THE PATH TO YATHRIB (EPISODE SEVEN)

By

Mubaarak Olayemi Ismail

Life outside the home was not easy, I have nowhere to go after I had been banished from home, after a long thought, I settled to go to Abu Muwaahid, if he could help my situation.

It was already ‘Isha, my phone’s battery was drained also and I couldn’t go to Abu Muwaahid’s place again. I stopped at a nearby masjid to observe Salaah and sought the Imam’s permission to stay at the masjid overnight, I informed him that I was a traveller and after so many questions, he permitted me to stay.

The sleep in the masjid was unpleasant, as I couldn’t sleep well due to the severe attacks I was receiving from the dreadful and blood thirsty mosquitoes dwelling in the masjid. When it was 3:30 a.m.; I stood up and observed the qiyaamul layl as it was reported from prophet saLlahLlahu alayhi was salaam that Allah, the lord of the universe will be present at the nearest heaven at the last one-third part of the night to accept dua from his servants. After I finished observing the nawaafil, I prayed to Allah for the guidance of my parent and the rest of the family, I prayed to Allah to make them realise that Islam can’t be practised correctly without practising it on the footstep of the pious predecessors.

It is part of sunnah to sleep after qiyaamul layl at the last one-sixth part of the night, I lied on the mat and after some minutes, the Muadhin of the masjid came to call the aadhaan for salaatul fajr, he woke me up and pleaded me to assist him in sweeping the masjid; he said that there had been absence of electricity in the community for the past few days and the masjid will soon be flooded by people who will come to charge their rechargeable appliances, I collected the broom from him and we cleaned the masjid together.

Just like the Muadhin said, people began to enter the masjid in numbers and they quickly went to charge and some even before performing the ablution, I asked myself of a time when masjid will be full like this with people who will only come to worship their lord, I asked myself about a time when electricity will no longer determine the population of worshippers in the masjid.

Few minutes after the tasleem, a brother raised alarm that his phone had been stolen while he was charging, he claimed that he plugged the phone few minutes before the commencement of Salaah and he couldn’t find it again, he called for a search party since no one had left the prayer hall.

“I saw a guy who picked a phone here!” an elderly man among the congregation said. 

“Where is the person?” 

“I was only seeing his leg, he wore a ‘tabliq’ trouser and he kept the phone in that bag but I didn’t challenge him because I thought he was the owner” the man said pointing to my bag.

On hearing that, I quickly declared that I was the owner of the phone I unplugged; before I could finish the sentence, some guys had quickly went forward to check my bag, they checked it and brought out the phone they found.

On setting his eyes of the phone, the brother shouted “Yeah, this my phone”

And that was the last thing I heard before I woke up and found myself outside the masjid where the congregation surrounded me, I was heavily wet and my shirt had been removed, this revealed to me that I had collapsed for a long period. I felt a sharp pain on my head, I moved my hand to touch it and I found that my head heard been wounded, a conversation between two among the guys present gave me the clue of what had happened.

“The criminal has woken, you guys shouldn’t have beat him this much, taking him to the police should be the best, what if he died”

“No, he won’t die, that’s how those people pretend like strangers to steal properties; somebody should help us with a mixture of cement and water, let’s make him drink that and release him”

As I heard that I would be given some poisonous mixture, my eyes got clearer and I recognized the speaker as the man claiming to have lost his phone, I raised up my hands to plead to him but before I could utter any word, the man moved closer and delivered a heavy slap to my face. People shouted on him to be patient and also tell me to remain silent and I began to pray to Allah silently.

Another man came holding a big cup and shouting “Here is the cement mixture, let him die!”

Other men in the congregation began to shout in protest to his recommendation, I began to tremble and prayed to Allah to admit me to Jannah, while the argument was going on; a young boy found his way to the middle of the congregation where I was lying helplessly, he was looking around as if he was looking for someone; his father, who was being held to be patient with me called his son, “Khalid, what do you want?”

“Daddy, Mummy said that you should give me her phone that you came to charge and I should also tell you that Sarah had thrown your phone into water” the boy dipped his hand into his pocket and brought out a phone that has similar features with mine.

The congregation exclaimed and alas! The man didn’t bring his phone to the masjid at all, he left it at home but thought he came with it when he saw my phone that has the same features with his phone, the elderly man saw me with the phone when I unplugged it before Salaah and no one verified if the phone found in my bag was truly his before they began to torture me.

“Alhamdulillah, I’ve not been killed unjustly” I said and broke to tears.