Mother says she will buy the bread and return home before it gets too hot. She only has the energy to do that much and has three hours until her nephew Aafil (who is the son of her sister Farida) and her niece Aishah (who is the daughter of her cousin third removed Wahi) will reach their home.
It is not that she isn’t grateful. It is the first weekend since the start of the new year (at least in the Western calendar), and she had so little time last year to spend with either Aafil or Aishah that she told herself she would make it a point to catch up with them more in 2024. Alhamdulillah.
But still, she has to take a bath, prepare the food, have her prayers at the right hours, and prepare herself to talk to these Anglicised and Americanised members of the younger generation who have their certain pop culture topics and who care little about the words of the Qur’an or the gossip of the neighbourhood. It is a lot to manage, and Mother is an older woman who is getting older every year.
It doesn’t help that the weather is always so hot, whether it is nine in the morning or two in the middle of the day. But Mother forges on. She will head towards her bakery, buy her things, and return home with peace in her mind.
Allah is good. Allah is great. Allah is in the footsteps she leaves on the pavement. Allah is in her spirit, body, and soul.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Girar to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.