no matter how opposed you are to it. So let’s just plan how you’ll all fit into it. First of all let’s keep praying hard that your mother’s decision is the best for all concerned. Then you older children have two options to choose from, according to what she told me.  The first is for the three of you, including your brother Abba to move back with your father so that she can move to her new house with only your three young siblings. The second, and this is what her future husband suggests, is for her to get a house in their staff quarters; where his own home is, so that you all can remain with her while she shuttles between the two houses.’ I explained.

‘And you say Mummy isn’t ready to abandon us?’ Nabila wailed, ‘it’s even her suitor and not her who is proposing a way to keep us together. She, for her part, is content to just throw us out of her life; to send us right back to our bachelor father.’

‘But you know that your father won’t be a bachelor for long. It’s not like him, he’s not used to it. For all you know, he might also be planning a pre-Ramadan wedding of his own.’ I added.

‘I see, so our two parents simply get up and get married to strangers and no one spares a thought to us. We are orphans in every sense but the word. What a life, what a cruel, ugly fate!’ Fatima cried.

‘Look, I’ve told you to trust in Allah and pray for what is best. How can you sit here like two prophets of doom and insist that nothing goodwill come out of your mother’s proposed marriage? Why can’t you be a little less selfish and for once allow her to do something she wants? I know you are too young to understand the ways of adults sometimes, but give her a chance to be happy. And who knows, maybe if it doesn’t work out you might succeed in getting her and your father back again. You know the only reason she isn’t keen to return to your father is because he had pronounced their divorce thrice. That makes it irrevocable in Islam. He only came back because some scholars had told him that if the divorce is pronounced thrice at a go, it is equivalent to one, not three. But Asabe can’t accept their ruling, she isn’t convinced. So if you allow her to try this marriage and it failed, then you have your chance to reconcile them.’ I advised.

‘Ok Anti Bint, we will try, but it’s certainly not going to be easy tolerating another man in her life.’ Fatima admits.

‘In fact count me out of it.’ Nabila protested, ‘there is no way I will ever tolerate or respect that man she plans to marry. I will have nothing to do with him and I certainly don’t plan to live with them. I am moving back to my father tonight. I won’t give her the chance to throw me out.’ And with that the 15- year- old stormed out of my sitting room and out of the house.

‘Wow what a rage, I thought I was getting somewhere with you two, I had no idea she is not convinced.’ I said.

‘Don’t worry Aunty’ Fatima said standing up. ‘I will talk to her as soon as we get home. Insha Allah she will come round to our way of thinking.’ She added.

‘Alright Fatima, I trust you to do the right thing. And continue praying for what is best. There is nothing like the prayer, I assure you. It is my number one armour. I turn to God in supplication over everything, big or small. You all should trust in Him (SWT).’ I urged.