A Peal In Its Shell

By : Fatima Zahra

“Hey, Sarah! How are you doing?” Lucy’s voice surprised me. I was about to leave my class when she came. Her lovely hair and glowing skin appeared. She was definitely beautiful.

“Good, Alhamdulillah! And you?” I answered while giving her a smile.

“I’m cool. Where are you going?”

“I’m going to the mosque. You want to join?" I ask her 

“Oh come on! Mosque? That’s boring. You’d better follow me to Glenn’s party. It’s going to be fun!”

“No, thanks. It’s more important rather than going to Glenn’s party.”

“Well, it’s alright then. See ya.” Lucy said while waving her hands.

Lucy and I were in the same Senior High School. And now we were at the same college too, but in different faculty. She was in the economic faculty while I was in the English literature faculty.  She used to be a religious girl. She quite often went to the mosque and learned about religion, although she hadn’t worn her ‘hijab’. I could say she used to be an extremely good girl. But now, she was totally different. I didn’t know what makes her changed. She tended to wear miniskirts, having too much makeup and so on instead of long dress and hijab. She was not ashamed to wear those all.

Not only her appearance, but her attitude was also changed. She often went to the night club or to the party rather than went to the mosque. She tended to listen to western music instead of listening to religious lecture or Qur’an recitation.

I asked her many times why she changed, but she seemed reluctant to answer. Well, I wasn’t going to push her. But as a friend, I did care about her. I just wanted to see her back to the straight path.

***

I was walking to the mosque, when my cell phone rang suddenly. I picked it up immediately.  

“Assalamualaikum,” I greeted.

“Waalaikumsalam, Sarah. It’s me Adam.”

“Hey, Adam. What’s up?”

“Good. I’d like to talk to you about our assignments. Do you have time for that today?”

“ Today?  I’m afraid I can’t. I’ve got something else to do. How about tomorrow?” I asked him.

“Well, that’s fine. I’ll catch you tomorrow.”

“Alright. See you.”

“Sarah…” he called me again.

“Yes, anything else?” I asked.

“Umm.. I… umm.. nothing… Have a glorious day Sarah.” Adam replied confusedly. From his voice, I felt that he was hiding something.

“Are you sure?” I asked him once again.

“Yeah… I was just going to say… umm... hope you have a great day.”

 “Thank you very much.”

“My pleasure. Assalamualaikum”

“Waalaikumsalam.”

Adam Carter is one of my classmates. He was a famous good looking guy with a huge ‘fans’. It had been an open secret that almost all of girls in my college admired him. He had almost everything that girls looking for. He had amazing eyes and smile. He was very smart, gentle and extremely rich. However, I didn't really like his life style. He was very fond of party, wasting money in wild race, having girlfriend, etc. Well, perhaps it’s cool in some people’s opinion, but for me, it’s not at all.

I took a glance at my watch. 4.00 pm. Oh My God, I’m supposed to be in mosque soon. A few minutes later, the bus came. I hope I’m not going to be late.

***

I couldn’t figure out why Lucy had changed herself. She wasn’t Lucy that I knew. Yesterday, I saw her in the park. She wasn’t alone, but accompanied by her friends, boys and girls. All of girls wore tight clothes and mini pants and skirt. And the boys had tattoo and some of them were holding bottles of beers. I was really shocked because I saw Lucy smoke! I really didn’t understand why she did it to herself. What am I supposed to do? I would approach her and remind her that what she did is wrong. But I was too shy and afraid. Oh how I wish I could do that. My heart really went against it. But… I couldn’t do that.

It was a sunny morning on November 13th. As usual, after reading Fajr prayer, I read several verses of the holy Qur’an with the meaning. Suddenly, I found the verses that very touched my heart.

‘By Al-'Asr (the time).Verily! Man is in loss, Except those who believe and do righteous good deeds, and recommend one another to the truth and recommend one another to patience’ (Al Asr:1-3)

These verses had opened my eyes. Yes, that’s definitely true. As a muslim, we must admonish each other to the truth. But, what did I do? Letting my best friend deviated from the truth? Well, I decided to talk to Lucy at college later. I wish she would listen to me.

I put on my hijab immediately and took my bag. I didn’t want to wait until tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. I have to talk to Lucy today.

“Mom, I’m going to college now.” I said to my mom and kissed my mother’s hand.

“Alright. Be careful sweetheart.” My mom replied and gave me her warm smile.

“Assalamualaikum,”

“Waalakumsalaam”

I went down to the bus station. I was lucky today because I didn’t have to wait for the bus. The bus had ready to pick me up as soon as arrived at the bus station. Thanks God.

As I reached the college, I went straight to Lucy’s class. She was sitting by the table near the door. She seemed to be daydreaming. I didn’t know what she was staring at or what she was thinking about. I found an empty stare from her eyes.

“Lucy,” I called her tenderly. She got surprised when she realized I was there.

“Hey, Sarah. What’s going on?” She said

“I need to talk something to you.”

“Sure, go ahead, Sarah.”

“Well, Lucy… did you realize you have changed a lot?”

“Changed? No. I’m just being myself. It’s the real me. And I like it.” She answered with a big smile.

“No. It’s not you. I mean… you aren’t Lucy that I used to know. Lucy, what happened? Could you tell me why did you change like this?”

“Stop that Sarah. I’m ok the way I am now.” Her smile turned into frown. I could feel she was unhappy with my question.

“Lucy, as muslimah, we should cover our body with hijab, not to show them.”

“Says who?” Lucy interrupted.

“It’s in the Qur’an, isn’t it?”

“Yes, But I don’t like hijab. It limits my freedom. I’m okay the way I am without this.” Lucy said then pointed to my scarf.

“But your tight shirt and mini skirt set you free? What’s your definition of freedom anyway?” I asked.

“Freedom is doing whatever you like to do.” She replied shortly.

“No, freedom is doing the right thing without fearing other people. And do you think wearing short skirt, thight clothes, smoking, hanging out with boys who aren’t your mahram is the right thing?”

“They’re nice to me. I’m happy with them because they never judge me. They never tell me what to wear and how to do.”

“Lucy, you’re not only my friend, but also my sister in Islam. I just want to remind you because I care about you. Now I ask you, if you had lots of money, pearls, diamonds etc, would you show it off or keep it in the safe place so that nobody can see it?”

“Of course I’d keep in a secured place. Why did you ask such a silly question?”

“That’s it. Women in Islam are more precious than those things. That’s why we are commanded to wear hijab in order to protect us from the flirty eyes. A woman in hijab is like a pearl in its shell. Look, women who show their body in public, everyone can see their awrah freely. Isn’t it ‘cheap’?” I explained to her softly. She was silent. Then I continued,

“Hijab is not just a piece of clothes, Lucy. It shows our modesty, dignity, and our obedience to Allah. Hijab protects us from dangers, from the flirty eyes...”

“I don’t care about it anymore. My life has nothing to do with you Sarah. Now leave me alone please!” Lucy yelled at me abruptly. I was really surprised with her reaction.

I said and left her alone. Perhaps she needed time to think. I hoped The Turner of Every Heart would guide her heart to His way. I wasn’t angry with her. I knew that everything happens through a process. At least, I had tried my best to advice her. 

Suddenly, I remembered that I had to meet Adam to discuss about our group assignments. He must have been waiting for me. I walked into my class immediately hoping that Adam would forgive me because I’m a bit late.

“Sarah! Finally you came.” Adam said with a smile.

“Sorry, I’m late. I was meeting my friend in her class.”

“That’s ok. The important thing is you’re here now. I’m really glad.” Adam said happily.

“Glad?” I asked.

“Yeah… err… of course I’m glad because we can talk about… our group assignment immediately.”

“Okay. Let’s do it. Where are the others? They haven’t come yet” I said.

I felt Adam was different today. But I didn’t know what’s going on with him. He always smiled at me and often talked about the religion. I was glad he wanted to know about the religion, but I’m a bit annoyed with his smile.

“Sarah, I need to talk something important to you. But not in here.” Adam said when we had finished discussing our assignments.

“What is it? Just say.”

When Adam was about to say, Lucy’s voice heard. That lovely skin and hair appeared. Yes, that’s Lucy. She was very beautiful. But unfortunately, she showed it up to everyone.

“Adam…! What's up?” She said.

“Lucy? I’m good. What’s going on?” Adam answered quickly. At that time, Lucy realized that I was there too. She glanced at me for a while, but she didn’t greet me at all. Perhaps she was still mad at me. I kept quiet.

“Adam…” She said. “I just want to tell you that… I love you.”

“What? You love me?” Adam surprised.

“Yes Adam. I do love you so much. I changed myself because of you. All the things I’ve done just for you. Look, now I’m beautiful, right? Will you be my boyfriend?” Lucy said while smiling.

Now I know why Lucy changed herself. Because she loved Adam, and she thought that Adam would like her if she changed herself. Adam looked at her for a while and took a deep breath.

“Lucy…” He said. “I’m so sorry to say, but you’re wrong. You’re beautiful when you’re being yourself. Yes, I used to like woman whose appearance like yours, but now I realized that I’m wrong. Woman is worth when she respects herself by wearing modest and decent clothes. Beauty can’t be measure by how you look like, it’s about what inside your heart.” Adam explained. Honestly, I was amazed with his explanation.

“But I love you. I have changed myself for you…” Lucy replied.

“I never asked you to do that. I’m sorry, I have to go now. Come on, Sarah.”

“Adam, wait! Do you love her?” Lucy said while pointed me.

“It’s not really your concern. I just know, she’s different. She lowers her gaze, wears modest clothes, and also has a pleasant manner."

Lucy couldn’t say anything. Slowly sparkling tears came out of her eyes. Tears of regret. I didn’t follow Adam. I asked Adam to go first. I approached Lucy instead. She was still my best friend, and I knew she was just lost her direction. She needed someone to share and to talk to.

Lucy was staring at me with a lot of tears. I walked into her slowly and hugged her close. She couldn’t say anything but shed a tear continuously.

“Sarah…. I’m very sorry. You are absolutely right. Thank you so much…”She whispered to me. I smiled. Praise be to You, Ya Rahman… I wish You would open her heart and guide her back to Your way.

***