She rushed into her room very quickly , put on her clothes and
ran into the balcony to stop the catastrophe that her neighbor called to tell
her about. She told her that her husband was standing in the balcony wearing
nothing but his boxer shorts !!!
He was standing , holding a cigarette in his hand , not caring
about the big number of neighbors standing on their balconies , looking at him
.
She stood by the balcony's door and whispered angrily "Are
you crazy ? come in ."
He did not even look at her , as if nothing was said .
"The weather is nice , come and stand with me ." He
said , calmly !
"Come in , you are a shame! Standing on the balcony wearing
nothing , nothing !!!"
Not looking at her : "Oh , I guess you received one of your
neighbor's phone calls . Well , if they are offended by looking at me , they
can simply not look or go into their houses."
She got really angry , she stepped into the balcony and started
yelling.
"Thank God my neighbors are still talking to me after all
the scandals that you have recently caused. What is wrong with you ? don't you
have any morals ?"
He was not offended nor angry but he decided to turn and face
her .
And then he was shocked !! She was not wearing a scarf only ,
she was wearing a veil . A veil that covers her whole face with nothing shown
except her eyes.
He was not only angry , he was literally livid .
"A veil ? A veil ?" He screamed at her "What is
wrong with you ?"
"Let's go and speak inside the house."
"What house are you talking about ? you mean the religious
institute that three people are living in it ,
eating , drinking and sleeping ?
This is no longer a house , no longer a house !!"
She wanted to be calm but couldn't stop herself.
"Are you upset because I am being more religious ? Are you
angry at me because I am trying to clean our lives of all the nonsense you are
getting us into ? You should be happy not sad for having a wife like me ."
"A wife ? you still call yourself a wife ! when was the
last time since you were a wife ? a wife who sits with her husband and talk to
him about their life , a wife who would agree to go out and have a nice day ?
you stopped being a wife years ago , I am a husband with NO wife ."
" A husband with no wife ? what about me , having to deal
with all your promiscuous actions , drinking alcohol , knowing women behind my
back , having no religious behaviors , standing like this in the balcony ? Do
you want me to be a wife for a husband like you ? Do you ?"
Everyone in the neighborhood was looking at them , some people even
got their lunch and started eating it while watching . They were so angry that
they couldn't notice or recognize the presence of others.
Their daughter , who was five years old , was standing there ,
watching them . Silently , she was begging them not to fight anymore , her eyes
full with tears , not understanding why her parents are yelling at each other.
After couple of minutes , she went inside the house.
One of the neighbors , Aida , told her niece who was watching
the scene with her "I just don't know what happened with them , in the
past , they were a perfect normal couple , they used to sit down on the balcony
and have tea together. Both of them was moderately religious , he used to pray
in the mosque and she used to wear a scarf …. But suddenly things started to
change , the more she got into religion , the more he got into …..let me say it
this way , being unreligious. "
"But who do you think is more mistaken?" her niece
asked .
"Both of them , when she started being more religious, she
only concentrated on praying more and wearing more decent clothes, but she
forgot something very important , that Islam encourages women to live their
lives , and participate in the family's activities . She simply stopped being a
woman , and that was her biggest mistake. "
She continued :" As for him , maybe he reacted to her new
lifestyle by doing the extreme opposite, or maybe he got dragged to it by
himself . "
The couple continued fighting . . .
"You know what you should call the house ? " He yelled
at her , "The Mosque!! And the people should come here , pray and take
religion lessons "
"Well" she yelled back " It is better than
calling it 'the Night Club' , anyway it cannot be a mosque with alcohol in it .
You disgust me , you really do !!!"
Aida went on talking with her niece " In the past , people used
to sit on their balconies and watch the beautiful flowers planted and the
happiness in their eyes , now….."
Suddenly , Aida stopped talking , her niece looked back at their
balcony , the shouting has stopped ….. there was silence ……..
The couple were not looking at each other, they were looking at
the door of the balcony , at their daughter who was standing by it .
She was wearing her mother's praying clothes , with full make up
on her face.
She was holding the Holy Quran in one hand and a bottle of wine
in the other.
Everyone was shocked at that scene.
Still not looking at each other ..
"What have we done?" , he said
"What have we done?" , she repeated
And for the first time in a long time , they used the word 'We'
…….
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