The Changeling

Assalamu'alaikum wrb dearest sisters and brothers,

May all of us still be granted hidayah and walking on His path :)

It was four years ago, in class that I wrote this composition. I enjoyed playing with words therefore I want to share this piece. Enjoy! :)

"The sun was showering love and warmth on the trees and the flowers, giving them an immense amount of energy to complete their essence. Plain green was painted with blotches of colorful flowers. The trees stood proudly, boasting about the fact that they belonged. The flowers bloomed exquisitely, only to the delight of the sun and the sky. The shrubs cloaked the dominant white walls with their thorny branches. All claimed quintessential territory. A solemn serenity filled the entire place. But it was as cheerless as the grave; there was a void in this setting. The fauna was unseen.

A small step made its way towards nature.

The leaves of the trees were rustling, perturbed by the sudden intrusion of a strange presence in the stillness. But the glass warmed the soles of the unknown, cherishing the proximity of another being after so long.

Ester stood in the centre of the earth, gazing upon the eerie silence. His eyes were observing nature, never missing any single beat of change. In his place, any other child would be shrieking in gaiety for the freedom. But strain never once left his eyes - the eyes of an old age bearing a young face. His blonde hair was tousled. He felt unwanted, but he didn't retaliate.

He wouldn't.

Ester felt it - the creeping disruption that was spreading amongst the trees. He also knew, that the wind was watching him intently, for silence echoed throughout nature as he took another step forward.

Ester was still.

And after a few moments, he lay down on the grass - the grass which hugged his back tightly. He extended his hands towards the sky, blocking the sun from penetrating through his eyes - his inner self. A shadow formed on his face, touching his skin.

Ester remembered everything. He recalled the times when he was five. He was walking alone towards the park. And every step he made added to more whispers in the background. By the age of seven, he was numb to all other beings except himself. His sagacity showed him the truth.

His existence was feared.

It was just natural for people to avoid him - avoid his gaze. Ester was a wandering soul on earth. An empty glass. A shattered mirror.

And now, nature too was intimidated,

To the utmost chagrin of the shadow, the sun slowly insinuated itself onto Ester's skin, grasping hold. Ester nonchalantly and languidly stood up. All those thoughts dwelling inside his mind dissolved into thin air.

A soft melody was reverberating in the air, breaking the overwhelming silence, spreading euphoria in nature. The seething trees were sullenly mystified, incredulous to whatever was happening. The flowers emanated pure radiance.

Ester sensed a flutist ahead of him. With thoughtful trails he ascended the grassy stairway which spiraled all the way towards the top. As he reached the last step, the melody vanished, devoured once more by the compressing silence.

A voice occupied the neglected air.

"Welcome, changeling. I've been waiting."

Ester smiled."

Relationship

Assalamu'alaikum wrb :) Dedicated to my readers. I guess sooner or later relationship issues will hit us. But rest assured, Allah is always there to guide us. Kudos to Aiman Azlan. All rights goes to him. I simply pasted the information here. May Allah bless you.

Relationship: Almost All Of My Friends Have Boyfriends, Except Me. Why?

Assalamualaikum Aiman.

I broke up with my first love after a year. After that, I never had a boyfriend. Sometimes I ask myself, "Am I too ugly to have a boyfriend?" Almost all of my friends have boyfriends and when we go out, they always tell me about their boyfriends. I feel jealous.

Why does Allah do this to me?

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Waalaikumussalam.

Thank you for your honest question.

The desire to love and to be loved is natural. I have it, you have it, and others have it too. However, in Islam, we are taught how to love and to be loved in a way that God intends it. In Islam, we are also taught that we all have the power to make our own choices.

Hence, in this case, we can choose whether to love and to be loved the way God intends it or not. In the end, we will all live and die with the consequences of our choices, for better or for worse.

I can imagine that you are feeling unappreciated knowing that you are boyfriend-less while most of your friends are with boyfriends. I am not trying to ridicule or undermine your feelings about this subject. I acknowledge the pain. What I suggest to you is to reconsider the situation from a different perspective.

Don't be sad that you don't have a boyfriend. Instead, be grateful.

The Quran said clearly, "And do not approach zina (premarital sex). Indeed, it is an ever immorality and is evil as a way." (Surah al-Isra: 32)

Zina is a destination and there are paths that lead to that destination. Not only does Islam teaches us not to commit zina, it also teaches us not to go near it. We shouldn't even be on the paths to zina, let alone arrive at the destination. In English they have a saying, "Prevention is better than cure." In this particular case, the saying fits perfectly. We are preventing ourselves from zina by avoiding the paths that lead to it.

When you are on the path, you will eventually arrive at the destination. It might take a short time or it might take a long time, but surely you will arrive at the destination if you keep walking on that path.

One of the paths that lead to zina is this boyfriend and girlfriend relationship.

If you look at it that way, you should be grateful that Allah saved you from being on that path. Instead of feeling jealous about your friends, you should feel a sense of compassion for them and you should wish that they get off that path as well. They should be more like you, not the other way around.

This isn't to say that the people who have boyfriends or girlfriends are bad people. We don't condemn a person because of one sin. The person might be doing a sin in public, but we have no idea about all the good deeds that he or she commits in private. So we leave the judging part to Allah. But for this one particular sin, we offer our help if the person wants it and we ask Allah to open his or her heart to change for the better.

I hope that helps. Forgive me if I have said something I shouldn't have.

Allah knows best.

May Allah grant you a righteous, lawfully-wedded spouse and may you both enter Jannah together. Ameen.

p/s: You are not too ugly to have a boyfriend. You are too precious to have one.

AIMAN AZLAN

www.aimanazlan.com